The Purpose of Education
September 29, 2025
Across our country, classrooms have become battlegrounds. Books about slavery, civil rights, and LGBTQ+ experiences are removed from shelves in some districts. State legislatures debate which histories can be taught and which are excluded. These disputes raise a fundamental question: what is the purpose of education?
Long before today’s controversies, Aristotle offered a guiding insight: “Educating the mind without educating the heart is no education at all.” At the Idaho Anne Frank Human Rights Memorial, these words are etched in stone. They remind us that education is not only about knowledge. It is about shaping the kind of people we become. Will we raise a generation equipped only with (some) facts and formulas, or one capable of empathy, imagination, and ethical responsibility?
The very roots of the word educate mean both “to nourish” and “to bring forth.” Education should nourish human potential, calling forth curiosity, courage, and the capacity to engage the world with both rigor and compassion. True education creates spaces where questions are welcomed, mistakes are embraced as part of discovery, and dignity is honored.
When reduced to indoctrination, education betrays this higher purpose. Doctrines demand conformity; education cultivates inquiry. Indoctrination closes minds; education expands what can be imagined, examined, and understood.
This is why recent calls for “patriotic education” are so troubling. While framed as unity-building, these efforts often strip away complexity, presenting one-sided narratives that risk replacing education with indoctrination. The challenges of our time demand citizens who can analyze with rigor, empathize with depth, balance pride with honesty, and hold hope with responsibility.
As debates continue over what students can read, explore, and discuss in school, we must hold fast to the true purpose of education: to grow curiosity, compassion, and courage alongside knowledge. If we want a nation built on decency, integrity, and dignity, we must nurture both hearts and minds—supporting learners to care, to question, and to create communities where everyone can thrive.