The following is a short assignment that I wrote for my "Rhetorical Theory" class:
Your Turn: What do you think about education and morality? Please share any thoughts you have in the comments section below!
"I agree with Isocrates' claim that education does not directly result in moral improvement.
In order to find the answer to such a question, we must ask, "what does education give to the learner?" Education can give a student specific knowledge about the world, help him learn how to think and reason on his own, or even explain good moral values. The problem is, even if the educator presents good moral values and gives good reasons to believe them, the student can choose not to conform to his teacher's views. In fact, the student could turn his back on everything the instructor tried to teach him. Or, perhaps more commonly, the student could be so apathetic to his education that no good moral values seep into his head past his sleepy eyelids. Finally, it is also possible that the educator does not even seek to impart moral values to his student. He could just seek to transmit concrete facts and a way of reasoning without seeking to build his student up morally.
In the simplest terms, education can lead to a person's advancement, but it has no natural moral bent. Instead it is a blank slate, or more accurately a blank pedestal for the student to stand on. Whether or not that education is used for good or for evil depends on how the student chooses to use it. He could use his new knowledge and skills of logic and persuasion to serve others around him or to force them into servitude.
It takes more than mere education to make a person morally good. It takes a choice, and a desire on the part of the person to change."
Your Turn: What do you think about education and morality? Please share any thoughts you have in the comments section below!
I definitely agree with your conclusion!
I feel that the idea of educated morals contradicts the idea of morals entirely. That is to say that I believe there to be an objective moral law that is not learned or adapted to.
With that said, I also think that the premises are fuzzy hear (but good writing nonetheless!). A person who refuses to listen, ignores their educator - or education - and/or sleeps through class really isn't being educated at all. In other words, it's hard to defeat the idea that morals ARE learned through education because those people are not actually being educated.
I think it's very interesting how you point out that education and knowledge can be used for evil, as well as good. Profound point - And what I believe to be your best reasoning!
AJ
Hmm good thinking AJ, thanks for pointing that out. That premise does seem to be pretty superfluous...
Yes, I agree. It is a CHOICE to be moral/to have morals...to have integrity. We LEARN right from wrong WHEN our characters are being developed through Godly parents etc....but do we also inherently KNOW right from wrong based on God's Holy Spirit and the convictions of sin He has put within us?
We can use knowledge for many means. Your observation of that is astute, as AJ has also said. Wisdom, on the other hand is different , in my opinion. Wisdom, is "looking at life from God's perspective, and obeying in what we already know to be true." If we do not act on the good we supposedly have 'learned', then no amount of education will be worth anything.