Is Education OUR Obligation?

Or is ignorance really bliss?

Hey guys!

So today, I wanted to discuss something that has been tugging at my brain for a while. Actually, I started thinking about this during my 2-hour drivers ed lessons, but it didn’t fully form until I was listening to a PhilosophyBites podcast (which I highly recommend-they’re very interesting) in government class about “moral obligations” and the utilitarian idea that humans intrinsically have ethical implications towards working for the common good.

That made me wonder, should humans be “unselfish” and work hard to share their talents and make known their knowledge simply because that would mean a higher chance of survival for the race? Or should those efforts be quelled in favour of individualist progression, thereby leaving people alone to make their own choices (whether that means they choose ignorance or knowledge)?

It’s definitely an interesting argument to consider. Especially because the saying, “ignorance is bliss” has some definite weight to it- there is definitely some “bliss” in not knowing, for example, of the atrocities that occurred in the Rwanda genocide, or in not seeing the mangled body of a murder victim on the news. But there are also many ways in which to define “bliss”.

Some might see it as happiness, or rather the absence of sadness. This definition can be compared to the way in which a child believes if they close their own eyes, then they can’t possibly be found in a game of hide-and-go-seek. Choosing ignorance is like shutting oneself from knowledge, from the facts that could, yes, potentially be saddening or horrifying, and hoping they’ll go away or cease to exist if they’re ignored enough. Although this probably provides a transient sense of peace, and therefore happiness, it is not a long-term approach to living in this world.

But what about education? Sure, someone can choose not to turn on the news, but should students be exempt from being truant if they believe learning “affects their happiness”?

Or more importantly, is it our obligation, or the obligation of the most educated percent of the populace, to ensure that everyone receives the same level of education, even if it means encroaching on their happiness?

Again it goes back to that same word: bliss. What if, for some, it would provide them more happiness if they knew more, if they continued learning and expanding their knowledge? Many (including myself) believe learning is happiness. School is happiness. Reading is happiness. Discovering is happiness. So, should these types of people be the ones targeted for special advanced education, even if it means “forsaking” those who are happy to stay stagnant in their current horizons of knowledge?

Take for example, a small, largely unknown town right smack in the middle of Texas. Let’s call it, I don’t know, Bushland. So Bushland is a pretty quiet town, not much to do except visit neighbours or go square dancing on Saturday nights at the local (and only) bar. Most citizens of Bushland have lived there their entire lives, and are content. Despite having gone on a cruise to the Caribbean and won a round in Vegas, they are happy and comfortable staying where they are, paying minimal taxes and enjoying the year-round iced tea weather.

One day, a young urban man hailing from the Big Apple comes to Bushland and stays there for one summer. He’s used to New York City’s concrete alleyways that smell of desperation and discarded frankfurters. But he loves it; he loves the constant honking and yelling of the streets; the filtered sunlight reflecting off of high-rise buildings; the determined step of the city’s pedestrians who always have somewhere to be and someone to see. It’s the motorcycle-riding-leather-jacket-wearing twice-removed cousin to Bushland.

Now of course, this young man, upon hearing that his next door neighbour has never been farther than San Antonio’s Seaworld in his entire life, immediately tries to convince her to travel. To “see the world”. He tells her stories of his varied travels, of places he’s seen, of people he’s met, and then, after many months of impatience, the young man leaves Bushland and returns to his beloved city.

What he failed to note before leaving however, is that his neighbour, who we will name Louise for simplicity’s sake, was devastated with his departure. She had her eyes opened with his wild stories, and he had begun a fire in her that couldn’t be turned off, a fire burning to travel and explore the world.

The only problem was, Louise was a busy single mom of five and largely broke. She didn’t have nearly enough money to travel to Austin, much less New York City, or anyplace else for that matter. She soon became depressed, fidgety, fed up with the slow pace Bushland had to offer. She wanted to get out, but she was trapped in Bushland, and would be trapped by her fiscal problems for the rest of her life. She was no longer happy in a place she had always felt satisfied with.

So, yes, I know this story is an extreme instance, but I think it serves to illustrate the implicit problem education faces. Whether it is worth it to fight towards teaching everyone and forcing everyone to learn, or whether it is best to leave some be, even if it means being “less educated”, for the sake of their definition of bliss.

I leave it up to you friends: do you think the right to having “ignorance be bliss” should be respected, or do you believe it should be revoked in favour of having a highly educated population across all counts?

Until tomorrow,

Regina L.