The Purpose of Education

Before a leader can become a spiritual leader for multicultural education, he or she must be clear about the purpose of education. It would, therefore, behoove us to ponder the insights spiritual leaders have given us on the purpose of education.

David O. McKay, an exemplary educator, is one such spiritual leader whose insights I'll share in today's blog.

"Students enter school primarily to gain economic or social advantage. But this aim is not always achieved, nor is it, nor should it be, the highest purpose of education. However, we must not underestimate the value of obtaining an education for a livelihood. Education for economic advancement is a good investment for the individual as well as for the State. The United States as a Nation is still young, but its brief history is replete with striking examples of the value of its free public school system even as a financial investment. . . .No, I do not in the least disparage this aim, nor criticize our public school system for planning to make possible its realization. But education for a livelihood is not the highest purpose of education.... let us face clearly and forcefully the fact that the paramount ideal permeating all education is the grades, the high school, through college and the university, should be more spiritual than economic." - McKay, D. O. (1951, June). "True education: the paramount purpose of a free people." Address delivered at the commencement exercises, University of Utah.

"Character is the aim of true education."

"True education seeks…to make men and women not only good mathematicians, proficient linguists, profound scientists, or brilliant literary lights, but also honest men, combined with virtue, temperance, and brotherly love—men and women who prize truth, justice, wisdom, benevolence, and self-control as the choicest acquisitions of a successful life"

As educators ponder these insights of David O. McKay, a wise and noble man, and write them upon their hearts, they will discover ways to approach multicultural education that will benefit ALL learners.