By age five or six at the latest, American children begin their formal education. The process consumes a huge fraction of their waking hours through adulthood. Taxpayers commit enormous sums to support this system. Families organize their lives around the bell schedule. Why do we do it?

In This Lesson

Why are schools important?

What is the purpose of public education?

What is Ed100’s big picture?

---

▶  Watch the video summary

★  Try the chapter Discussion Guide

At an individual level, of course, the "why" of education is almost meaningless. School is compulsory. It's what we're expected to do! Also, education is the only path to a job that seems to reliably lead to a living wage. Remember the old saying: "If you think education is expensive, try ignorance!" (Probably written by Robert Orben, a comedy writer and speech writer for President Ford, but popularized by Ann Landers, a.k.a. Eppie Lederer.)

The remarkable, revolutionary idea behind universal public education is that all young people are worth investing in.

At a societal level, the remarkable, revolutionary idea behind universal public education is that all young people are worth investing in, for reasons that are both philosophical and practical. We have a shared stake in an educated society and an educated electorate. Our society values the individualistic ideal that a person's place in the pecking order should be earned rather than inherited. Everyone should have a shot.

The public education system, even with its flaws, is among the biggest collective investments we make in our society. It is crucially important for public health, through universal vaccination. It is an expression of our belief in social mobility, and in the potential of each person to contribute something to this world we share. It is essential to the social commitment to preserve human society on a finite planet with a changing supply of water and liveable land.

If that doesn't move you, most folks agree that they would rather pay for schools than for jails or soup kitchens.

The COVID-19 pandemic helped remind the public that schools also play an important role for adults. It's hard to work when the kids aren't in school, right?

Why are schools important?

The high level goals are easiest to agree on: we all want our children to emerge from their school years healthy and prepared for college, work, and citizenship.

Bill Honig, a former Califonia Superintendent of Public Instruction, described public education has having three purposes:

• Job preparation,
• Active civic participation, and
• Leading a full life.

Over a period of decades, a polling firm (PDK) has periodically asked a sample of Americans to choose the single main purpose of public education from a short list of just three options. Consistently, about half choose "Preparing students academically" as the main purpose, with the remainder split between "preparing to be good citizens" and "preparing for work".

This feels like an incomplete answer, doesn't it? As a whole, we want schools to help our children realize their potential. We expect students to be armed with certain fundamental skills such as literacy and numeracy.

Beyond the practical matters, however, we also expect schools to help transform children into adaptable, decent, and broadly capable adults. Things change. Each big wave of technology has disrupted the world: print, oil, electricity, vaccines, plastics, computing, the internet, mobile phones — each has transformed the nature of work and life in unexpected ways. Artificial Intelligence (AI) promises to be every bit as disruptive. In an evolving society and a dynamic job market, we cannot pretend to know exactly what skills a child will really need.

This idea is far from new. The headmaster of Eton school, William Johnson Cory, explained his views on the purpose of education in 1861. Imagine the passage below being read by Albus Dumbledore…

"At school you are not engaged so much in acquiring knowledge as in making mental efforts under criticism..."

This lesson concludes the introductory chapter of Ed100. The core lessons of Ed100 are organized into ten chapters with a big picture in mind: "Education is Students and Teachers Spending Time in Places for Learning with the Right Stuff in a System with Resources for Success. So Now What?"

We have created many resources to help leaders make use of Ed100 — have a look at our toolbox!

The next lesson will shift the focus to students.

Updated May 2025