The Purpose of Education
Everyday we go to school to receive our education, but what is the purpose of education? Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s speech, “The Purpose of Education” and Frank O’Connor’s short story, “Christmas Morning,” both discuss what is the purpose of education. The purpose of education is to acknowledge not only one’s intelligence, but also one’s character, provide one with the ability to make decisions and achieve their goals.
One of the purposes of education is to acknowledge one’s intelligence. In Frank O’Connor’s “Christmas Morning,” Larry’s mother believes that intelligence is the crucial part to the purpose of education. She said to Larry, “if only you’d stick to your books, you might be something good like a clerk or engineer.” She believes that studying hard is the only way to be intelligent and get a good job in the future; even though Larry does not think this is important, this is what she thinks about the purpose of education. However, in Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s speech, he said that “intelligence is not enough.” He acknowledges that developing intelligence is one of the purposes of education, but he believes the true goal of education is not only to gain intelligence. Both Mr. King and the mother in Mr. O’Connor’s short story acknowledge increasing intelligence as one of the purpose of education, but Mr. King believes there are other values equal with promoting intelligence for the purpose of education.
Intelligence is not the only purpose of education, education can be important to develop a person’s character, provide one with the ability to make decisions and achieve their goals. These are valued equally to develop intelligence. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s speech states that “intelligence plus character – that is the goal of true education.” He thinks that intelligence is not the only goal for education, he believes education should also develop one’s unique character to apply the knowledge learn in