Education--to What End…?

There is a sentence from Samuel Johnson that suggests a persistently important subject: “Integrity without knowledge is weak and useless…” he said. “Knowledge without integrity is dangerous and dreadful.”

Sometimes we speak of education as if it were an end in and of itself, but always we should ask ourselves what is the aim of education. Education to what end, and for what purpose, is always an important and compelling question. Education is, of course, to increase knowledge and skill, competence and understanding. But it should also increase character.

To pursue one step further: Suppose we were to educate people for evil purposes. Would an educated evil be better than an uneducated evil? Certainly it could be more devious and destructive.

We have referred at times to talent without character, power without character, weapons without character – even words without character. Anything without character is a hazard, including education without character. Education is not a substitute for morality, and in teaching and counseling youth, moral and ethical and spiritual elements must be added to give character and integrity to their lives, if we are to have a safe and wholesome society.

“The end of education,” said President Dickey of Dartmouth, “is to see men made whole, both in competence and in conscience. For to create the power of competence without creating a corresponding direction to guide the use of that power is bad education. Furthermore, competence will finally disintegrate apart from conscience.”

We cite a sentence from Henry Adams, who said: “A teacher affects eternity; he can never tell where his influence stops.”

If morality and ethics are separated from education, the future would indeed be frightening. “Integrity without knowledge is weak and useless. Knowledge without integrity is dangerous and dreadful.”