Reimagining Utilitarian Model of Education
Should the entire curriculum be made hostage to occupational prospects existing in the current job market?
āIt is better to be Socrates dissatisfied than a pig satisfied; better to be Socrates dissatisfied than a fool satisfied. And if the fool, or the pig, are of a different opinion, it is because they only know their own side of the question. The other party to the comparisons knows both sides.ā John Stuart Mill
Well, the pig or the fool might be happy because they are satisfied, but in their satisfaction, they donāt have any choice or knowledge of all the possibilities that lie beyond their current state. And unfortunately, our current state of education seems driven by the interest of both the pig and the fool.
There is a common tendency among intelligentsia to advocate a utilitarian model of education. For them, the sole function of education is to impart vocational skills for the accumulation of wealth to satisfy pigs and fools.
Any other educational roles become subservient to this primary function. This intelligentsia takes a lot of pride in flogging the outdated model of education that according to them seems hell-bent on presenting every student with the identical bouquet of ice cream flavors (subjects) in the nameā¦
