Noam Chomsky - The Purpose of Education

Noam Chomsky discusses the purpose of education, impact of technology, whether education should be perceived as a cost or an investment and the value of standardised assessment.

Presented at the Learning Without Frontiers Conference - Jan 25th 2012- London (LWF 12)


credits:
Interviewed & directed by Graham Brown-Martin

[krishnasa]

" Teaching ought to be inspiring students to discover on their own, to challenge if they don't agree, to look for alternatives if they think they are better ones..." -Noam Chomsky

[HelenaVanCity]

I agree with his every word. Always teach my students to think on their own, question me, as their instructor, question the teaching materials, the curriculum, and the "public opinion." Educating independent thinkers is priceless.

"Education is what remains after you've forgotten everything you've been taught." Don't know who said it, but bloody well said!

[kakashi]

Yes the fast paced editing is brilliant! It adds so much to the experience. You feel like you are in the room with him, running around from side to side, getting in his face then quickly pulling back and sitting in a chair a few feet off to the side of him... you know, like you always do when you are listening to someone.

[per_ringnes]

Noam Chomsky is my intellectual hero and one of my guides in life.

[ScottHaley]

As a former educator at both the secondary and community college levels, I agree.  In my beginning yrs as a teacher, I bought into the "indoctrination" approach to education.  It's a disaster for both students & ed in general.  It was only in later yrs that I learned the value of teaching students to think & develop creativity rather than to recite.  Some recitation is of use, but it shouldn't be the primary focus of education.

[Jessiejanebell]

"it doesn't matter what we cover, it matters what you discover."
i love this video! and noam chomsky.

[backpackmatt]

Listening to Chomsky is like listening to an Ocean 🌊 of knowledge.

[erikbakker]

The only purpose of education is to teach a person how to live his life; by developing his mind and equipping him to deal with reality. The training he needs is theoretical, meaning conceptual. He has to be taught to think, to understand, to integrate, to prove. He has to be taught the essentials of the knowledge discovered in the past, and he has to be equipped to acquire further knowledge by his own effort.

[chriscockrell]

Education
1) Enlightenment - is up to you to achieve value, find meaning
2) Indoctrination - accept, not challenge
Train for passing test or inquire/understanding

Technology - nueutral - like hammer, to kill or build
Communication - email - phone - telegram - sailing vessel
Plumbing on health vs antibiotics
Is my framework the right one.

[michaelotoa]

Excellent analysis under "Assessment Vs Autonomy" "It doesn't matter what we cover, it matters what you discover" Wow! 👍

[Lahmacunmatik]

Cameraman: "What's this boring education thing? I'll just zoom into his nasal hair for fun instead."

[MrZemme]

It's impossible to learn "without biasies." What you should strive for is to learn so much that you know the biasies you're learning and the one's you have.

[sekousekou]

Brilliant man !!! Every he speaks you learn, make you think . He really stimulates mind and thought positively

[ankitsharma]

Wonderful interview by prof Chomsky.May god bless u with gud health n speedy recovery.❤🙏

[abowlofsalad]

Noam Chomsky has that relaxing ASMR voice.

[marsamos]

Chomsky knows good seeds and ways to spread them... That's what human's aims with language... As long as we produce it... Thank you for this video and thank you Prof. Chomsky for your personal "hammer humanitarian" implication ❤

[TheDub]

What I've learned watching this is that there is always room for one more Book on a pile of Books. 😂

[papaluskask]

Free education for everyone. Create more videos about learning or how to create or how things work. Knowledge is something that is shared will grow. Hiding information about how something works or how it's created slows down progress not increase it.

[michaelshannon]

I used to be a big proponent of education but now I look at humanity, the world, the nature of existence and realise that our lives are meaningless and education doesnt seem to change that. All education seems to do now is attempt to enhance technology to make our lives as bearable as possible. Ppl are now on more meds than ever, more lonely than ever, more anxious and depressed than ever, working more than ever, divorce higher than ever, and yet we are all more educated than ever. Theres a crisis of meaning, purpose and a sense of connection among ppl that education cant address. We have to ask what are we being educated for, what version of the future is worth striving for? AI? Travelling to the pits of the universe? We're at a crossroads now where we are all looking to something or someone that will make our educational endevours worth pursuing. Education has a toll, a psychological cost, what is the reward. If a 9-6 job, wife and kids and a mortgage is what we're being sold then education itself will find itself under threat.

[uncleho]

Chomsky brilliant as always. John Dewey had questioned the value of rote training and preferred that students be taught o develop critical thinking skills. The problem is that colonial institutions view this as dangerous because the oppressed will begin to question the legitimacy of those that govern them.