Economic Role of Schooling

This post was adapted from something that I had previously written.

Let’s face it. The schools were not developed for people. They were developed for businesses. Children are asked to sacrifice themselves to their careers. Even with this approach, the economy is in terrible shape.

Instead of reaching for an education, children are expected to go to school. Instead of discovering how to think and to learn, they must abandon their thought processes. Instead of learning to progress, they learn to shut up and do whatever they are told. Instead of figuring out how to can make real contributions to society, they must conform to the role of a mindless drone that most businesses demand.

I understand that the strength of the economy is important. The more we have and the more we can do with our finances, the more we can do with our lives. The stronger the economy becomes, the better our lives can be. Quality of life is important, and the economy can certainly help quality of life. The problem with this is that we are sacrificing quality of life for the economy, and that defeats the purpose of a strong economy.

In America, it seems like the economy is the only thing we ever have going for us. We define the quality of our lives not by happiness and the fulfillment of our needs, but by how much money we have. If the economy is strong, our entire country is strong. If our economy is weak, we panic.

The focus on economy has the consequence of amplifying the highs and lows. When the economy is strong, we spend money that we don’t have. We move around more money, and make the economy stronger that we could possibly sustain. What goes up has a tendency of coming back down. When the high ends, we overreact. People hoard as much money as they can. Businesses slash expenses wherever possible, including layoffs.

Take a look at the dot com bust. When Internet stocks were rising, people wanted to get in on the profits. People invested heavily in stocks, pushing them up higher. With more money available, many misguided Internet businesses formed. Since they were associated with an advancing industry, people saw the investment potential and joined in. The stocks rose to levels well beyond their values. Eventually, the values started to correct themselves. People realized that they had reached their peaks, and started selling. The values dropped faster. Eventually, many investors sold their stocks for fear of losing everything. A lot of Internet companies, even some well-run businesses, were forced to shut down.

What if we had more than the economy working for us? What if we didn’t sacrifice ourselves for the almighty dollar? While the high points wouldn’t be nearly as high, the low points wouldn’t be anywhere near as low. We would be far less likely to panic and damage the economy out of fear. At the same time, we could enjoy ourselves even when we are struggling with our finances.

Of course, the economy would not disappear if we eliminated the schooling process. While businesses may not be as efficient, they would see improvements in some areas. The current approach makes employees interchangeable with a dedication to doing things a certain way. The elimination of the schools would replace mindless drones with freethinking individuals.

While employees currently conform to the job, the job would need to be able to adapt to the individual. Without the restrictions of schooling, however, workers would exceed the skills sets seen today. This is the reason that businesses must adapt. They need to utilize unique individual strengths. Since the jobs would become more dynamic, they could change at a faster rate. Combine this with the freethinking characteristics not found in products of the schools, and efficiency is replaced with progress.

The schools are turning into a trillion dollar industry. I don’t think that there is any question that we could find a better way to spend this money. For example, we could cut taxes to make life more affordable and more enjoyable at the same time.