The Main Purpose of Education

Amar Pandit , CFA , CFP

Amar Pandit

A respected entrepreneur with 25+ years of Experience, Amar Pandit is the Founder of several companies that are making a Happy difference in the lives of people. He is currently the Founder of Happyness Factory, a world-class online investment & goal-based financial planning platform through which he aims to help every Indian family save and invest wisely. He is very passionate about spreading financial literacy and is the author of 4 bestselling books (+ 2 more to release in 2020), 8 Sketch Books, Board Game and 700 + columns.

I had written this as an Investor Nano initially, but it’s so important for all of us, that I decided to publish it on this blog first.

What do you think is the main purpose of education?

Reflect on this question for some time.

Did you come up with any of these answers? I often get these answers from people…

• To Learn
• To Get a Degree
• To Get Ready for the real world
• To Earn Money
• To Satisfy our curiosity
• This is how the system is. Without education, I don’t stand a chance

Over 100 years ago, Professor of Moral Philosophy at Oxford, John Alexander Smith, addressed the entering class of Oxford as follows:

Nothing that you will learn in the course of your studies will be of the slightest possible use to you, save only this, that if you work hard and intelligently you should be able to detect when a man is talking rot, and that in my view, is the main, if not the sole purpose of education.

I couldn’t agree more.

We are all drowning in bullshit from all quarters. The best part is that it all seems credible.

It’s time we start understanding the difference between fact and fiction (or bullshit).