http://www.nytimes.com/2011/03/07/opinion/07krugman.html?_r=1

http://www.iwillteachyoutoberich.com/blog/education-is-not-the-magic-bullet/

I was browsing the net as I usually do, when I came across these articles.

OMG!

They’re saying the same thing. Education doesn’t completely solve the problem. What problem? Any problem.

There are certain requirements before a person will usually do something. I’d personally divide it into 3 requirements.

  1. The ability to do it.

  2. The knowledge of how to do it.

  3. The motivation to do it.

So if a person is unable to do something then having the other two requirements is no use. There’s a reason I put the requirements in that order though, it’s in order of increasing difficulty.

It’s hard enough to have the ability to do something that requires great physical strength or that requires a lot of money, but many things that we want to solve with education are matters of society that most people can easily do. Example? Recycling. Or giving up your bus seat to a lady or senior citizen.

Education gives you knowledge

Education however addresses the second requirement. Governments and politicians aren’t entirely daft. They realize that most of these things require very little ability, and they suspect that society just doesn’t have the knowledge to do it.

And so we are taught, educated and campaigned to recycle, give up our seats and avoid drugs & smoking.

…but it doesn’t give you motivation

Now here’s where it gets a bit odd. For some reason, most people expect education to also give motivation, the will to do something. Don’t worry, you and I do too. The reason is because it almost makes sense. Example:

A man is smoking. He sees a tv ad and a poster by the street that tells him smoking can kill him. The government campaign teaches him the multiple ways he will contract cancer and die a horrible smoky death.

You would think he would stop smoking… HE DOESN’T.

What’s happened here is that you’re confusing knowledge with motivation. Just because you know that something is good or bad for you, doesn’t mean you will always make the smartest choice. No, humans aren’t always smart. We’re sometimes very irrational. Did you just figure that out? And yes, that applies to all of us, me included.

We can’t be smart all the time, it’s too tiring. That’s why the smartest of us can put in a battery the wrong way, and why the smartest of us will make mistakes in our life. We won’t always act in our best interests. Humans are irrational.

So this means?

It means that education is not the answer, not unless people already have motivation. If you educate people the best way to keep track of their money, they won’t do it unless they have the motivation to check their accounts every month.

It means that if the government wants society to behave in certain ways, then they must make good defaults. What are good defaults, you ask? Hmm, good question, I think I’ll address that in another post soon.

But think on this. Next time you’re tempted to say “If only we had better education”, then think about whether education would get you the results you wanted? Or would it just create a group of people who know how to do it (without anyone actually willing to do it)?

Maybe education isn’t the answer…