What is the goal of all education? Great cultures have discovered that the true goal of education is similar to the goal of human life. Whatever skill is learned, from earliest childhood, should have the ultimate purpose of making a person more free, virtuous and happy. All the practical skills we learn do this to a certain extent. By learning to speak, to cook, or to build a house, we are becoming more free. However, as the ancient Greeks discovered, liberty of soul is far more important than liberty of body. A king who rules the world but is enslaved to error or vice is truly not as free as a wise and good man whose body is in chains. As long as a person is enslaved to error or vice he cannot be truly free, virtuous or happy, no matter how much wealth, influence or power he possesses. It is only knowledge of the truth and obedience to it which sets a person free. The goal of true education can never be economic prosperity, or mere leadership ability, or even empty curiosity. The goal of education must be to know the Truth.
Knowing the Truth is not just a matter of collecting information that happens to be factual. Information falls out of the brain just as easily as it falls in, and often it isn’t truly understood. The most important truths can’t be known unless the mind is prepared to grasp them. What is required for this type of education is training in logical thinking.