Is education a panacea (cure-all) for society's ills?

Question

Or put another way: Can all of the things that are wrong with society be remedied with education?

Answer 1

If you equate education with schooling then your answer is quite different. Education is not only schooling but experience that creates rational thinking and acting

Education decreases the worlds ills without question. It leads to more informed voters and consumers. Many government agencies exist because they assume that people are too dumb to do things on their own (often people are that dumb). Calling it a cure all is a little overstepping it however.

Education also comes in the form of experience. some people would have Ph.D.s from the school of hard knocks but posses no academic degree IMO they can still be more educated than some 22 year old college grad.

Before we start bashing college lets assume that a formal schooling represents only a portion of someones education. If i read a book i therefore become smarter and more "educated" but the publisher of the book will not send me a certificate of 'smarterness' or anything.

I will have to answer yes to this question with the caveat that an educated person can still do stupid things but is less likley to.

Answer 2

The answer is no. Just look at Yale Educated George W. Bush for example. He is causing many ills to our society and he is allegedly educated. If one adds common sense with education, then good things happen.

Answer 3

No, people can rationalize a lot of things, but not their innate being and reactions. You can't train yourself to be inhuman and being human means you are not always rational.