In my previous post, I began explaining how I answer students who pose the prevalent question:

Why do we have to know this?

Every teacher should have an answer to this question, but, typically, the question implies that the questioner is looking for some practical application of the knowledge. In other words, he is really asking, What use can I make of this knowledge?

And the way teachers and parent-educators tend to answer the question suggests that they understand and accept the implication. They look for ways the knowledge might one day be used–in a career, in day-to-day life, in future educational contexts. After some time thinking about such things, I began to question this pragmatic way of thinking.

Plato’s Idea

In Plato’s Republic, the philosopher at one point asserts that there are three categories of things we pursue in this world:

• means — things we want because they get us other things (e.g., money, a job, a diploma)
• ends — things we want for themselves alone (e.g., happiness, pleasure, justice)
• means & ends — things that are both valuable in themselves and lead to other desirable things (e.g., health, a mate, freedom)

Money is worthless unless it can be used to acquire goods and services. No one fills up a swimming pool with coins and bank notes just to gaze upon it or swim around in it. Well, other than Scrooge McDuck. Money is simply a means to other ends.

Success, joy, love — these are things we all want because they are intrinsically valuable. No one seriously asks the question, Why do you want love? We just do. All of us. The question strikes us as nonsensical. It’s like asking why a triangle has to have three sides.

Most things fall into the third category. They have some intrinsic value but also are means to other valuable things. We all desire health for its own sake. It’s just better to be healthy than sick. But having good health also allows us to work and play and experience the joys of life that we couldn’t otherwise. Health is therefore both an end in itself and a means to other ends.

And here’s my point in a nutshell:

Too many of us intuitively place knowledge in the first category when it belongs in the third.

In other words, we think of education–the acquisition of knowledge–as simply a means to an end. But it’s not just a means to an end. It’s an end in itself. In other words,

It’s good to know stuff.

A kid asks me, “Why do I have to know this?” and I answer,  “Because it’s good to know stuff.”

I’ll ask, “Is it better to be beautiful or ugly? Is it better to be a success or a failure? Happy or sad? Healthy or sick? Loved or lonely?

Then I’ll ask, “Why?” to any of those questions. And the answer, of course, is, “Duh. Because it just is.”

Right. So is it better to be knowledgeable or ignorant? Is it better to know something or not know something? They usually get it by this point.

The Bible and Gold Nuggets

I’m a Christian who revers the Bible as the word of God. But even people skeptical about its infallibility acknowledge that there’s a good bit of wisdom in there. And that, I think, includes statements like:

“An intelligent heart acquires knowledge, and the ear of the wise seeks knowledge.”  Proverbs 18:15

“Take my instruction instead of silver, and knowledge rather than choice gold,” Proverbs 8:10

Knowledge, the Bible says, is valuable.

Once, I brought into class a wheelbarrow filled with giant gold nuggets. Actually, they were rocks from my garden I had spray-painted gold. But I told them they were real gold. I put one one each desk and said, “Pretend these are real, and I’m giving them to you. How would you respond? Would any of you complain about how heavy your gold is? Would you say to me, ‘Mr. Wasko, why do I have to have this gold?'”

They got the point. But I understand. It’s easier to recognize the immediate value of gold than knowledge.

Jeopardy and Trivial Pursuit

On my Facebook page, I asked how people answer their kids when they ask, “Why do I have to know this?” One homeschool mom wrote, “Because it will help you win Trivial Pursuit.” She was being facetious, but there’s truth lurking here.

Games like Trivial Pursuit and game shows like Jeopardy and Are You Smarter Than a Fifth Grader? exist because we all know it’s good to know stuff. It’s frustrating to get questions in Trivial Pursuit that we don’t know the answer to, and it’s a peculiar delight to happen to know an answer–no matter how trivial. Can’t we all relate to the simple pleasure of shouting out the correct answer (or is it question?) when watching Jeopardy? Heck, I do it when I’m all alone.

I admire people who know stuff. I once went to an art museum with a college professor and enjoyed it far more than I ever had before because he knew so much about the art and the artists. My botanically brilliant sister-in-law took my family on a hike a few years ago and amazed us all with information about the plants we saw along the way. I’ve got a friend who knows all about wine, another who’s area of expertise is baseball, and another knows how to catch fish anywhere there’s water. None of these people make any money or gain any cultural status for knowing this stuff. They pursue such knowledge for the intrinsic pleasure of knowing it. I happen to know stuff about grammar and writing, and get my jollies writing blog articles about it.

We can all relate to this, right? Deep down we all love to know stuff.

Is All Stuff Equally Good to Know?

Even though I fully believe it’s better to know stuff than not to know stuff, it doesn’t mean I think all stuff is equally good to know. But this post has already grown too long, so I’ll save that for Part 3. I’ll also talk about the excellent question: If it’s so obvious that it’s good to know stuff, then why do kids continually ask the question, Why do I have to know this?

 

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