In The Function of Education Jiddu Krishnamurti argues that the purpose of education is to prepare people for life. That is done by making students feel free, so that they can think freely, and won’t conform to society. Society is corrupt, violent, and oppressive. If students don’t think freely they will also be corrupt, violent, and oppressive. They must think freely so that they will rebel against everything that is wrong with society, so that they can change society. That is completely true, but Krishnamurti doesn’t account for how students will learn to rebel, if their education is not oppressive.
Jiddu Krishnamurti argues that the purpose of education should not just be to prepare people for a career, but to prepare people for life. If people are not educated to understand the whole process of life; “the constant battle between groups, races and nations… the subtle, hidden things of the mind-the envies, the ambitions, the passions, the fears, fulfillments and anxieties” (Krishnamurti, xl), then they will miss the whole point of life, that life is actually extraordinary, all life is extraordinary, the earth and all the animals and plants on it and everything else, all are extraordinary. If people do not understand how extraordinary life is they will not live it to their upmost potential, and instead will decay, deteriorate, and whither away. If education does not help people to understand life then it is meaningless, because in order to live a good life it is necessary to know what life is all about, and it is necessary to have intelligence; the capacity to think freely without fear, without having to conform, in order to discover what is true.
It is necessary for young people to live in an environment without fear so that they can learn to think for themselves, and not feel like they have to conform. Most people become frightened as they get older, because they have so many responsibilities, and are unable to