Education Is a Progressive Discovery of Our Own Ignorance

Education is a progressive discovery of our own ignorance’

(Will Durant)

What is ignorance? According to dictionary, ignorance is the state or fact of not knowing something because of a lack of knowledge, education, or awareness. And what about being ignorant?

First, let us hear some great voices from the past: Thomas Jefferson: "I believe that ignorance is the root of all evil. And that no one knows the truth." Martin Luther King: " If the blind lead the blind, both shall fall into the ditch." Plato: "To the heart and mind, ignorance is kind, there's no comfort in the truth, and pain is all you'll find." Daniel J. Boorstin: "The greatest obstacle to discovery is not ignorance -- it is the illusion of knowledge." Socrates: “ I know one thing, thet I know nothing.”

Clearly, what these prominent figures tried to say is just our title: Ignorance is more valuable to man than silver and gold, but more deadly to man than arsenic. There is a saying that ignorance is bliss. If you do not know about something, you cannot worry about it. For example, some doctors believe ignorance is bliss and don’t give their patients all the facts. Ignorance, in such circumstances, has a deadly outcome. For instance, ignorance about treating or preventing cancer may lead to death.

And in my opinion quote by Socrates is a equivalent to quote by Will Durant. We know that Socrates was famous for his wisdom, not in the sense that he was omniscient but that he realized at the age of seventy that he still knew nothing. Yes, we are all ignorant, By the way, beware of false knowledge; that is far more dangerous than ignorance.

Education means a wide variety of things to different people. For