In this is story there are two different roles we can take note of and these roles are the “students” and the “teacher”. The role of the “teacher” would be represented as the prisoner who was set free from the cave and was able to go see the world as it is for himself. The role the “student” is represented by the two prisoners who were kept in the cave and were being told about the outside world by the man who was set free. A teacher will try their best to explain to the students the information that they have, However, the student can either be exceptive of this knowledge or reject it completely
I believe there are purposes for education, one being to pass down knowledge from one generation to the next. In todays world I also see education as the key to one becoming successful. You may be just as skilled if not more skilled as the next person in the work field, however since they went to college and you didn’t that makes them more qualified. Education can can also be viewed in a negative way because there are people who want knowledge for all the wrong reason. Furthermore, education can be misleading if not taught correctly.
Shakeem,
I’m intrigued by the last couple of sentences in your response. I would love to hear you talk more about how education be viewed in a negative way. I think the prisoner in Plato’s allegory experiences this negativity when he returns to the cave and tries to share his experiences with his fellow prisoners.
I also am interested in your observation that people use knowledge for “all the wrong reasons.” I may be asking you to follow up on this idea in a different writing assignment!
Good response!