“Educating for what?” Reflections on The right to education

Abstract

At the beginning of the last century, in his work “The Outline of History” Wells
stated that human history is increasingly becoming a race between education and
catastrophe. This almost apocalyptic reading of human reality highlights something that
has been sufficiently clear since the dawn of Western culture: that few factors, such as
education, have a decisive influence on the functioning of our democratic models. And
yet, education is not only a mechanism that guarantees the health of our systems of
coexistence. It is also a decisive instrument for the realization of the principle of human
dignity. This paper reflects on this dual nature of education by synthesizing some
conclusions presented by the author in the paper “Reflections on the right to education
from a teleological and legal perspective” presented at the VI International Congress
“Right to education: teaching innovation and educational improvement”, organized by
the University of Cordoba and the University of Valencia on March 4th and 5th, 2021.