A short argument for more Education

Jan 23rd 2021

I found the following comment on some news site while travelling. Only had time to write it down, and can not find the source now. I’ll update this if and when I find where it is from.

Here is the quote: A Taliban commander: “Teachers are dangerous because they change the minds of society”.

Here I have to say, that I fully agree with the Taliban, on the point that teachers do change society, but I do not agree that changing society makes them particularly dangerous.

I am guessing that the logic here is the following. If your identity, your worldview and whatever power you may have, is based on the existence of an unchanging static society, then any change or even perceived change is a threat. In that logic, anyone bringing any kind of change is a threat. So, teachers who teach “new” things, and by doing that promote change in society, are dangerous.

Understandable that a Taliban commander thinks like this, but not acceptable if you are not a Taliban, which most people are not.

I promised to keep this short, so I will not start preaching to the converted and extol all the virtues of education. I assume that if you are reading this, you do not share the Taliban worldview, and are basically the polar opposite of the Taliban.

The point here is; if a Taliban commander thinks that teachers are dangerous because they change society, then education must be a very effective way to change society and diminish the influence of extremists like the Taliban.

So, we should have much more education.