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Sage Baysinger
English 220
Ms. Alapin
4/19/14
The Timeless Need for Education
The world is full of people fighting for the things they hold dear to their hearts. People
fight for their loved ones or money. Others fight for their country or the right to be treated
equally. Its human nature to fight for the things that we value and need to survive. Abraham
Maslow, famous American psychologist, even took the time to separate the needs into categories,
which is referred to as his hierarchy of needs. Maslows hierarchy of needs is structured as a
pyramid which is separated into five categories. The categories include psychological, safety,
belonging, esteem, and self-actualization. The base of the pyramid is psychological which
includes our most basic needs and wants. Things like breathing, eating, and sleeping fall into the
first category. As the pyramid rises the categories become more and more specific. Throughout
the pyramid our needs range from shelter, self esteem, and confidence to things like security of
health, lack of prejudice, and morality, which are higher within the pyramid. Maslow lists many
needs but I feel one basic need that is left out is the need for education. Education is a need that
can be a vital component in progressing through each section in Maslows hierarchy of needs.
The basic need for education is one that people seem to forget about. It could be due to
the fact that in America, the idea of education has become so common place that we have trouble
thinking about it as a basic human need. Or possibly its because education is one of the few
things that we actually experience in everyday life. Whatever the reason may be, education
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could very possibly be considered one of the most basic human needs throughout time. There
are children attending classes that are being held under roadway overpasses, and inside shacks.
These children are doing whatever it takes to meet their basic human need to attain an education.
These things are happening today in 2014, but the remarkable truth is that people have been
doing whatever it takes to fulfill the need for an education since the beginning of time. As a
species we have always been on the search for knowledge. As civilizations began to pop up in
regions all around the world, one thing they all had in common was the search for knowledge.
Some cultures searched for the best means to gather goods. Others were more concerned with
strategies in war. Many of these same cultures were also searching for the knowledge of their
origin and existence. These are all examples of the pursuit of education, even if the topics of
interest differ.
One of the earliest forms of formal education was the school that Socrates held in Athens
around 400 BCE. Even though this was one of the first forms of formal education, it was very
different from the type of schooling we are used to today. Socrates taught in a quarry and only
males were allowed to attend his lessons. The Athenians believed that the only proper way to
appease the gods was to nourish the mind as well as the body. Many Athenians held education to
be of utmost importance. Socrates teachings attracted many young men of Athens, and these
teachings allowed the men to begin thinking for themselves. However this freedom allowed for
recklessness. On more than one occasion students of Socrates overthrew the democratic
government. Since Socrates himself did not support the democracy of Athens, he was held
responsible for the actions of his pupils.
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The book The Last Days of Socrates written by Plato tells all of this and even more about
the allegations brought upon Socrates. Socrates was charged with refusing to recognize the
gods recognized by the state and corrupting the youth. Since the Athenian government was a
democratic one Socrates was entitled a hearing. After the trial was finished the jury found
Socrates to be guilty of all charges and his punishment was death. However Socrates was given
the option to choose his own punishment and his life would have been spared had he chosen
exile. Even with this information Socrates suggested he be merely fined. This was not a great
enough punishment for the Athenians and Socrates was sentenced to death by suicidal poisoning.
If Socrates had chosen exile he would have been unable to teach his people all that he
knew in the land he was born and raised in. Socrates was already seventy years old when the
trial took place and he obviously felt as though death would be greater than the denial of
education. In another of Platos writings, The Allegory of the Cave, he talks about man kind and
the pursuit of education. Platos ideas seem to mirror that of Socrates when Plato states If its
true, we mustnt believe that education is as some people proclaim: that the soul has no
knowledge and they put it in, like sight in a blind eye. Plato believes that all people have the
capacity and need for knowledge within them. By choosing death over a life without education,
Socrates shows that he too feels this way.
Nearly two thousand years after Socrates experienced his struggles with education in the
land that he loved, Benjamin Franklin was experiencing the same thing. As most Americans
should know, Benjamin Franklin was not a man with many years of formal education under his
belt. In fact, he never even finished high school. Even though Benjamin Franklin didnt have
very much experience with formal education growing up he still knew its importance. It was in
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1749 that Benjamin Franklin created a proposal for an academy of education to be created in
Pennsylvania. The title of this proposal was conveniently titled Proposals Relating to the
Education of Youth in Pennsylvania.
The proposal was aimed to make people aware of the need for an establishment of higher
learning in Philadelphia. Franklin began his proposal with an advertisement to the reader which
states It has long been regretted as a misfortune to the youth of this province, that we have no
academy, in which they might receive the accomplishments of a regular education. Franklin
saw that there was no institution for higher learning in Philadelphia and knew it was something
that needed to be corrected. There are some people however, who believe formal education is a
waste, and education can only take place through experience. Gandhi even states in his
autobiography that he believed that if he were to send his children to public school they would
have been deprived of education that can only be taught through experience. In his proposal
Benjamin Franklin shows an opposite feeling. The very first statement of the proposal says The
good education of youth has been esteemed by wise men in all ages, as the surest foundation of
the happiness both of private families and of common-wealths. It is evident that Franklin
believed only an education can lead to happy life. This proposal lead to the establishment known
as the Academy of Philadelphia, which in 1791, became the University of Pennsylvania. He
understood the necessity for education we all share and he wanted to help meet that need by
creating a formal setting for people to become educated.
For people of todays generation, the 1950s may as well be as long ago as 1749 and 400
BCE. However in reality it was only sixty years ago and many of our parents and grandparents
were around to see one of the most monumental struggles in education to date. In America until
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1954 it was legal for there to be segregation in the public school system. This meant that all the
teachers, books, and supplies of quality were sent to schools that only white children attended. It
is obvious that not being able to attend a school with better all around utilities will hinder the
education of the students being denied. It wasnt until the Unites States Supreme Court decided
in 1954 to make segregation in public schools illegal, that quality education was available for all
American citizens.
The trial of Brown vs. the Board of Education is the trial that made the monumental
decision of the U.S. Supreme Court possible. There were many lawsuits being held all across the
nation trying to eliminate segregation in public schools at this time. Finally all of these separate
but relative entities joined together under the name of Oliver Brown to take on the Board of
Education. Even though the main fight here was for civil rights, people seem to forget that it was
the need for an equal and quality education that spurred these lawsuits. African Americans of
this time were being denied the human need for an education and they fought for that right.
Brown vs. the Board of Education was the match that lit the fire that was the civil rights
movement. It helped make America more of an equal place for everyone no matter their race or
ethnicity. Only sixty years ago African Americans werent allowed to attend the same schools as
white people. Today the President of the United States is African American. The need and
willingness to fight for education helped to make all of that possible.
Man kind has and always will have the need to become educated. It is something that lies
deep inside of every human being. Not every one is as passionate about education as Socrates or
Benjamin Franklin, but every one has the ability to be. Many people find it difficult to see the
value in education the brave people in the Brown vs. Board of Education trial saw, but it doesnt
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mean these feelings cant be uncovered in every person. When something new is learned there is
an overwhelming feeling that can fill a persons heart. That same feeling is where the need for
education lies. Abraham Maslow might not have seen education to be an actual need humans
possess, but maybe thats because education is needed in order to progress through is hierarchy
of needs. There are many opinions on the proper way to gain education. Some believe it can
only be attained through formal schooling. Others believe only the school of experience can help
us to reach a real education. Whatever the means, the one thing that reigns true is that education
is and always will be needed.














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Works Cited
Gandhi. Education of Children. An Autobiography: The Story of My Experiments with Truth.
Boston: Beacon, 1957. Print.
Plato. The Republic. Trans. Raymond Larson. Arlington Heights IL: Wiley-Blackwell, 1979.
Print.
"Proposals Relating to the Education of Youth in Pensilvania Philadelphia, 1749." Primary
Sources Online. 2013. Web. 04 May 2014.
"The Suicide of Socrates, 399 BC." Eye Witness to History. 2003. Web. 1 May 2014.
United States. National Park Service. "History & Culture." National Parks Service. U.S.
Department of the Interior, 14 Apr. 2014. Web. 30 Apr. 2014.