Education is Crafty

In Plato's Republic, Socrates says that

"Education isn't what some people declare it to be....putting knowledge into souls that lack it, like putting sight into blind eyes."

Human beings, Socrates acknowledges, have the potential to learn--just as a man in a dark cave has the potential to see the light--and should not be judged. Therefore, lack of knowledge does not indicate potential intelligence. As well, Socrates insists that those "above" the cave should visit this darkness in order to fully see the light. In this way, one can differentiate between the good and the bad. In this radical and historic philosophical text, Plato relates Socrate's musings on education and power, and how they are intertwined.

Plato. "The Allegory of the Cave" Book VII of The Republic, pp. 1132-1155. Plato: Complete Works. Ed. John M. Cooper. Assc Ed. D.S. Hutchinson. Indianapolis, IN/Cambridge, UK: Hackett Publishing, 1997.