The influence of education on knowledge and character

Abstract

It is commonly assumed that formal education fos­ters both knowledge and character development. How­ever, this study questions the integrity of this assumption. This research aims to investigate whether education and ob­taining higher qualifications genuinely lead to enhanced gen­eral knowledge and a heightened awareness of one's igno­rance regarding certain topics. Cross-sectional data from the World Values Survey (N > 90,000) on educational levels, gen­eral knowledge, and the acknowledgement of ignorance were analysed. Education levels corresponded with elevated gen­eral knowledge; however, both educated and less educated individuals displayed similar tendencies to acknowledge their unfamiliarity with certain top­ics. The hypothesis pro­posing that higher levels of education correlate with superior general knowledge was supported by the data, but the com­mendable trait of acknowledging one's igno­rance does not ap­pear to be cultivated among those with higher degrees. This research raises important questions about the value of ad­vanced education as a builder of character and could consti­tute a call to universities to incorporate more formal ethics training into their curriculum.

Keywords

• education
• knowledge
• character
• world values survey