Acharya Prashant explains that the current education system is very effective at achieving what it was designed for. To understand its output, one must first question the intention of its designers and their vision for the system's products. He suggests that one must understand who enters the education system to know who will emerge from it. True education, he posits, should be the movement from our 'somber fact' to our 'splendid possibility.' It is the journey from the 'sordid, primitive fact of our physical existence' to the 'glorious, splendid possibility of the liberated human being.' Education should be the process that connects these two. However, the speaker asserts that this is not the intention of the current system. The real intention is to treat the student as a raw material and transform them into a finished product that serves the needs of the existing social and economic order. The system is designed to produce people who can manufacture and market goods, such as shoes, thereby supporting the societal structure. In return for serving the system, the individual is rewarded with material comforts like money and respect. This reciprocal relationship is how the education system proceeds. The success of this system is measured by placement figures, which represent the absorption of the individual into the socio-economic order. This is what is considered 'practical' education. The speaker notes that we celebrate when the products of a university find good positions in industry or government. He concludes by questioning where liberation and truth fit into this model. The current system educates you to 'become' something, not to 'unbecome' what you have erroneously become.
