President John F. Kennedy said: “Let us think of education as the means of developing our greatest abilities, because in each of us there is a private hope and dream which, fulfilled, can be translated into benefit for everyone and greater strength for our nation.”
This quote embodies the true spirit of learning, in that we should be acquiring knowledge for the betterment of society and not the propagation of self. In America, our current approach to education is in total contrast to this idea, as we have become a society that has yielded to promoting individual aspirations in the acquisition of knowledge. This trend has served to weaken our society and will ultimately lead to our demise if not corrected. To begin addressing any problem, one must recognize its root. The core of this crisis lies in the prevalent ideas that govern our society namely Materialism and Capitalism.
