In our culture we are brought up to have a very clear understanding of ‘education’ – what it is and what it entails. Rarely does the opportunity arise to question it, though question it we should.

The system here in Britain is driven purely by the acquisition of academic knowledge. We ardently believe that children should leave school, first and foremost, with a firm theoretical knowledge of the various disciplines.  This is certainly the stance of our Education Secretary – indeed Michael Gove has just called for a return to the teaching of “rigorous” scholarly subjects, and has recently given permission for existing grammars to set up “satellite” schools based on these very principles.

Yet what relevance does the regurgitation of facts have to our own lives? As the sixteenth century French philosopher Michel de Montaigne emphasised – “we know how to say, ‘This is what Cicero said’….but what have we got to say? What judgements do we make? What are we doing? A parrot could talk as well as we do.”  Our system is, as Montaigne feared, fundamentally impersonal with a clear estrangement between academic attainment and our own personal wellbeing. What would he have said to an education system built around learning as a mere means to passing exams?

Nineteenth century German philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche would have agreed with Montaigne’s criticism. He felt that education became a lifeless process when all it set to achieve was to transfer a body of facts rather than a process of developing human understanding.

He argued that the main aim of education should be to give students the tools required to develop their own abilities rather than being handed an image to merely imitate. Students should be allowed to ascribe value to whatever they choose in order to become authentic individuals, for if everything had the same value for everyone, nothing would have any true value at all.

The contemporary educational thinker Ken Robinson would approve of this sentiment. He criticises the education system in its rigidity, emphasising that the main aim of education should be to encourage creativity. Society does not value originality, and this not only stalls personal development, but is also damaging on an international scale.

He reasons that our education system was developed in the nineteenth century and was designed to meet the needs of a mass industrial society, one which valued the Sciences over the Arts – education was for installing you with knowledge and skills, not for bringing out talent and potential.

However, in the modern world, our requirements have changed. As we are faced with new challenges, we need to produce a more ‘thoughtful society’. The education system, in Robinson’s eyes, needs to be revolutionised in order for this to become possible.

Education should therefore be made pertinent to our own lives, and, learning by example, perhaps we should put greater emphasis on the subject of Philosophy. If Philosophy were a compulsory subject, young people would be encouraged to expand their minds - counteracting the impersonal, doctrinal elements of the system. Children would be encouraged to ‘think outside the box’ – to question everything and take nothing for granted.

The main aim of the education system should be to celebrate originality and inspire creativity, whilst retaining a relevance to everyday life. Education should also aspire to the attainment of happiness – not by preaching, but by introducing young people to the works of philosophers who dedicated their lives to the challenge. Philosophy has the potential to generate equality in a classroom like no other subject. By encouraging freedom of thought and expression, it ultimately has the power, as a core academic discipline, to open minds and reinvigorate a stagnant education system.

Montaigne wrote: “I have seen in my time hundreds of craftsmen and ploughmen wiser and happier than university rectors.” Academic achievement alone does not make you happy. Only an education of the whole person can do that – and it is this we should strive for. Mr Gove should take note.