ABSTRACT
Education as an Expression of Social Purpose Education has been a powerful instrument to serve social purposes since the times of ancient civilizations. Often, those purposes have included the perpetuation of a privileged status quo. However, as the Millennium Task Force on Education and Gender Equality pointed out, education can also be a key stimulus for social change: “Educating the poor is particularly important for triggering broader social change. Education has a special quality: the human capital acquired through formal education cannot be appropriated. In that respect it is different from land or financial assets. Education is an asset that enables its owner to earn more and to communicate and obtain information more successfully” (Birdsall, Levine, and Ibrahim 2005: 25).
