The world is run by educated people.

A select group of people make the decisions that make the world go round, decisions that affect the lives of billions around the world. This is no conspiracy theory I concocted in the privacy of my apartment, nor should it sound new to anyone.

Being educated in the world today implies spending a reasonable amount of time in an institution of higher learning. These educational institutions are the places modern society has given the duty of molding the minds of its leaders and its citizens. Yet, in the face of the current global financial crisis, terrorism, world hunger and dictators, I had to wonder whether these institutions were teaching students anything about morals.

The same people who decide to engage in wars and the people who decide to blow up innocent people went to colleges and institutions of higher learning. So this begs the question: Is higher education at a university level really improving the world, or is it actually making things worse? Are we becoming more moral and humane as we learn more?

The big fear I have is that we are all learning to be earners and not just well-rounded, good people. I know this sounds like silly idealism, but it’s the truth.

Education is viewed as a gateway to financial rewards, not to a better life for you and those around you. This is because we are taught money and a good life are one and the same thing. Hence, when we look at the financial crisis it stems from everyone thinking they can buy happiness.

We go to class and learn that regardless of one’s vocation, you are only worth it if you earn money. With this money you have to fall for all the trappings of modern life, the definition of a blissful existence.

So, we create people who go into debt trying to buy a dream they can’t afford. A close analysis of the housing bubble reveals an obviously unsustainable situation, but we followed with it anyway. A lot of the big decisions that led to this crisis were decisions from graduates of some of the world’s best schools of higher learning.

We can’t be taught to be happy, but we can learn not to think money will make us happy. An education should encourage people to pursue greater moral ideals. I took many classes and was never challenged to deal with such issues. We can’t claim to be educated if we aren’t people of high moral standards. Education needs to teach us to be idealists and to try to work toward a world that is reaching for higher ideals.

Institutions of higher learning should be the places from which we try to realize a world that is ideal for human survival. We should view and use education as a means to realizing a better future for humanity. Colleges and universities should be the institutions charged with preaching a higher moral ideal for graduates.

It is only through our colleges and universities that we will have economic and political leaders who realize the importance of high moral ideals. So far, higher education has failed to do this. Instead, it has produced money-hungry politicians and economists whose underlying goal is to make money, not to improve lives.

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