The Dream of Education

Abstract

Due to the indeterminacy inherent to anthropology and the necessity of human selfdesign, the dream of education is as necessary as education itself. The dream swirls about the realities of life and education; the dream supplements reality, corrects it, satisfies its unfulfilled desires; the dream penetrates reality, evades it, transcends it; it designs contrafactual modifications and alternatives. Yet, the question remains open as to what dreams are dreamed and which forms of education are realized in a particular society, and in a historical period. The difference between the dream and educational reality is irrevocable; it corresponds with the difference between the imaginary and the real. There is a tangible hiatus between imagination and reality, which, by exposing the limits of the possibilities of education to change human reality, and by revealing the limits to which humans can be educated, gives rise to ever-new compensatory dreams as well as nightmares of education.

Keywords: education, dream, reality, history of education, Freud, philosophy