EDUCATION IS A BUSINESS — NOT A NOBLE PURSUIT ANYMORE
- Madhukar Dama
- May 31
- 4 min read
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1. INTRODUCTION: A SYSTEM BUILT ON FEES, NOT FREEDOM
What was once seen as a sacred path to wisdom and growth is now one of the most aggressive, manipulative, and profitable industries in the world. Education today has little to do with nurturing the human mind and everything to do with branding, customer retention, and economic gain.
Across schools, colleges, coaching centres, and edtech platforms, the goal is not to help children learn — it is to extract payment, produce dependency, and package false prestige.
This essay exposes how modern education functions like a business and why this model is deeply harmful.
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2. EDUCATION COSTS MORE THAN IT RETURNS
In a genuine learning system, the value of the outcome should exceed the cost of entry. But in modern education:
Students pay lakhs to crores for degrees.
They enter a saturated job market with low salaries.
Many remain jobless despite full payment.
This is not education. It is a loss-making investment for the student, and a guaranteed profit for the institution.
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3. MARKETING HAS REPLACED LEARNING
Modern schools and colleges don't invest in deep knowledge, real teachers, or emotional care. Instead, they focus on:
Eye-catching buildings
Fancy uniforms
English fluency and brand affiliations
Celebrity endorsements and rankings
This turns education into a consumer experience. What matters is not what the child knows — but how well the school can sell itself.
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4. TESTS, RANKS, AND CERTIFICATES ARE A PRODUCT
Education today trains students to chase marks — not meaning. Exams and boards are:
Predictable, pattern-based systems
Built for memorization, not thinking
Easy to manipulate or buy through private coaching
Degrees and awards are not proof of wisdom. They are merchandise that anyone can buy — through money, influence, or compliance.
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5. PARENTS ARE CUSTOMERS — NOT PARTNERS
Modern educational institutions treat parents as recurring income sources.
School fees are structured like EMIs.
Books, uniforms, transport, food — all outsourced for commission.
Projects and events are designed to extract more money.
There's no focus on helping parents raise better humans. It's a transaction, not a collaboration.
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6. TUITION CENTRES EXPOSE THE SCHOOL'S FAILURE
If schools were functional, there would be no need for tuition. Yet:
Most children attend after-school coaching — often from primary level.
Coaching itself becomes another business — duplicating what school already charged for.
Parents are told: *"Without tuition, your child will fall behind."
This is institutionalized dependency. Not learning. Not empowerment.
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7. EDTECH IS THE NEW MONEY MACHINE
Online learning platforms now use fear, AI, and emotional targeting to sell dreams.
"Learn coding at 6."
"Guaranteed IIT admission."
"Global skills for a digital future."
These slogans are not rooted in child development. They are sales tactics. Learning is now just another app subscription — sold to insecure parents.
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8. EDUCATION IS USED TO RUN PERSONAL BUSINESSES
Education is not just a business at the institutional level — it is also a personal tool of manipulation, transaction, and extraction in everyday life. The educated use their degrees and designations to run individual-level businesses like:
More education = more dowry: A groom with a higher degree is priced higher in the marriage market.
More education = richer husband: Educated women are trained to marry "up" — education becomes a ticket to wealth, not wisdom.
More education = more alimony: In divorce, degrees are used to demand higher settlements, regardless of actual contribution.
More education = better job title = more control over spouse: Degrees become a power tool in relationships.
More education = entitlement to judge others: The educated talk down to farmers, artisans, homemakers.
More education = social status: Even without skills or income, a degree gives inflated identity.
More education = escape from physical work: People use education to avoid doing anything with their hands.
More education = control over children: Parents use their degrees to dominate and invalidate their children’s instincts.
More education = visa approval, foreign marriage, global mobility: It becomes a tool of migration, not meaning.
In every case, education is not about truth or contribution — it is about leverage.
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9. THE CHILD IS NEVER ASKED: WHAT DO YOU WANT TO KNOW?
Business-like education is top-down. It doesn’t listen to the learner.
Children are forced into systems that bore, punish, and control.
Their questions are ignored. Their curiosity dies.
Success is defined as obedience + memorization + job.
A real education asks: Who are you? What do you want to explore? Business education says: Sit down, follow, pay up, pass.
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10. THE GOAL IS NOT WISDOM — IT’S STATUS AND CONTROL
Modern education is not interested in raising wise, kind, grounded people. It’s designed to produce:
Degree holders
Income earners
Tax payers
Obedient followers
Because a wise human is a threat to any system. But a controlled human, with a loan, a degree, and a job, is profitable and harmless.
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11. SO WHAT IS THE ALTERNATIVE?
Homeschooling: Learning without the middleman.
Self-learning: Driven by interest, not fear.
Community-based models: Where elders, artisans, and nature teach real life skills.
Traditional paths: Like gurukulas, family apprenticeships, farm and craft learning.
The goal is not to destroy education — but to take it back from business.
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12. CONCLUSION: FOLLOW THE MONEY
If you want to know the truth of any system, follow the money.
Modern education survives because:
It creates dependence.
It sells status.
It keeps you too busy and too scared to question.
But education without freedom is not education. It’s training. It’s captivity.
And a society that profits by trapping its children — is not an educated society. It is a disguised marketplace.
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Education is no longer a sacred path. It is a profitable product. And you, the parent or student, are the paying customer — not the seeker of wisdom.
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