This is a well-worn question we learn as young students in school.
It’s also a limiting question. When we ask this question, the assumption is that the only value of education is how it prepares and benefits us for some specific test. Everything else that happens in the educational experience is a waste.
This misunderstands the bigger and more important purpose of education, of course.
The purpose of education is far less about the specific facts, the “right answers,” and the regurgitation of what the teacher said.
Instead, the purpose of education is far more about developing a habit (or even a love?) of the learning process – to nurture a sense of deep and abiding curiosity within the student as a human superpower worth protecting at all costs.
When we engage students in ways that develop and cultivate that sense of curiosity, the test results take care of themselves.
In advancement, we can easily slip into an analogous mindset based on the questions we ask about our work.
“How much did we raise?” is the advancement equivalent of, “will I need to know this for the test?” for the student. It misunderstands the very purpose of our work.
Instead of “how much did we raise?”, we should be asking ourselves, “will this lead to helping our donors enjoy the act of giving?”
Because when we answer that question, the “how much did we raise?” question tends to take care of itself.
