Ability, Education, Division of Labor

Ability is developed by the cultivation of natural talents, i. e. is determined by Education. Now, in contemporary America, for example, the primary aim of Education is the channeling of students to a slot in the established division of labor, i. e. 'choosing a career-path'. Hence, under such conditions, Ability is at the service of prevailing self-interests, and, so, is hardly the cardinal factor of an Economy or a Society that is connoted in Marx's formula "from each according to his abilities". In contrast, the aim of the Education theory of Dewey is the facilitation of the self-discovery of the student, which he conceives as coordinated with his vision of a permanent "reconstruction" of society, a condition that is, thus, more hospitable to the creativity of its members, though, to the detriment of the status quo. So, the actualization of Marx's principle requires a concept of Education of which he is generally relatively vague.