This summer before I went off to college, I got a job at a Hardee’s restaurant. I had never worked in the fast-food industry before, and on my first day at Hardee’s, I thought I’d get the education necessary to fulfill my task. To fulfill any task you must first receive the proper education for it. While I had plenty of education from high school and a summer program I completed at Columbia University, I had no education in the kind of things I’d have to know how to do at Hardee’s. Knowing this, my expectation of the job was that I would be privy to knowledge that would make these unconventional tasks simpler. Unfortunately, I came in the middle of a rush so the education that was necessary for me to be able to handle this chaotic world was never given to me. My day-to-day task at Hardee’s was this: I was a cook, and when I first came in in the morning, my job was to ensure that all the lunchtime food was prepped. It was my job to ensure that any food that wasn’t there was to be prepared for that rush. Despite my initial lack of training, I eventually learned to cook burgers, chicken tenders, fries, and so on. Once there was a fire and I was able to put it out, an event I explore in this fictional dialogue. In this scenario, the character named K will have to think outside the box to put out the fire. The fire is a metaphor that signifies what could happen to someone’s life without certain intellectual tools in their arsenal. My goal in this dialogue is to spread the idea that although ignorance is bliss, when you have the privilege of knowing certain information and ways of thinking, it’s your job to spread it. The dialogue went kind of like this…

(JOHN walks into Hardee’s. It’s his first time being on this side of the counter. He goes to the back because he knows he’s a cook despite never cooking in his life. BRI, the manager, tells JOHN he will be shadowing K on his first day. K is an experienced cook who has worked at Hardee’s for two years. JOHN and K greet, shaking one another’s hands. K looks at JOHN skeptically. He’s seen lots of new cooks come and go. The look on JOHN’s face makes K nervous. JOHN’s mind is elsewhere. He knows his workplace isn’t fostering philosophical thoughts. All JOHN can think about at the moment is the philosophy in Plato’s Republic.)

John: Are you familiar with philosophy?

K: I haven’t learned it, but I know you have to be somewhat crazy to study it.

John: No, the people who merely dabble in it are the crazy ones. You sound like one of those people who criticizes philosophers, people who say that people who study philosophy become “cranks, if not completely vicious, while those who seem completely decent are rendered useless to the city” (487d). Or in this case the restaurant.

K: That’s just what I’d say about philosophers. You seem like a decent young man, but your philosophy is going to be pretty useless around here.

John: Why would philosophy be useless here? I’ve got a lot of education. I graduated high school, I studied math, English, history, science, and a lot of other things. I participated in a program at Columbia University where we read political philosophy…

K: (cutting him off) OK Mr. College, I get it. But none of that education is useful here.

John: What type of education is needed for a cook to work here?

K: What do you mean?

John: What tools would a person who’s cooking back here need to fulfill their task? What kind of education would be required?

K: Well, I guess they’d have to be able to cook, first of all.

John: I don’t know how to cook. How does someone become educated in cooking?

K: From someone who knows how to cook. That’s what I’m trying to educate you in now.

John: OK. But is that all you need to know to fulfill your task? To become a good cook?

K: Well, you also need to have a good work ethic.

John: What is a good work ethic?

K: Well, it means showing up on time, working hard, not slacking off.

John: Did you learn that from someone who knows how to cook? Or in some other way?

K: I guess in some other way. From my mother and father maybe. They raised me to have a good work ethic. Besides, if you don’t show up on time and work hard, the general manager will make sure you don’t stick around here long.

John: So is a good work ethic really something you learned, or is it just a name for what you have to do to keep your job?

K: I guess it’s not really something you can teach someone else. You either have it or you don’t.

John: So what is a good education for a cook? For someone who’s never been here before, what would they need to be taught before they could come into the kitchen and be a good cook? Are some people capable of becoming cooks and others incapable of becoming cooks?

K: I think everyone is capable of becoming a cook. To learn how to cook you need to know how to cook food, how to make sandwiches with efficiency, how to serve food at the right temperature, and so forth.

John: So you can learn how to become a cook from one who cooks.

K: (getting impatient) That’s what I’m trying to do for you right now…

John: But is this kind of education the best for everyone?

K: No, it’s the best education for working in this workplace.

John: So this education is vital to this workplace but would be detrimental in another.

K: I guess so.

John: Is this the best education for everyone in this workplace?

K: No, if you’re a cashier you need to know how to interact with customers and take orders. If you’re a manager you need to know how to manage everyone.

John: So there isn’t one kind of education that is best for everyone. Every person should get a different education that’s relative to your position as cook, cashier, or manager, right?

K: Right.

John: Is there any kind of education that is best for everyone, whether they are cook, cashier, or manager?

K: What do you mean?

John: I mean a general education that is good regardless of your role, whether cook, cashier, or manager.

K: I don’t know, I haven’t thought about it.

John: Such an education would have to be something everyone can do.

K: It would.

John: And it would have to be good for everyone, whether they became cook, cashier, or manager. It wouldn’t give anyone specific knowledge about these things.

K: No, it wouldn’t.

John: So it would be an education that gave no one new knowledge. Then what kind of education would it be?

K: That’s what I’m trying to figure out myself.

John: What if “education isn’t what some people declare it to be, namely, putting knowledge into souls that lack it, like putting sight into blind eyes” (518b).

K: That’s what they say.

John: What if “education is the craft concerned with doing this very thing, this turning around, and with how the soul can most easily and effectively be made to do it. It isn’t the craft of putting sight into the soul. Education takes for granted that sight is there but that it isn’t turned the right way or looking where it ought to look, and it tries to redirect it appropriately” (518d).

K: So can anyone be educated in this way?

John: Essentially. “The power to learn is present in everyone’s soul” (518c).

K: But what kind of education would this be? If you’re just turning people around and not teaching them anything new, then what good is it? What good would this be for someone working in a fast food restaurant?

John: Maybe this kind of education is not good for everyone after all. Everyone has the power to have this kind of education, and everyone can do philosophy without any special skills or abilities, like I learned to do. But maybe it’s only good for people who are free and don’t have to work for a living.

K: Hey, hold on a minute.

John: Liberal education would be detrimental at Hardee’s.

K: What is liberal education?

John: A higher form of education that everyone shouldn’t be entitled to.

K: Why shouldn’t everyone be entitled to it?

John: Many different types of education influence different goods in society. Liberal education is the kind of education that’s appropriate for free thinkers. It’s an education without a specific purpose.

K: So you mean it would be useless. That’s just what I thought.

John: Do you think everything without a specific purpose is useless?

K: That’s just what I think.

John: What about going to the gym to exercise? Is that a useless activity?

K: No, you train your body to gain strength and stay healthy.

John: But lifting up weights over and over or running in place on the treadmill have no purpose in themselves. You are not lifting up weights to do something useful or running to get somewhere useful. But their purpose is to make your body strong and healthy.

K: Exactly right.

John: Well, my education in philosophy was the same thing. I stayed at Columbia University for a pre-college program called “Freedom and Citizenship” where we studied political philosophy. It was rich in education without a specific purpose. I also had a lot of activities unrelated to education which I didn’t know at the time were useful, but were vital.

K: Why do you say that?

John: Education also includes music, poetry, and other arts. All of these are part of a good education.

K: So why do you tell me that I’m not entitled to this kind of education? You just told me it’s good for everyone, but now you tell me it isn’t good for everyone.

John: It might make you unhappy. If you turned around and started thinking for yourself you might try to escape the cave. Once you’ve left, it takes a lot of education to reenter the cave.

K: What are you talking about? What cave? Are you calling this place a cave?

John: Once you’ve studied philosophy and escaped the cave, it’s your duty to go back down and help others. You’ve got to “go down again to the prisoners in the cave and share their labors and honors, whether they are of less worth or of greater” (519d).

K: Are you calling me a prisoner? What’s wrong with my labors and honors?

John: Nothing really. The cooks should do what’s right for cooks, the cashiers should do what’s right for cashiers, and the managers should do what’s right for managers. “Doing one’s own work is justice” (433b).

K: That doesn’t sound like justice to me.

John: It sounds like you’ve started to escape the cave. That’s why ideally a philosopher wouldn’t share philosophy with cooks…

K: Then who would you share it with, the managers?

John: I believe because of the higher education I have received I deserve to be a manager, not the current managers.

K: What?! I’ve been working here longer than you have.

John: But I’m a philosopher, and that makes me fit to be a manager too. Philosopher kings are people “fitted by nature both to engage in philosophy and to rule in a city” or in this case, a Hardee’s. “While the rest are naturally fitted to leave philosophy alone and follow their leader” (474b-c). Not everyone can be a manager.

K: Why not?

John: Because there’d be no more cooks. And if cooks learned philosophy they’d want to be managers, or philosopher-managers, too. If the cooks working here didn’t prioritize their gain and they were able to directly see how they’re helping the cycle flow then they’d stop participating in it.

K: What cycle?

John: There is an invisible cycle that we unintentionally contribute to by prioritizing our gain through our day-to-day tasks. For example, we’re both working here for a check. This is our gain but on a larger scale we are helping the flow of a business in some ways we can see and some ways we can’t.

K: What ways?

John: Some of the ways we can see are helping the store run, keeping food cooked for the customers, keeping complaints down, and helping effectively market the food. Some of the ways we can’t see are harder to see for you at this time.

K: I never thought about it like that.

John: Of course, you haven’t, because you haven’t been educated to.

John: Now that you know this information you may think about everything on a larger scale whether you intend to or not.

K: Why are you sharing this with me now? Is this detrimental to me or good for me?

John: Giving you information not necessary to fulfill your day-to-day tasks is detrimental to you and those tasks.

K: So are you prioritizing me over the tasks? What if something that’s good for me is bad for the tasks as well?

John: See? These are the types of questions that will now be on your mind. Ignorance is bliss. I told you it was unjust for me to give this information to you because of your lack of education! Remember, doing one’s own work is justice, and these kinds of questions are going to make you bad at your tasks.

K: So technically it was unjust to give you your job because you don’t know how to cook?

John: I am not fitted by nature to it. Our future philosopher-kings “must be by nature philosophical” (375e).

K: So what’s just and what’s unjust depends on the person? Doesn’t sound very just to me…

John: For things to be just would be giving the proper education for a person to complete their tasks. The opposite of this is unjust.

K: So technically you’re being just by not teaching me philosophy…

John: Exactly.

K: Who is it just to? It seems like it’s only just to the managers at the top of the pyramid rather than the cooks.

John: It is morally just and in a way just to society if everyone followed the ideas of the philosophers. If they didn’t, a lot of things wouldn’t get done. It’s also just to me because I see myself being a manager very soon.

K: The true injustice would’ve been depriving me of this information. Don’t you think this is a little crazy?

John: I didn’t say it wasn’t, but if you had the same education as me it’d feel more attainable.

K: I think I want this education. I’ve never been pushed to think so far out of the box about minor things before.

John: I can teach you as long as when you have this information, you feel morally obligated to spread it as well.

K: I thought you said that would be unjust.

John: It’s a paradox that education is meant for those at the top of the pyramid. However, with that same logic I would’ve never been educated. The true injustice would be not allowing people to make these decisions for themselves. Ignorance is bliss but it’s our job to spread this info once obtained.

K: So we should spread this info in our workplace?

John: No, I’ve spread it to you and you could spread it when it’s necessary. Anyway, that’s the end of my shift. I’m out of here, K.

(K went home thinking about this conversation all night. He now thought about everything on a larger scale. Although he was scared because he’s never been pushed to think like this, he now wanted this education for himself. With JOHN thinking ignorance is bliss, how would K be able to show John that he was ready for this higher education? K thought to himself there had to be a way… The next day. BRI, the general manager, is speaking to JOHN and K.)

Bri: The charbroiler hasn’t been working all morning so to heat buns we have to put them in the microwave.

John: OK.

K: Alright.

(BRI leaves.)

John: I am not putting them in the microwave. That’s extra work for no reason.

K: I thought about what we talked about all last night.

John: I assumed you would. Once you start it is difficult to stop.

K: Yeah I know, I know. But I’ve never thought this much about one thing for so long. How do you plan on becoming a manager, anyway?

John: Shh! They can’t hear you say things like that, you could be fired. We will cross that bridge when we get there, we are already at a disadvantage working with no charbroiler, let’s just get through the day.

(JOHN and K get back to work.)

John: What’s on a monster burger again?

K: Mayonnaise both sides.

(Pause as John applies mayo.)

John: Just say it through, I’ll remember it.

K: Mayo on both sides, three pickles on the bottom, special sauce, all of the vegetables and two patties.

John: These people are crazy, why are they ever ordering six monster burgers?

Customer: [raising their voice behind the counter] By the gods, my burgers are colder than my Sprite!

K: What’s he saying?

John: I don’t know, I’m not gonna concern myself with the customers, that’s why I don’t have on the headset.

Customer: Whoever cooked these should be fired! I’d like a refund!!

[BRI reenters]

Bri: This customer wants a refund, he said his burger was cold.

John: My apologies, but you know the charbroiler is off.

Bri: I’m gonna try to get it back running.

(BRI turns on the charbroiler.)

Bri: John is going to prep ham. K, continue to make sandwiches.

(As K walks by the charbroiler at the top near the gas line he sees a fire.)

K: Bri, it’s a fire, where’s the fire extinguisher?

[BRI laughs. K’s calmness made her think he was joking. K runs through the kitchen to the soda machine, unhooks a hose in the back and aims it at the fire. The fire goes out. BRI snaps a picture of K putting out the fire and sends it to the work group chat. Ten minutes later, the GENERAL MANAGER has arrived. He begins to question BRI, K, and JOHN.]

General manager: How’d the fire start? And why was there no fire extinguisher??

Bri: I have no idea, but the charbroiler wasn’t properly cleaned and it would’ve hit the gas line if K didn’t catch it.

General manager: So while K was stopping my store from burning to the ground, you were taking a picture for what exactly? You shouldn’t even have been on your phone…

Bri: As evidence to get the last shift managers in trouble for not cleaning the charbroiler. There’s no guarantee that’s what started the fire…

General manager: There is a guarantee that you’re fired though! I think I need to reevaluate who’s in charge. K, let’s chat.

K: Okay.

(K walks into the office with his GENERAL MANAGER. They’ve never talked before today because the GENERAL MANAGER didn’t see any significance to him.)

General manager: Hey K, I appreciate you. I heard you put the fire out with…the soda machine? Unfortunately the conventional tool–an extinguisher–wasn’t on standby… What made you know the soda machine would be able to put it out?

K: I know carbonated drinks have pressurized carbon dioxide, and I know fire extinguishers work in the same way. I’ve never been in an incident of a fire but I just seen a problem and thought of a solution.

General manager: I like that. I apologize there wasn’t a fire extinguisher… I need workers like you who think outside the box. I know your education comes from your high school obviously, but have you always been an outside of the box thinker like that?

K: If I’m being transparent, John is the reason I started to think about things outside the box. I probably wouldn’t have been able to put out the fire if it wasn’t for his liberal education.

General manager: John the new cook??

K: Yes.

General manager: Well I think both of you deserve a promotion. You will be my new managers. If anyone doesn’t like it, I’ll replace them, this isn’t a democracy.

K: Thank you sir. John will be delighted when he hears this, you won’t regret it!

            (K walks out of the office into the cooking area excited to tell JOHN the news.)

K: I got great news.

John: We got promoted.

K: How’d you know??

John: I gave you the knowledge needed to think outside of the box and handle the situation and you were given a dilemma to deal with.

K: You started the fire?

John: By God no! Maybe I should’ve though looking at the outcome…

K: What will we do as managers? I mean, as philosopher-managers?

John: We will make philosophy the new education here, our liberal education if you will. If you don’t like philosophy, we won’t hire you

            (K sips the Sprite that promoted him and clanks cup with JOHN.)

K: To Philosophy.

John: To Philosophy.

John and K easily scaled the top of the pyramid which wouldn’t have been possible without a liberal education. Education is vital no matter your setting or your circumstance. Once you know something, as an educator it’s your job to spread that knowledge no matter how blissful ignorance may be. I loved reading Plato’s Republic and my only disagreement would be that true injustice is not spreading this education to everyone around you no matter their class, or if the education is seemingly detrimental to their task. As humans, once education is given to us, it’s our job to extrapolate our knowledge from it and live our lives according to what you know.

Work Cited

Plato. The Republic. Translated by G. M. A. Grube, revised by C. D. C. Reeve. Hackett Publishing, 1992.