Education is a system of imposed ignorance.

The line expresses a critique often associated with Chomsky’s broader views on institutional power: formal schooling can function less as a neutral transmission of knowledge than as a mechanism that narrows inquiry, rewards compliance, and filters what counts as “legitimate” understanding. Read this way, “imposed ignorance” points to structured omissions—topics discouraged, questions not asked, and critical capacities underdeveloped—rather than simple lack of information. The aphorism also resonates with Chomsky’s distinction between education that cultivates independent thought and training that produces credentialed conformity. Its force lies in reversing the usual assumption that education dispels ignorance, suggesting instead that systems can manufacture it by design.