From the text: The possible answers are virtually infinite. Here I’d like to suggest one that may appear simplistic: education signifies providing tools to make people live better. True, this means that any argument based only on quantity is instantly incomplete: the idea that education is a matter of accumulating notions and skills (“the more I know the better I’ll be”) risks being inadequate, to say the least. Knowing the names of the world’s capital cities or all about trigonometry may help to improve the wellbeing of an individual or a community, but in no way does it complete that wellbeing. I’d even go as far to say that a type of education that seeks to provide tools for people to live better ought to be rechristened “happiness education”.

Contribution to the 3rd International Degrowth Conference for Ecological Sustainability and Social Equity in Venice in 2012.

Italian version below