"The Allegory of the Cave" is an allegory that speaks simultaneously to the importance of education and to Plato's understanding of reality—it's not by accident that Plato's allegorical world is designed the way it is, with most people living among the shadows cast by the fire they cannot see. Platonic idealism relies upon the Theory of the Forms: the idea that ultimately, existence is geared upward toward a higher, abstract reality. Concepts like love, beauty, and goodness, for Plato, are real, concrete things embedded within reality itself. Human beings, like the prisoners in Plato's allegory, tend to be ignorant of these metaphysical concerns and live their lives engrossed within the material world, pursuing material goals. For Plato, the Philosopher's goal is to eschew materialism and dedicate their life to the pursuit of this higher understanding of Truth. Plato's Allegory of the Cave is a symbolic representation of this process.

People begin in the physical realm, blind to this higher reality (these are the Prisoners—and to Plato, I think we really are prisoners, considering how we tend to blind ourselves to anything but our own material lives). However, through education, and through one's dedication to the Philosopher's life, it is possible to overcome these blinders: so we see our Prisoner released and brought out from the shadows. This is more than simply about education; this is about how education brings us into a more profound understanding of reality as it really is, aligning us closer to the Forms. Note that, as Plato tells us, to be brought from out from the cave into the sun is painful, blinding, and even traumatic. It's not a pleasant or easy process, but it is a deeply transformative and life-changing experience. As Plato himself writes: "the visible realm should be likened to the prison dwelling, and the light of the fire inside it to the power of the sun. And if you interpret the upward journey and the study of things above as the upward journey of the soul to the intelligible realm, you'll grasp what I hope to convey" (Plato, 517b).

Note: This response was written with reference to: Plato: Complete Works ed. John M. Cooper and D. S. Hutchinson (associate editor). Indianapolis: Hackett Publishing Company, 1997.

In the "Allegory of the Cave", which appears in Book 7 of Plato's Republic, the author describes a cave in which certain prisoners are chained and have to watch the shadows cast on the wall by a fire within the cave.

Most human beings are like these prisoners. They live in a state of ignorance about the true nature of the world around them. Without instruction about and experience of the real world, most people live in a state of ignorance.

To escape from "the cave," the world of ignorance, and ascend into the light should be a person's goal. Unfortunately, most people are content to just remain chained in the cave and watch shadows on the wall. They don't care about learning the Truth or learning at all. All they care about is pursuing the superficial things of this world. Accordingly, Socrates says to Glaucon:

You must contrive for your future rulers another and a better life than that of a ruler, and then you may have a well-ordered State; for only in the State which offers this, will they rule who are truly rich, not in silver and gold, but in virtue and wisdom, which are the true blessings of life. (Benjamin Jowett translation)

Those who will truly excel are the people who have the desire to discover something beyond the mundane things of this world. These are the people who view school as more than a path to money, but who view education as a way to make their minds come alive. These are the people who will shape the world.