In this paper, it is argued that it is the centrality of the liberatory function of education--its "onto-formative" capacity--that has been most severely compromised through the contemporary recasting of "education" as both a marketable commodity (externalized knowledge) and a particular form of institutional activity (schooling). In this respect, the manner in which education is normatively defined has important consequences for most if not all research and teaching activities. The paper discusses this problem and illustrates how a broader linkage between education and the human condition is an essential prerequisite for a better informed and critically conscious teaching profession. In particular, we explain how this normative description of education is challenged in our combined teaching endeavours.