The dominant focus of national education systems today is on children's future employment prospects and economic productivity, yet the collapsing market value of educational credentials compels students to devote ever longer and more intense expanses of their lives to formal education in order to reap such instrumental rewards. In these circumstances, it is more important than ever to be clear about why we are educating children and what could possibly sustain their engagement in a process that too often treats their present wellbeing as an expendable frill. Fifty years ago, R.S. Peters defended the inherent and direct formative value of education, and his ideas are no less relevant today. This essay will revisit and substantially vindicate these ideas, focusing on the importance for student wellbeing and motivation of schools being communities devoted to things of value beyond self-serving attainment.