Pitman painters

I am still watching this programme on ITV.
One thing that caught my attention was what Rob Green said about why the pitmen decided to take art appreciation classes.. They were taking evening classes supplied by WEA. They had finished the economics courses. And were looking for other classes in order to "better themselves".
I think the whole ethos behind the idea of learning has been undermined in the past few decades, and now school age pupils/students do not want to learn in order to "better themselves", as they have the misguided opinion that they are above learning.
I think it is a crying shame that the number of children wanting to learn is declining in certain areas.
I hope the people who can change things have seen this documentary, and realised that many of our population do not want to "better themselves"...as they think they are the best anyway.
I am not sure how the trend can be reversed, but I do know that other "cultures" still think that "bettering yourself" is a good thing.