This article addresses concerns about the role of education policy in the context of knowledge-related public policy. Specifically, it raises concerns about how the technocratic and anti-social tendencies already observed in knowledge-related policy discourse may adversely influence the intellectual and cultural life of communities. A key goal of this article, then, is to stimulate debate about how we might, through education policy, slow the relentless and socially impoverishing drive towards a more commercially and technologically centred society; a society that is savant-like in its technical capacities yet fails to measure up on basic social and cultural imperatives such as the pursuit of knowledge and cultural expression for their own sakes. The article draws on two complementary theories, the relational theory of knowledge and the balance theory of wisdom, to set out a novel framework for deciding what the goals of education in a knowledge society might be. Finally, the article will make a case study of the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development's 2003 "Education Policy Analysis" document to demonstrate how this relational and balance theory of knowledge can be used to evaluate and improve education policy for its contribution to achieving a knowledge society. (Contains 1 table, 1 figure and 3 notes.)