As Minecraft is quite flexible, I can imagine it being used for education. Truth is, our industrial age education system is NOT fit for the modern age and we need to adapt it anyhow. Maybe not with Minecraft per sé, but it can be a start.

@op
Is your post related to this ?
http://blogs.microsoft.com/blog/2016/01/19/microsoft-invests-in-new-and-expanded-version-of-minecraft-for-the-classroom-opens-public-preview-of-learning-tools-for-onenote/

Because that's not just Minecraft, but MinecraftEdu, a custom version for education purpose.

That's what i'm playing right now. It'd definitely be a better vhoice than Minecraft.

That'd be an incredible lesson to learn.

It teaches how to play video games. Very important.
It also teaches hoarding and taking stuff from other players by killing them. Useful in today's society.
Lastly it teaches the value of trolling, letting you burn down and blow up other people's creations, preferably through the use of deadly traps.

they should let kids play GTA. that will teach them a lot more than stupid minecraft

There are better games they should use for educational purposes.

It semi educational, requires a teacher or its pretty useless with it. I guess its good for preschoolers, with very basic 3d shapes and market skills.

If the teaching plan is full time and includes hours of playing together, Minecraft in co-op multiplayer modes can definitely be a suitable game, comparable with construction sets, with some pros, like the virtually unlimited size of projects and larger scale of cooperation possible, and the great fact that the biggest projects can be done without having to invest large sums to buy a lot of pieces, but exactly at the same fixed cost of the smallest ones, and some cons, like the lack of tactile feedback and actual manual activity. But I don't think it's suitable to replace other teaching tools, and I don't think it would be advisable to use it if the school days aren't full time, it would eat too many hours from the total available, unless played so little time to lose any possible significant purpose. In this case, though, it could be suggested as optional homework, leaving freedom to choose something else.