Well the fact that he wears glasses sort of symbolises that he's 'blind' and can not see the error of his ways. By gouging his eye out you are removing the cause of his 'blinndness'.
Eyes are a big symbol in the movie think about it:
The fist image we see is a big eye in the screen.
The machine thing uses eyes.
Leon tries to kill Dekard by poking his eyes out.
The owls eye.
The replicants eye glow.
Just to name a few
So ya it is significant you really should have covered this is class.