Education

Since the beginning of time, education has played a key role in the development of society.  Although not everyone went to school, those who did were noticeably exceptional. Today, people are blinded to seeing the importance of education. School has just become a ‘routine’ that needs to happen. Fewer and fewer parents are sending their children to school because they legitimately believe its the best way to educate their child, but rather because there is no better alternative.  I believe that it’s not the children that we should be preaching to about education, but the parents whose choice it is to send them. Here are the top 5 reasons why education is so important.

1) Education Builds Character

Education builds character

It’s true that parents have a big influence on a child’s character, but since a large amount of time is spent at school, children are influenced by their surroundings there too. In school, kids are trained how to answer the challenges which living and learning will present. They learn how to deal with people, how to improve their knowledge, and how to deal with authority. This gets children prepared to meeting similar types of situations later on in their adult lives.

Education is important to building character, as it teaches us the right behavior and good manners, which at the end of the day makes us civilized. It is the basis of culture and civilization. It is instrumental in the development of our values and virtues. Education cultivates us into mature individuals, individuals who are capable of planning for the future and of making the right decisions in life. It gives us an insight into living and teaches us to learn from experience. It makes us self-confident, and develops our abilities to think, analyze, and judge. It fosters principles of equality and socialism. It forms a support system for one to excel in life. It is the backbone of society. It wouldn’t be wrong to say that a good education makes us more human.

2) Education Leads to Enlightenment

“Education leads to enlightenment. Enlightenment opens the way to empathy. Empathy foreshadows reform.” – Derrik A. Bell

There’s nothing more accurate than that quote. In a way, education paves the path to illumination. Anything that we were wrong about as children is wiped from our minds, and in place is the right knowledge. It helps create a clear picture of things all around, and erases all the confusion. It kindles the flame of curiosity and helps awaken the abilities to question and to reason. The more we learn, the more questions we have, and without questions, there are no answers. What does education do? Education teaches us to find answers that we’ve been looking for. It makes us more self-aware, and at the end of the day, we come out enlightened.

3) Society Can’t Progress Without Educated Individuals

Society can’t progress without education

How do we know? Simple. While it’s true that technically people can have jobs without being educated, the majority of jobs that are set up require some sort of basic knowledge of education. You want to work in the grocery store? Great, you still need to learn math. People today often forget that even the most basic-seeming knowledge can get a person so far in life.

Education is important because it equips us with the expertise that is needed in helping us realize our career goals. What education does is fetch better prospects for career growth. Good education is an eligibility criterion for employment in any sector of most industries. No matter what field you’re thinking about going into, education always proves to be necessary. When you go into most job interviews, we are weighed on the basis of our educational skills and on how well we can apply them to the task at hand.

4) Education Creates Diversity

When a student learns the different ways of the world, his or her mind is automatically opened to the different possibilities. For example, because children learn so much in school, they realize that there is no “one way” to do things. The possibilities are endless. Each kid gains a bit of individuality and has their own place to shine. Someone can grow up thinking that life has to be on certain terms because of this and that, but than after learning the facts of different ways of life, one can make decisions that can change their life.

5) Education Helps Create Goals

When a person goes through life without an education, they are much less likely to get to where they would like to be. What does this mean? When you get an education no matter whom you are, you are always working towards something. Even though you may not what you want to do for the rest of your life, each period of time you are working towards a certain goal to help you get to where you ultimately need to be. Without a proper education most people don’t know “where they want to be” all together, they just take life one day at a time and hope for the best.

For example –  Imagine a student takes a test and studies for a full week straight. So much time and effort is put into studying and doing work. The day of the test comes and the student can’t wait. Once the test is done they wait anxiously to get it back. The test scores come back and the student finds out that they got a 85. Now, depending on the student, they will either be really happy or really upset. They can look at the situation as “oh, I could’ve gotten those 15 points; I’ll try harder next time”; OR they could be happy and proud of the 85 points they accomplished. Either of those reactions are healthy and is what helps children grow. Kids feel good when they have goals. If they don’t make it the first time, they’ll do better the next and so on in life.

Group of young students

The obvious question should really be: why would anyone choose to live their life without education? Even if money is tight, public educations are FREE. The future generation is currently in the hands of the young minds that are in school today. It’s up to us to invest in our children’s future.