Finding the Value of Education

Lately, I have had education on the mind. It is certainly something that fascinates me as I certainly have a passion for learning and knowledge. It has taken me many years to see and understand the value of this magnificent tool of opportunity. However, today I am so incredibly thankful for this privilege that has not only crafted me into the person I am today, but has given me the knowledge I need in all of my future endeavors.

Education just happens to be another part of life that falls into the "take it for granted" category. After all, we go through a significant amount of schooling and by the time most of us are 18, school just happens to be another part of life, another thing that we are required to do. Up until this point, almost everyone goes to school and essentially learns the same things in the same ways in the same environment. Sometimes I like to think that up until high school, everyday was pretty much groundhog day. So it comes as no surprise that it is easy to take such a monumental thing for granted. It is embedded in our culture and therefore easy to overlook. However, it is important to understand why it is embedded in our culture. Why were our forefathers, past presidents and politicians so determined to educate people? The answer may seem quite obvious. As Benjamin Franklin once said, "An investment in knowledge pays the best interest." Schooling is an investment: the more knowledgeable a group of people is the greater society will be in general.

Although education is important from a societal perspective, I think it is even more essential to understand why it is so important from a personal perspective. We live in a country with a great amount of faults. We are certainly not perfect in any way, however but we have worked to perfect a stress on education. This is where we need to find personal value in education. We have this amazing opportunity to become educated as our country has made it possible for as many people as possible to become educated. So we have the tools, we just seem to take them for granted more than we should.

The only thing that I ask of myself and of others like me is that we take a personal stake in this amazing opportunity before us. It is so easy to take something that seems so basic for granted. However, this what we don't see is that many people all over the world don't have the luck that we have, they don't have this grand opportunity, and they can't take advantage of it. I ask you all to value your education in your own personal way, whether it be by taking an extra hour to study every night, choosing to do work yourself rather than cheating, maybe staying in one night a week to get homework done instead of going out with friends, or even taking the time every once in a while to thank those who may be helping to pay for your education. In this way we can once again begin to value this institution that has been so commonly disregarded as just another part of life. Take pride in knowledge and education and do your part to make sure that it is not taken for granted.

Making the Most Out of Your Time: Every College Students Nightmare

It's midnight and you have once again spent your entire afternoon being completely unproductive. Honestly, sometimes I feel as though this is just something that happens to everyone and I can be almost sure that it does, however I think that procrastination is even more rampant when you are surrounded by 44,000 other people your age. It's almost impossible to get work done when your best friends live next door and there is almost always something going on. I have spent plenty of nights out with my friends instead of doing any sort of productive work, but finally, about 2 months into the fall semester, I decided that I needed to learn how to make the most of my time.

The most important thing that I have learned about time management is that there is a time for everything. Again, as a college student it may not seem like it, but I promise you all that it is true. We just need to make time for the things that we need to do first (ie. studying and doing homework) and use the time left over to do things we want to do (ie. going out with friends and watching Netflix). Although, it may be difficult at first to be productive, with a little bit of practice, it becomes an easier issue to tackle

Secondly, prioritizing allows us to not only accomplish the things that we truly need to accomplish, but also it grants us a significant amount of free time. I do this every day before I begin anything, quite frankly, because a lot of times the most important things are not always the things that I want to do first. Sometimes I find myself working on something that's due in a week instead of what is due the next day and then find myself having to rush to get everything done. Obviously, these types of habits are unproductive, but until I realized the affect that this habit on my work, I really saw no need for change. However, with such a busy schedule in college, I have learned to always use a planner in order to properly plan out my assignments and my activities. I prioritize my work and now I no longer have to worry that I will not have times to complete all of my assignments!


So, plan out when you need to do homework everyday and decide how and when each thing should be done. When you can sufficiently complete all of your work in a timely manner, you will find that you have more free time than you ever was possible!