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.