Why Education
No one doubts the importance of education in a person’s life. It is especially true in today’s society where technical knowledge and professional services are the two main areas of employment, and rules of behavior and communication skills are pre-requisite to a harmonious co-existence. To prepare a person for a decent living in the society, 12 years of continuous schoolings from the age of 6 are provided. At the age of 18, a person is ready to face the world, to fulfill one’s potentials and destiny. Without the education, a person is at a disadvantage having to figure out on one’s own how the man-made world that is the result of more than 2000 years of tinkering works.
Language
The first thing that the school teaches a person is the language that we developed at the dawn of civilization. It was not only used for communication but more importantly, as an efficient mean to record in details our ancestors’ experience, accomplishments, and mistakes. Latter generations are able to learn from these writings to build life and a man-made world that can accommodate a human population of 7 billion strong. For those who are able to master the language skills can better express themselves verbally and in writing that are advantageous in a society that emphasizes not only what one can do but also what one says one can do.
Science
Our modern society is built on scientific discoveries. There is the electricity that keeps the commerce running 24/7, the automobile that makes going to work or places far from home in comfort and short time, the medicine that keeps people healthy from diseases as well as a stressful life style, the high-rises that can house a small-town sized population in temperature-controlled environment and material comport, etc. As a result, science and its disciplines are taught all through the 12 years of education. After a person leaves the school, one will learn to use objective and logical thinking to face and solve life’s many problems, learn to rely on facts and evidences to guide one’s perception and understanding of the surrounding, and learn to keep an open mind and take notes for analysis before taking a stance.
Laws
Our modern society is a melting pot of people from all walks of life and of ideologies that preach how the society shall be organized. To make these diversities work and function together peacefully and constructively, rules must be followed and laws must be obeyed. Civilized behaviors and acceptable codes of conduct are taught in the school from day one. The student will learn to respect other students’ culture background, tolerate other students’ unsolicited opinions, embrace other students’ unique characters, and appreciate other students’ different ways of doing things. When the student enters the society, one will find it a strange and indifferent world where people are busy raising a family, pursuing dreams, and or competing for jobs all the while forming a close circle of friends. By relying on one’s education from the school years, the person will find ways to blend in, to establish one’s own social circle, and to sustain a comfortable livelihood.
History
Our civilization is more than 7000 years old and the path to our modern society is long and treacherous. To understand how it all happened will give the person a clear perceptive on why things are done accordingly and how things can be improved economically. The history of the civilization and the nation building will be taught at different stages in the student’s maturity to allow the complexity and time-consuming events to sink in. When it is time for the student to leave school to face the uncertainty presented by the society, with the knowledge of the past, the person will have a better chance of finding one’s way in the present and maybe even making a better future for the others.
Knowledge
Education prepares the Average Joe to make a better living in the man-made world. Most importantly, education ingrains into the person with the knowledge of the modern world and the way of the Nature. Education is the wisdom that was accumulated over times since the dawn of the civilization around 7000 years ago. Our civilization is able to flourish this long is due to our desires to:
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Rise above the urge to survive at any cost,
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Live for family, friends, and faiths,
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Understand how life started, progressed, and works,
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Pursuit art, literature, music, etc.
No one is expected to grasp all that our ancestors had achieved in 12 continuous years of education. But, everyone is shown how good triumphs over evil, hard work is behind every success, idealism and imagination are the driving forces to a better world, and real learning starts after leaving school. In school, the student is encourage to ask questions and answers will be provided; after the person leaves the school to face the real world, one is evaluated by the answers that one provides to the tough questions thrown at the person. No doubt, with proper education, a person has a better chance of landing a better job and can be a better socially responsible citizen. Education will also help a person to reach inward to explore one’s mental capability, to understand one’s physical limitations, and maybe, to fulfill one’s role in life.