Friday, December 25, 2009
Why Get an Education
I sometimes hear people reveal their esteem for education primarily in terms of how it can increase earning power. Yes, making a living is important and education is the best means to making a higher salary, but there are so many additional reasons why an education is important. A rigorous education provides the foundation for a conscious and fulfilling life as well as for responsible citizenship. If we are only educated in technical skills with a neglect for the development of our capabilities for reasoning and discernment, then we become mere cogs in the modern industrial machine. We fail to exercise the active agency and social resistance to make discriminating choices about what ideas or products we embrace, how we view others and behave towards them, what we value, and what we refuse to pay attention to. Education teaches us how to recognize and appreciate beauty. It helps us to question our assumptions and recognize our biases. It helps us to organize our thinking and develop the skills for communicating effectively. An education gives us the power to interpret our world from different angles, improve our relationships, and avoid the deception of those who would try to control us for their gain. For these reasons, it is important that mothers and fathers, artisans and business people, technicians and scientists are educated not only in the technique and best practices of their individual roles, but in a general understanding of the world in its physical, spiritual, and social aspects. Getting an education helps us to become better human beings.
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Hear, hear! So often, we joke about certain undergraduate majors being "worthless," but that is only because of difficulties in getting a good-paying job in that particular field. By appraising such a degree in other ways, we find that such an investment in oneself is priceless.
ReplyDeleteI fully agree with trentathon. This is one of the very reasons I was timid, yet impressed to come to BYU. So often, my undergraduate major, Dance Education, including Dance in general, is viewed as "fluff" in education--when truly it can, if applied correctly, encompass the whole person (mind, body, and spirit). I feared that my passion for dance and to become a dance educator would not be respected or valued. However, desiring to come to BYU, I was increasingly confident, relying on the fact that the Dance program is respected throughout the world. I realize that I should pay no attention to the negative comments given by those that seek education for surface reasons. The ironic thing is that I am a Dance Educator--it is my stewardship to deepen my desires to learn that I may properly educate those that are lacking in an understanging of the whole person.
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