Education is a word easily defined, though most don’t understand the depth and true meaning of the word. Politicians throw it around; parents want their kids to get the best there is to offer. Learning should be more than going from kindergarten to college. This is the time frame in which most are obsessed, so much so they forget the bigger portion of one’s life. Learning should be a life-long quest. People should have a thirst for knowledge, much like athletes’ thirst for gold. If this were the case, America’s citizens would be more knowledgeable, and could more logically participate in the fate of the country.
The most important quality that a college education can transpose onto a student is that hard work and constant learning will allow you to succeed in the world. Many students today expect that if they show up to class and do the minimum required amount of work merits a B average for the course. Rather, they should be self driven to dig deeper, and strive to better themselves for only students, will be held responsible and affected for and by their own shortcomings. It’s a shame that “there’s a general conception in the literary-academic world that holding things to high standards is patriarchal, Eurocentric and conservative.”(A for effort. Or for showing up) Students of today have acquired the motto: “I earned that A”, but when he or she earns a lower grade than expected, they say, “He/she (referring to the teacher) gave me a F!” Students must not “carry a chip on their shoulder and expect good grades without attending class or studying.”(A for effort. Or for showing up) One famous bible text that has been quoted throughout history comes to mind. “Whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap.” (Galatians VI) This means that your deeds, good or bad, will repay you in kind. When applied to learning, this means that if you work hard and soak up all the knowledge you can now, your newfound knowledge will pay off later (maybe in a better job, better life experiences, i.e. a fuller life, but it also goes without saying that you need to continue to soak up all the knowledge you can!). In essence, as to the value of learning, there can be no price put on it; it’s only what you put into it that will affect what you get out of it.
“For every hour of class time, three more hours of study are needed outside the class room,” says most professors. This isn’t the first time students have heard this, and definitely not the last. It’s true. It takes that long for the information you learn to sink in. A poll taken by “Peter Sacks”, a former writing teacher, found that “the word “fun” turned up often” when students were asked what the “No. 1 quality they wanted in a teacher.” A fellow teacher told “Sacks” to “take an acting course so he could improve his student evaluations.”(No books, please; we’re students) While “fun” and entertaining teachers might amuse students, it doesn’t necessarily make for the best teachers. Teachers that can transfer their knowledge, in a way that students can understand it and critically analyze it are better teachers than “fun” teachers that cannot. Though that doesn’t mean that “fun” teachers can’t do that as well. (Disclaimer: It shouldn’t be up to the teacher to gain the students attention in class. Students are there to learn, and therefore should make a good effort to be awake and attentive.)
America’s economy today isn’t competitive with other leading economies in the world. “For America to become competitive again, the nation’s going to have to rely less on free market dogma and more on the kinds of broad social programs European nations and Japan have pioneered.”(Education must change, UT professor warns) The U.S. cannot keep up with these nations because leading economies treat they’re workers better, even sacrificing profit for the better morale of their workers. The way things are now in America, if workers aren’t needed, they are laid off. This ruins company loyalty and decreases quality and quantity of work. Today’s students and young adults hear about the “good ‘ole days” in which companies were an extension of your family. Workers were loyal to their company; therefore, the company took care of them. Students, whom are about to join the work force, are about to be shown the shocking truth of today. This generation of students will become aware that, because of the gold coloured eyes of CEO’s and politicians, there is no job security anymore; no more gold watches after twenty-five years. Workers who stay with one company five years are considered lucky. One good by product of this climate is workers must constantly educate themselves in their field to add to their self-worth. An educated worker is a better worker in the eyes of companies today.
There are several ways to change our society to keep America from becoming a second-world country. We, as Americans, have to call for a drastic change and overhaul of the education system. Marshall and Tucker suggest borrowing two German social policies, “which provide a children’s allowance of about $1,600 per child to all families and universal health insurance, thereby guaranteeing that all children arrive at school healthy and ready to learn.”(Education must change, UT professor warns) This will guarantee that no matter where you come from or what level of society, you will be starting off at a level playing field. This surpasses “No Child Left Behind” and also embodies the almost cliché phrase: “To make money, you must be willing to spend money”. By investing in the leaders of tomorrow, we will also be investing in tomorrow’s economy. Marshall and Tucker also suggest a “national board to come up with rigorous educational standards that will be the basis for nationwide examinations for elementary and secondary students.”(Education must change, UT professor warns) This change will ensure that the money spent on the “children’s allowance” and education reforms will not go to waste. Yes, some children may still not try, but we must give the majority the benefit of the doubt that, when given the opportunity, they will succeed. This economic change affects all of us because we will have to shoulder the mounting debt. These changes will give our generation and generations to come tools to produce on par with the leading economies of today and tomorrow’s world. “Either we have to change the way people work here – not only work harder but smarter, more effectively – or we have to compete on the basis of wages. The choice is between high skills and low wages.”(Will Americans Work For $5 a Day) Americans, having not gotten paid $5 a day for some time now, won’t choose lower wages over high skills. We need to educate the young, and continue the education of the old. "Leave No Child Behind" needs to change to "Leave No One Behind."
Government should matter to everyone because it affects every aspect of our lives. Laws regulate everything from social conduct to art (censorship) to economics. A change in policy may make it illegal for friends to stay with their loved ones (if gay relationships are outlawed). Another policy change could implement stiffer gun control. These examples of changing policies verify that, while they are changing policies, they would affect you and all Americans.
The policies and laws already in place and those soon to be adopted affect every American citizen. Therefore, every citizen should actively participate in governmental process. Every citizen who doesn’t vote on new policies and elections forfeit their right to complain about the new leaders and the changes that they bring. Unfortunately, most do not exercise their civic duties and often are the ones that normally gripe the loudest. Most are apathetic about government, commenting, “What can my one vote do to change the world.” But, if the apathetic actually were to vote, this country’s politicians would greater represent the voice of the public. We, the next generations of workers and adults, must remember that we have the responsibility to progress society, for our offspring and ourselves.
School is never over. Yes, once one attains that degree, paid schooling might be over for some. But we, as a society in whole, should always be learning new things. The more we learn, the more we realize what we do not know. "Never stop learning. For the day we stop learning, is the day we die," individually and altogether.
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