Many students find themselves questioning the importance of their education. Is there a really any point to knowing all of the capitals of the U.S. or learning trigonometry when you know you don t want to have anything to do with math as a grown-up? It s hard to see why education is important when a lot of what you learn seems meaningless. True, in school you ll learn many things that you ll never use again. But conversely, you re bound to also learn things that come in handy and prepare you for the future.
You might have heard that the best education happens outside of the classroom. Education isn t limited to just what you learn in school. Real learning happens from real-life experiences. What you learn in the classroom is theoretical and it needs to be applied to the real world to be of any use. Experience is at the core of life we live our lives and make future decisions based on past experiences and what we ve learned. The general reason why education is important is because through learning you acquire the ability to live and survive.
But of course, it s usually the classroom people are talking about when they refer to education, and the importance of acquiring academic knowledge. In this case, the specific reason why education is important is that it helps you move ahead in society. Many jobs require at least a high school diploma and having a bachelor s or graduate degree opens many more doors and generally income will correlate with your education level. But unfortunately, our educational system tends to advance those who are already advantaged and often pushes the disadvantaged further behind. This problem is an impetus for controversial issues like affirmative action that continue to be hotly debated.
This kind of rationale for the importance of education easily leads to cynicism. Who wants to hear others preach about why education is important when education is stacked against you to begin with? But the fact is that the world is often an unfair place. It s unsatisfying to justify education by explaining that that s the way things are, but as things stand, education is probably your biggest bet for beating the odds. Navigating the educational system can be challenging in the way that it can be challenging to navigate life, and that s the way life goes. The best you can do is to try to equip yourself with as many resources as you can.