A Life of Education

Since the early development of society, there has been one goal that people have always strived to achieve and was once believed to be of higher value than gold. While this is not a material thing, people needed, and still need, this in order to feel secure about themselves, life that surrounds them, and life at their fingertips. While there is no price on it, an education is surely priceless. Dating back to early Greece, education has always been of high value and still is today. However, with materialistic needs being of main concern now days, people are willing to sacrifice their opportunity at an education just to have a social status. But what is a social status without an education? Is having the latest in name brands or technology worth sacrificing a degree, especially in a day where jobs are limited and only those who are mentally prepared are more favorable over those who aren’t?

First off, we live in an economy where a high school diploma is the bare minimum to do anything in society, but not even this can guarantee a steady job. However, many people are dropping out of high school in pursuit of money. While some have an understandable excuse, such as a child to feed, others drop out just to live the “party life” or to make money in order to impress their peers. Blinded by peer pressure, or a choice to not use protection, they forsake their pursuit of education, thus contributing to the fifty percent dropout rate (thirty percent of this being teen pregnancy). This could entail catastrophic results for society’s “future”. (FOXNews.com - High School Graduation Rates Plummet Below 50 Percent in Some U.S. Cities - Local News News Articles National News US News)

In addition to high school students, many college students are also abandoning their pursuit at an education. However, unlike high school students, college students claim that school is “too expensive” or the classes are “too challenging”. And with these excuses, college students are contributing to a “fifty percent dropout rate (after five years)”, even with the increase of middle age return students.(The Quick and the Ed) Indeed the price of books is no fair cost but there are plenty of grants and financial aid available to the public. Whereas the price may be a factor to hinder one’s educational pursuit, they must not forget what an education can do for them and their future. An education can decide whether a person is hired or is on hold for a callback that won’t take place. As for the claim that the classes are too challenging, what is a reward without trial? Would you rather earn a reward or steal a reward? If an education was so easy, everyone would have one but it would be meaningless. The point of having an education is to acquire knowledge by challenging what one knows and to further their knowing of the topic; to research and test their knowledge for future recall. One cannot learn the quadratic formula or how to prepare a proper argument essay overnight; a trial and error process is needed to embed this knowledge (learning through study) into wisdom (accumulated learning).

In conclusion, people need to understand that living a life without an education is definitely a hard one. Research as shown that people who drop out of high school or refuse to pursue a degree through college will have a much harder time with financial stability, thus making work and life much more stressful that it has to be. In times such as these, where the economy has gone down the drain, only those who have a proper education will surpass. For those without an education, life will be quite the uphill battle. There are many grants, scholarships and financial aid available to all, and with the convenience of community college, there is no reason as to why anybody should not pursue an education, ensuring themselves of a brighter and easier future.