Eng 101

Education 1

The Importance of an Education
Ashley Todd
ENG 101-D20
4/04/2013

Education 2
The Importance of an Education
When Alfie Kohn wrote his paper What Does It Mean to Be Well-Educated? he tried to focus on everyone's point of view. He wrote about how there are many different types of people who are able to hold a job with maybe just one degree against the other who may be unemployed but have multiple degrees. Why would having more initials at the end of your name guarantee your success in life? Why would his ex wife had endured 29 years of hard schooling just to end up using only one of her many degrees? There are many reasons one person may obtain multiple degrees such as a decline in the amount of people available in a position or even the necessity of that job field at all. I am in the middle of obtaining my very first degree from Liberty University and I could never imagine attending school for a total of 29 years. Everyday in my field I am learning new ways to manage my work more efficiently and control the outcome of my work. In any workplace an education is something that is held high on a pedestal simply because it means you have been to school longer but in some cases that does not mean you have a great education.
When I was younger I was a child who attended so many school that it was hard to keep track of the school I was attending the next day. I could be considered a military brat and education was instilled in me at a young age. Even when I had issues with homework I was always forced to sit at the table and solve the issue out with some assistance from my parents. Being taught that an education was something that was a requirement made me more successful in my classes as I grew up. Even thought the many schools I attended focused on my different topics I was always willing to learn more. The fourth school I attended was my first school that focused on learning about God. It was a hard transition for me to go from a school who focused a lot of spelling to a school who had mass assemblies that help us learn how to properly pray. Even an education that held religion so highly was an important lesson for me learn. I was forced to form my own opinions about our savior and about how I wanted to lead my life.
Education 3
In life getting an education means something different to everyone. There are many people who go through life without a high school diploma and then there are some people who go through life with many degrees and could be considered well achieved. When I was younger I enjoyed school so much that I would have stayed after if I was ever given the chance. I played in the science lab or hung out in the library but as I got older I realized things were changing when I hit fourth grade. I didn’t want to do my homework and I didn’t participate in class activities and this was simply because I thought schooling was useless. By time the sixth grade came around I had made so many mistakes that I was in jeopardy of being held back. Once I saw how much work I had to complete it was only then that I realized how important schooling was to my future. There are many people in this world who realize it to late or do not realize it at all.
When my sister and I were young we constantly fought with one another over almost anything. We were determined to make one another look bad no matter what it took. The one thing my sister always made me look bad at was school. She excelled at school in nearly every way. I was more physical and she was a book worm. She ended up graduation third in her class and with a scholarship to collage while I was simply in the middle of my class when I graduated. When our grades came out she would be upset over getting a B while I was ecstatic over obtaining a C in a class. We have led much different lives since then with only a few things in common. But we are both successful in life because of our schooling and the degrees we obtained. She is a successful insurance adjuster while I am a stay at home mom continuing on getting an education. Out of the few things we have in common it is our education. We were both able to graduate high school and continue on with our education to become successful no matter what it took.
Alfie Kohn writes about “Evaluating people vs. Their Education” and goes on asking “Does the phrase well-educated refer to a quality of the schooling you received, or to something about you?” (Kohn, 2003). I fully believe that everyone leaves high school or college with only obtaining a selection of facts. As Alfie Kohn had explained, his ex wife was brilliant but could not answer even simple question such as a multiplication question but I believe that even though she was unable to answer the question it did not mean that she was any less brilliant than her husband had thought.
Education used to be a word that frightened me to the point where I would simply ignore it. The older I got the more I now understand that knowledge, even in it smallest amount, is a strong ally when it comes to friendly debates or simple conversations. Many people think that there are only limited things they need to know in order to lead a successful life and all though that may be true there are still things we are able to learn that may not be deemed necessary. When my life was turned over to Jesus more than a year ago I quickly began to see the world in a different light. The Big Bang Theory was simply something I knew happened and know one could refute that fact. Now that I have spent my time learn of Jesus and the amazing things he has done and will do, my life has grown to become something fuller than I could of ever thought it could be. This is knowledge that some may deem unnecessary but it is a requirement in my life. While others such as Alfie Kohn's ex wife are unable to remember multiplication facts there are people out there that have not yet seen how important every kinda of education is. Some look at knowledge as being limited or having a cap to it but our knowledge has no limit just the love Jesus has for us. We should all thrive to learn about everything is our world no matter how difficult or uneasy it may be.
There are many people out there who would define a good education as something only one could obtain from Harvard or Columbia and although those would be a great starts to the education process, that would never be where you education stopped. Even when you leave high school or a university you will continue to learn about life and how to continue moving forward without falling. You will learn facts about others and about yourself until the day you are no longer on this green earth. Obtaining a great education is an important part of life because it is able to teach you more than just simple facts or how to read a program. It teaches you about the life God has created for us. It teaches you manners, interpretation, and how to live a full life in the eyes of our creator.
Sources
Kohn, Alfie. "What Does It Mean to Be Well Educated?" N.p., Mar.-Apr. 2003. Web. 8 Apr. 2013.<http://www.alfiekohn.org/teaching/welleducated.htm>.