The Concept of Education

Note: This post is supposed to be neither preachy nor pretentious. These are just my thoughts on the subject, so take it however you want it.

As far as I can remember, I was destined for university. I don’t mean that in the sense that I lived my childhood years knowing I was going to get into university; rather, I understood that it was absolutely necessary for me to use it as a stepping stone to get to where I should want to be.

“If you want to get ahead, LEARN.” 

This was the message that was pushed in my head from an early age. I guess everyone has their own calling in life, and ever since I was little, I always understood mine to be about valuing the concept of education, rather than repressing it. Education in itself means different things to different people – some see it (in its institutionalized form) as a burden on creativity, and a path towards the 9-5 routine - a dip into that “average” lifestyle that everyone wants to avoid. To me, I saw education as a form of liberation, something that would separate me from the average individual. I don’t mean this in the sense of earning potential - you can be stupid but still earn millions (see celebrities like Paris Hilton, Lebron James, etc). What I’m trying to state is that education liberates your mind by expanding your mind more than the next person, and that’s its function in the struggle that is life.

Since when is having more knowledge (about anything) than the person next to you a bad thing? As long as you’re not pretentious and/or obnoxious about it, education is a beautiful talent.

I strictly view life as a competition. Firstly, you’re racing against time, but you’re also racing against everyone else in the same field as you to get ahead. By field, I'm referring to people in the same age bracket as you, or perhaps even the same job-field as you. Basically, those people you creep on Facebook every once in a while to see what they've been doing since the last time you saw them 5 years ago.

Therefore, the best ways to defeat your competition - regardless of what field it is – is through education. Think about it. Even if you’re a musician or an athlete - the ones who reach the top and stay at the top are the ones who educate themselves. Let me give you a prime example of this. Guys like Will Smith and Kobe Bryant are both clearly successful individuals in their respected fields. The reason why both of them are at the top of the list in their profession is, by their own accounts, through learning from the greats of the past, and seeking out  knowledge about what has worked for the people before them and by figuring out new ways to improve themselves, year after year. And that’s what I’m trying to conceptualize in your heads: education as a necessity for success beyond monetary means.

I know people in my life who never took education seriously, ones who always saw it as a burden. Even worse, they never made the effort to learn on their own. Never wanted to educate themselves on the world, on themselves. How much can you really know about yourself when you’re not willing to push your mind and see its capabilities?

My point is: education doesn’t mean having to hit the books in an institutionalized setting. People think that just because they go to University, it makes them smart.

No.

I know plenty of people who are in University but still perceive life through the eyes of a teenager. To me, education means constantly improving and finding new and more ingenious ways to reinvent yourself as a person. If you think the same way, or are completely rigid in your views about a concept about (i.e. – say, religion) today as you were 5 years ago, you haven’t learned shit.

- G.P