I feel like people are steadily getting more ignorant with each year that I am on this earth.
It has nothing to do with intelligence, but more with motivation. I feel like education has been put on the back burner in this country (i.e. the education cuts made by my favorite Perry in all the land – and no, I don’t mean the platypus) by not only politicians, but by students as well.
Growing up, it was always an unspoken expectation in my house that my older brother and I make good grades. Our parents were very adamant about us receiving good educations and trying hard in school, and I don’t think I can repay them for that. I feel that education is one of the biggest gifts my parents have ever given me (besides life, of course – and the car was nice as well).
However, I’ve always been somewhat self-motivated, and I feel like even if that hadn’t been a policy growing up, I still would’ve strived to make the best grades I could. I’m not saying that I made straight A’s. I had my lazy days. There were days that I didn’t want to do an assignment, or I didn’t spend as much time studying for a test as I should have.
But this country, namely my generation and younger, has taken this laziness to a new level. I have witnessed students in some of my classes – in both high school and college – that sleep through their classes, don’t ever turn in homework, and just overall don’t give a damn.
In fact, according to geographic.org, we are ranked 33rd internationally for student performance on the reading, scientific and mathematical literacy scales, but we rank 2nd internationally in beer consumption. I feel like there might be a correlation here…but that’s for another time.
Educators don’t get the respect they deserve, and neither does education. I feel like the old saying, “those who can, do, and those who can’t, teach,” is way off course. Education is so incredibly important, and without those educators we wouldn’t have doctors, nurses, lawyers, police officers, politicians, journalists, etc.
In this country we have education forced upon us so heavily that we should be so much more educated than we are. Stop rejecting this free education and embrace it. Take advantage of this vast amount of knowledge being spoon-fed to you before it’s taken away.
For we all know, that kid that sleeps through every class could have become the next president or the doctor who finds the cure for cancer. You’ll never know your true potential until you try to access it.
Education is everything, and without it we are nothing.