The Importance of an Education

Having an education is singularly the most important thing we could do for ourselves.Ó is the first thing my teacher said to us, on our first day of school. I had heard it all three times already that day, and I found myself asking; WhatÕs so important about having an education, anyways? I thought more and more about the consÓ of education and actually discovered that there are no negatives towards having an education. What my teacher said was actually right. The more I thought about it the more I found reasons why you should, further expand your education. To be successful in life you would need a great education. Take a high school drop-out for example, compared to a college graduate. The educated one would obviously have more opportunities towards a better paying job then the drop-out would. And they would definitely have more respect then the drop-out. A non-educated person wouldnÕt be socially involved or aware because of their lacking intelligence, they wo uldnÕt understand what is going on around them. The less educated the more of a disadvantage you have. Take me for example, my ultimate dream is to become a doctor; a pediatrician to be exact. I have realized that having an education really determines whether or not I get to be a doctor. IÕve taken this opportunity to take a lead in my education, and I plan to graduate high school with my AssociateÕs degree. I know I have many more years of school to go through, so IÕm kind of taking a head start. Having this goal in mind gives me something to strive for, and it makes my school days worthy for learning more and more. It's only logical to assume that in order to be someoneÓ in life you would have to continue your education after high school. My parents are contrary examples of this. Ever since my parents were young kids, they dreamed of growing up and becoming professionals. My dad wanted to be a lawyer and my mom aspired to become a teacher. But what happened? My dad graduated from high school and then just started working immediately. And my mom up and dropped out of high school six months before graduating. Neither of them decided to go to college. And now, because of their decision of not continuing their education, weÕre living in a small house with a family of seven living off of food stamps and my dadÕs low paying job. Unlike my parents, I do plan to continue after high school. Clearly, without an education you would go nowhere. And I plan to do otherwise. But, even if you donÕt want to become a professional, having an education has its advantages. With an education you obviously have a lot more opportunities, such as having respect and a better paying job. Obtaining a good education affects you in some way every day for the rest of your life. I definitely agree with my teacher when she says that having an education is the best thing we could do for ourselves.