Motivations of Education by Adonis

Motivations of Education by Adonis - April 2015 Scholarship Essay

In my opinion, there is nothing in this world more valuable and useful than a solid education. My personal definition of it is a combination of learning something well and then applying it well to real life. The purpose of education to me is to invite people to take advantage of many different opportunities, open their eyes to new perspectives through serving the community, and bring a sense of empowerment to people.

The door to success in life always becomes unlocked when one is educated on a high level, whether academically or simply naturally. For example, on average, college graduates have a better chance of making more money from their jobs than high school graduates because they usually have fuller knowledge of what they do a daily basis since they were more academically prepared for it. That being said, it’s not always about what you know but who you know as well, which is still another form of being educated. Sometimes talking to different people about anything of interest to you can help them help you form connections with some more different people. That can increase your opportunities for success because you became more educated in the sense that you learned about more people to turn to for whatever purpose. As shown, more education, whether through “job-smarts” or “people-smarts,” equals more opportunities to move forward in life.

It’s also possible to use education to take action in the community and then learn something else valuable from that experience; I can witness to this firsthand. In 2012-2013, I participated with my school and other Austin schools in a year-round fundraising event called Walk for Water after learning that the people of Burundi, Africa had to walk 3.7 miles from home every day to get water from wells that were not even clean. Austin was able to raise enough money to help build a new clean water system in Burundi, and later on I also found out that the sickness and death rates of Burundi went down significantly in 2013. On the last day of the year for Walk for Water, each school walked a gallon of water 3.7 miles around a track to indicate what it was originally like in Burundi. A valuable lesson I learned from being educated about Burundi’s conditions and participating in the 3.7-mile walk was how fortunate I really am to easily have access to the basic necessities of life, like clean water.

Lastly, education is key in that it empowers a person in any way, shape, or form. The more you know, the stronger and more secure you can be as a whole. A more obvious example of this is having the power to get a good grade on an assignment due to constant learning about what is required for that good grade; academic excellence is not the only empowering kind of education, however. Athletes can educate themselves on what play to make by reading a defense in order to gain power over the other team on the court or field. Someone who’s well-educated about his or her own esteem has the power to stand up for his or herself when necessary and the confidence to not let certain people bring him or her down. These examples show that education can manifest itself in many different ways to empower a person or a community.

Education can only do good because it helps you take advantage of different opportunities, urges you to serve your community and maybe learn even more from that service, and helps you realize your many powers. Striving to be in the know results in nowhere but up to go.