The Grand Prize with Immeasurable Value by Anna

The Grand Prize with Immeasurable Value by Anna - April 2015 Scholarship Essay

We, as citizens of the United States, cannot fathom how much we take for granted. Many of us have been blessed with innumerable riches that some may only dream of having, for example, our education. In schools all across the country, countless students can be heard complaining about “how much they hate school” or “when am I ever going to use this in real life?” But, how many of them stop to think about what their education will do for them? Or how much children in third world countries dream of going to school?

In today’s world, people think that the purpose of an education is to better oneself. All throughout high school, we are told, “it looks great on a college application,” or “colleges love to see that,” and “you have to work hard so you can get into a good college and make a lot of money and be successful!” In our society, we are told that the more education you get, the more money you’ll have and the “happier” you’ll be. But, is this the true purpose of education?

The real meaning of education is to help others. With an education, we are able to broaden our horizons, so that we may help others to achieve their goals as well. By learning history, we are able to learn what was successful, and what was disastrous, and we can make sure that our history does not repeat itself. By learning science, we are able to experiment and study our surroundings, and find ways to make our world a better place. By learning a foreign language, we are able to unite everyone and “help each other out.” With English, we are able to put everything together and use our acquired skills in every subject!

While many people in society believe that an education will bring “great things,” like wealth and success, that is truly not what education is supposed to be about. With our education, we should be able to help others less fortunate, and use what we have learned to better their lives as well. We can do so many “great things” of our own; we can help the environment, we can increase literacy, we can increase food supply. So many things could happen, so many lives could be saved, as long as everyone decides whether or not it’s worth it.