The Instruction Manual for Empowerment by Breanna

The Instruction Manual for Empowerment by Breanna - April 2015 Scholarship Essay

Depending on whom you ask, there are many different purposes of education. You have the party animals who view going to school as their personal joy ride. You have people who begrudgingly consent because their parents told them to. And then you have those who work with everything they have to get the education of their dreams. For those people, the purpose of education is empowerment, giving them the confidence, courage, and credibility to aim high and shoot for the stars.
In the Western world, we tend not to take education seriously. Some high school seniors sleep in class while middle schoolers write love notes to eachother behind the teachers’ back. But it’s hard for us to understand what a privilege it is to be educated. Having the public school system, which allows anyone and everyone to go to school no matter their financial situation is an absolute gift. The fact that there are people in third world countries who would kill for the chance we have to go to school really should put things in perspective.

For example, Malala Yousafzai is a 14 year old Pakistani girl who was shot in the head by the Taliban because she was a blogger advocating for a girls right to go to school. What were the Taliban so afraid of that this child embodied? She symbolized self empowerment through her fight for the freedom to be educated. There must be something to this whole knowledge thing if people are willing to sacrifice their lives to obtain that right.

Because education is so readily available, it is also pretty much required to be successful. Every once in a while you’ll hear of someone creating a multi million dollar business based off of a 5th grade education, but if we’re honest with ourselves, that is very rare. To understand the world and it’s needs, we must have an education and the problem solving skills to readily face the dog eat dog markets we are trying to break into to create a career for ourselves.

In some ways, education reminds me of an Ikea furniture instruction manual. We all know those people who go to the mega store, pick out what looks nice, only to bring it home and call us because they can’t figure out how to build it. Once we hustle to our friend’s aid, we realize the problem: they didn’t read the instructions! Of course you will have some people who will figure it out with a little luck and pixie dust, but most of the time the bench comes out looking like a mailbox. Going into life or a field that requires clear cut knowledge without taking the time and energy to learn is a recipe for failure.

To be clear, I am not saying that people who don’t go to college or drop out of highschool are below average intelligence. That’s not what I’m saying at all. External reasons, such as finances and life situations play into it. However if we as a people group do not shoot to better ourselves through education, in whatever ways we can, we will not develop the tools necessary to become a working part of our society.

In conclusion, you don’t need to be some fancy college scholar to make your mark in this world. But the purpose of education is to empower people to reach their fullest potential, teaching them how to overcome obstacles, multi task and interact with other people who have differing opinions. Taking the time to learn helps us understand the value of perseverance and hard work, preparing us to someday be able to teach the younger generation by our example.