What's the Point of Education? by Julia

What's the Point of Education? by Julia - April 2015 Scholarship Essay

Starting in the middle of my junior year in high school my guidance counselor began to emphasize going to college and getting “college ready.” The way it was presented made it seem as though there was little other options after graduation and like most of my other classmates, I began to search for programs and colleges that I wanted to apply to. At the start of my senior year, all we heard was to study and be prepared to take the standardized tests to send to colleges, get applications sent out, and look for scholarships. I mostly focused on applications and studying for tests. But the research I did to make a decision on where I wanted to go made me focus on getting a degree with a good paycheck after I graduated.

Now I am attending college in Macon, Georgia and I can honestly say that getting a high paying job after graduation is no longer my top priority. After going through the college ready class mandatory for freshmen, I found that I would not be able to live with myself just doing something I tolerated for money. I easily saw myself becoming my mother who had turned to the military because she had no other choice. I found out that I wanted to be happy with my life by doing something that I loved. I just had to figure it out what that was first.

The challenge that I still face today in regards to this problem, is that I want to plan out my life, which right now is selecting a major, so I can be prepared and not have to worry about missing valuable opportunities. Fifty percent of college students will change their major at least once and most will change their major at least three times before they graduate. If almost everyone changes their major, like I did, then college had to be more about finding yourself than just getting an education. This, at first, went against my nature of following a clear path toward a clear goal. Now, I am navigating what I want to do with the rest of my life without having any real world experience to draw from.

College presents me with the unique opportunity to learn about a variety of different areas and gain experience with labs, university offered internships, and talking directly with the faculty. Instead of just focusing on a job, I can apply myself toward gaining different perspectives to look at the world and explore what I want to do with the rest of my life.

Education has a different meaning to me from when I first started attending college. The purpose of education to me is about finding myself and my talents so that I can apply them toward a career. It also allows me to gain friendships that will last me my entire life to support me in difficult and good times. Education is so much more than just a degree today. Education is about becoming that person we all admire or finding what we admire in a person. Education is about understanding our life and being able to enjoy it at our fullest.