Knowledge is Power by Kristin

Knowledge is Power by Kristin - April 2015 Scholarship Essay

My mother is my inspiration for pursuing a Master’s degree in Library and Information Science. It is only fitting, then, that I share one of her favorite ideals: knowledge is power. I cannot count the number of times when I was bogged down by homework that seemed impossible, both in high school and college, and I wanted to quit and my mother would share that saying. It is a phrase that encouraged me to continue studying what I loved while simultaneously exploring new subjects and new classes that were available to me. After all, you can never know when knowledge in a certain area of study could help you. Education, as my mother would say, is the most powerful tool one can obtain – once it is gained, there is absolutely nothing and absolutely no one who can take it away from you, no matter what else you may lose or gain. The purpose of an education to me, then, is to use it as you would any tool, but with the understanding that this can tool can take you to far greater heights than anything else you can hope to achieve.

I call education a tool because that is how I believe most people should consider it. It is not something to be gained and then put aside, never to be looked at or used again. Nor is it something that one can shrug off as being unhelpful or irrelevant to life. Instead, an education is something that is meant to flourish and grow, helping you to grow along with it. Like many tools, you can become more adept with it the more you use it and can have a variety of functions that you may never have thought of. You achieve it in order to use it; and with it, you can do many things that you could never have done bare-handed.

There are so many people in this world that squander their education, and yet there are so many others that wish for an education more than anything else in the world. Education is something that should never be scoffed at or disregarded, no matter what level of learning is being considered. To me, a person should use his or her education to make his or her dreams a reality, to utilize it to its fullest potential which, in truth, never ends. You can continue to learn and use that learning for your entire life, and never really be finished. There are those who use their education to pursue a career they are passionate about or to further their own ambition. Others choose to study something that they can use to help the world around them, which to them is the best way to use what they have learned and is reward in itself. For me personally, becoming a librarian is a mix of these two ideals. I am going to earn my Master’s degree in order to gain the knowledge and skills that I need to be successful in my career (something I could never do without that education to help me). Simultaneously, a librarian’s first duty is to his or her library and to his or her community. A librarian should be passionate about providing the resources that a community and its members need in order to achieve all of their goals and dreams. An education is a powerful, powerful tool that can be, and should be, used and expanded as often as possible. My mother drilled this notion into my head and it is one that I plan on carrying for the rest of my life. Knowledge, after all, is power.