What is the Price of Learning? by Matthew

What is the Price of Learning? by Matthew - May 2025 Scholarship Essay

“Dad… I’m hungry.”
The father, overtaken by stress, takes a few moments before replying, “Did you check the pantry? Maybe we can make something new!”

His optimism is all the child sees, unable to read past the worn-out smile. Unbeknownst to the child, his father has been out of a job for over a year. As children, how many of us truly understood hardship? I remember thinking that a single dollar could buy anything.
It is at this moment that the basic human instinct kicks in: survival. Nothing else matters to this person—education slides to the back burner. The mind focuses only on finding a way out, if possible.

Like a raccoon trying to claw itself out of a dumpster, parents will do anything to protect their children.

Emily, Matthew, Konrad, Isabella, David, Belen, Viktor, Jacob, Gaberial, Melany. The names of my siblings. We were all ignorant of our situation. My father, at many points, had no work and no job opportunities. We relied on the pure goodness of others just to eat.
Survival requires three things: (1) Shelter, (2) Food, and (3) Water. Anything else is excess and unnecessary. It’s the reason why art and technology took so long to advance.
What would I do with unlimited time and money? That very thought experiment has been imagined in different ways across societies throughout history. The Greek myth of the Ring of Gyges posited that with unlimited power, one would do, in essence, unlimited evil. I disagree.
If I were to have such power, I would feed the weary, support the sick, and teach the downtrodden. Education is truly that board the raccoon would use to escape the dumpster.
College taught me this in just one semester: Education is worth more than gold.
All deserve it.
It frees the mind.
It opens imagination.
For what is the price of learning? If I had this magical power, I would open schools in areas with poor funding. I would help educate the class of society that everyone seems to forget. Yet imagining can only get me so far, so I study hard. For in essence, I have the power within me to change the world.
For what is the price of learning?