Truth is Relative, Absolutely by Paige

Truth is Relative, Absolutely by Paige - April 2015 Scholarship Essay

Had I been asked this question just a year ago, I wouldn’t have had an answer. At least not a good answer. I might’ve shrugged my shoulders and said something along the lines of, “I don’t know, so that a person can get a job or something.” I may have even responded with some recycled spiel about how learning can inspire students to discover their passions and explore a slew of exciting opportunities that might not be available to them without an education (which I think is a little overkill, to be honest). Very recently, however, I’ve come to the conclusion that the purpose of an education, or at least what I believe should be considered the purpose of an education, is to teach students to teach themselves. It’s a little predictable, or perhaps very predictable, and rather lackluster, but I am absolutely convinced that the greatest benefit that a student may reap from an education is the ability to discern for themselves what is right and what is true.

I’m a first-year college student. I’ve been uprooted from a place that is familiar to me, a place where I was nurtured into a specific way of life and thinking. I was told what to think and believe and accept as the truth, and I did. I did not consider deviating from this “truth” until my education expanded, and I realized that there are many people who are going to tell me what is true and what to think and what I should believe, and it is ultimately up to me to decide what to make of it. I’ve been presented with ideas that are in direct conflict with some that I have carried most of my life, and through my education I have come to find that some of my preconceived notions of the truth were incorrect, that some are solid, and that others are yet indeterminable.

Education provides exposure to the new and unfamiliar, and the new and unfamiliar are essential for encouraging curiosity and exploration and ultimately one’s own understanding of truth. It is a student’s responsibility and, I might add, a privilege to sift through and sort everything that they have learned and will learn, and come to their own conclusions concerning what is good and what is true. It is a privilege because there are people who will hold fast to their preconceived notions of truth, which may very well be untrue, for these notions were never challenged or confirmed by means of an education. The exploration of truth and one’s own determination of what is right is powerful and exciting, and I would never have known that I am capable of discerning truth for myself had it not been for my ongoing education.