Knowledge is Power

You don’t have to go back too far in history for information to be hoarded by the minority. Our education systems aren’t really that old. For all of the criticisms of modern education systems we forget that education is not something to be taken for granted. At a certain point in human history your knowledge and career path would very likely be determined by nothing but geography. While that is still true to an extent – now we can access millions of texts, books, articles, courses and watch videos on so many topics we now ironically have information “overload”. Somewhere along the line many of us lost the notion of education being a priviledge and something to be valued. We see it every day when millions of children drag their feet to school or refuse to do their homework. Meanwhile on the other side of the world many children can only dream of an education and the rich rewards that it brings. We’ve lost all sense of perspective. It isn’t about pieces of paper or how much money we earn. Education is a rich reward in itself. The thrill of finding out a fact or accomplishing a task when we were young was exhillirating. As we get older we somehow lose that. Intelligence is belittled or seen as “uncool”. Then in later life we complain that our colleagues and bosses “know nothing”. We used to hold men of science and literature in high regards. Now we’re more likely to know the latest reality TV show “star” than someone who has produced. We’re all guilty of it, myself included. Perhaps we need to show children from a young age that school and learning isn’t a means to an end or something they do so you can brag about them – but a lifelong pursuit. Something to enjoy – the process never ends. Knowledge is power.