Knowledge is a Gift

Have you ever sat near the back of the classroom so the teacher wouldn't notice as you chatted with your friends, slept on you textbook... anything to get through the class without getting any work done? I have, and I've even done it at the front of the room. Well, while we're all breezing through our classes, not learning what we're being taught, there are people out there who would be very grateful to be in that classroom, working on the assignments given instead of drooling on the $80 text book.

It all starts with a little bit of lost momentum. As soon as you lose sight of gold you're either going to fall, or you're going to struggle to find it again. Most will fall, as my experience tells me. I've seen students texting, overheard their conversations, sat through their interruptions, even condescended when they didn't even show up until the class was half over. Sure, it might seem innocent to those people doing it, in the moment it might actually be, but once it starts piling up they forget the point of the assignments, they get behind, then end up not getting anything done. Where's the learning in that? People are put into school for a reason, and that reason is to have the gift of knowledge bestowed upon them.

Having a good education means you could get a better job. With a better job comes better pay, and with it, a better quality of life. Also, depending on the job, and sometimes the person, it could help to improve the person's community.

Of course, there are times when an education wouldn't be needed to get a job, but the pay you get wouldn't necessarily be enough to support a family.

Knowledge is a gift, that's what I believe. I'm sure that there are some people out there that feel the same. I remember seeing, once, a documentary-type show on T.V. and the children it featured had to walk several miles and cross a dangerous river just to reach their small tent of a school which hadn't the proper tools available to teach. These children all had big dreams of going to the "big cities" (this was in Africa) and becoming a scientist. They cannot, not until they have been given proper schooling. We have that schooling, the schooling they couldn't dream of having, with all our fancy laptops and internet connections to help us along, but we would throw it away to slack off while they want it so badly? That's not fair.

Students should learn that being in school is a gift, a privilege, and that they should treat their time in the classroom like it were something of great importance, because that's what it is.