“It used to be money for education. Now it’s education for money.” My teacher said this in francais class the other day and the thought has hung around. Gaining insight and making new discoveries is a privilege. Growing up with universal education, sometimes it seems that it’s easy to forget.
(Illustration courtesy of Nate Williams at http://www.n8w.com/wp/5308)
My interpretation of the quote: people used to pay for a good education and now people use education to get paid. The focus of school is no longer to learn but to earn bigger paychecks. Maybe that is why many students see school as a burden instead of an opportunity.
In countries such as Canada, students have no limits to what they can learn. The joy of learning is lost when priceless knowledge is quantified to measurements of success and wealth.
Yes, we still pay money for good education, but not really for its own sake, but for the sake of more money. And I think it happens at the other end as well, with the education system providing resources, but also to generate some cha-chings.
Imagine if school was not mandatory. Children would still find ways to discover and explore, because the world is far too interesting. Maybe if education was seen through the eyes of curiosity, learning can be just as fun in senior years as it was finger painting and counting ladybugs in kindergarten.
Thanks for reading,
thebookybunhead
thebookybunhead 
I would like to reblog this with your permission. Can you email me at aopinionatedman@gmail.com if that is ok. Thanks!
Reblogged this on HarsH ReaLiTy and commented:
I thought this was a very interesting read.
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Unfortunately not all education beyond high school is equal nor is the average college student so much educated as mis-educated their heads filled with the propaganda his/her teachers teach.
Plus as long as corporations continue to hire foreign nationals under the HB1 via because they can be paid less a diploma is useless – not even worth the parchment it is printed on if one cannot find a job in that field.
Agreed. This country is heavily reliant on the HB1 in order to import intellectual resources because we can’t raise our own.
Very sad, but very true. Thanks for stopping by!
I totally agree with this. Education is definitely treated as more of a future financial investment than it is a personal growth investment. I’m not sure if the system should be changed into something else (it’s not like I have a better proposal), but the paradigm that rules over our educational system should definitely change. I think that if kids treated their education as an opportunity to grow personally, they’ll do the best. In fact, some of the smartest kids in my class treat academics as a pleasurable activity and thus gain ridiculously high GPAs.
The pressures of performing well at school to earn a good lifestyle really does obstruct true learning. Natural interest is a much better incentive. What you wrote about personal growth reminded me of the book Mindset by Carol Dweck. It’s about the way we view change, development, and challenges – you may find it a worthwhile read.
I wrote about it here if you’d like to know more about it: https://thebookybunhead.wordpress.com/2012/10/14/mindset-by-carol-s-dweck-review-an-actual-key-to-success-book-that-works-really/
Thanks for leaving me your thoughts!
Those growth mindset ideas are concepts I’ve read about before. I’m a guy who’s totally into the self-help stuff. I particularly like Tony Robbins and his stuff on personal development. In fact, I think I’ve read that exact same student example that is in that book. I’ll definitely see if I can get it in the library!
Great, and I’ll have a look at Robbins as well.
Great article. I believe education is way too expensive these days. And what’s even worse is… a majority of the classes are self-taught! Crazy…
Yes, and the fact that school credits can be gained through online courses, which are becoming more popular, is definitely saying something…
Thanks for stopping by!
True, so true… thanks for posting a great read! 🙂
Nicely stated.
that’s why i love the liberal arts. im sure im studying it not to get paid but to learn more and live my passions 🙂
Artists definitely can claim that they do what they do for the love it. Bragging rights 😀