Tatva-Artha » education http://www.tatvartha.com meaning of "it" Sat, 22 Oct 2011 22:00:16 +0000 en hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.3.1 Full 16 years of study – a necessity not a luxury http://www.tatvartha.com/2009/03/full-16-years-of-study-a-necessity-not-a-luxury/ http://www.tatvartha.com/2009/03/full-16-years-of-study-a-necessity-not-a-luxury/#comments Thu, 19 Mar 2009 21:16:51 +0000 admin http://www.tatvartha.com/?p=35 Yet Another Related Posts Plugin.]]> I was listening to NPR this morning and there was this gentleman sharing his experience. He said “When I graduated from graduationhigh school, I was excited to join workforce. I became a welder at a factory and made a decent living. I did that for 4 years and I got laid off recently…”

While I was sorry for his losing job, I felt more pity that he didn’t have anybody around him when he graduated from high school to tell him that going to college and getting a degree is essential. It was a big big mistake that he didn’t take studies all the way to the finish line. I understand that there occur circumstances (financial and others) that prevent you from going to college fulltime. However, I remain unconvinced that you can’t find a solution that allows you to get a degree one way or another, be it part time, be it a year later, be it distance learning or whatever.

I have been thru that age when you are 15-16 years old and you dream of going to work someday, earn for yourself, be independent and so on. And at that age, it is not very difficult to follow your dream without thinking of long-term consequences. I was glad to have family around me and the network of family and friends and the general culture around me that never let me think that getting a full 16 year education is optional. And I am glad for it.

There is another stark difference that I noticed between India and US. In India, making sure a kid completes his/her education thru the college is more a parent’s responsibility than kids. Often times, I hear that kids in US pay for their education, atleast for the 4 year college. I am not sure what percentage of US families believe in this but I wonder if that is the primary reason that kids get side-tracked often.

Remember, you are short changing yourself bigtime if you are giving away most valuable years of your growth life for petty jobs. Life is too good to be wasted like that.  As a kid, you have spent 12 hard years getting to the door of college. Why waste all that hard work for saving just 4 more years… go all they way. Cross the finish line… its a marathon… you will never get to run again in life… not at the same age, for sure.

Who says education doesn’t give you anything? Go, talk to this gentleman from NPR.

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