How important is education? If you know me, you’d know I work as a teacher and have just enrolled myself in another Master’s program at university. Answering this question is therefore easy for me: yes, I think education is very important.

For one, because if education wasn’t around I would be out of work. Secondly, education has got me to where I am today. It is through schooling that I ended up moving out of my parents’ house, living in the USA for a few months and that has got me the job I now have. To me, education has been the way to move forward: to move on in life, expand my knowledge and meet new people. If I hadn’t decided to go to university, I’d still be living in my old home town and work as a cashier at a supermarket or something along those lines.

What’s more: I love to learn! Nothing gives me more pleasure and joy then learning more and more and more and more. The main reason why I got bored in my first real job was because after just one year I already felt stuck. Why? Because I wasn’t learning anything anymore. All that it would take me to do that job, was to just keep going and doing the same thing for the next 40 odd years. That, to me, is the most dreadful thing in the world! That’s why I’m so excited to be back at uni.

I do believe that there are plenty of other ways to get ahead in life and to learn. Education isn’t the only way. It is a way, but not the only one. I see and have seen plenty of students who struggle majorly with school: going there, sitting there, doing something. Every person is different and so not everybody thrives in a school environment. That is why I believe that education and learning should be understood in the broadest sense: you can also learn things on your own accord. It doesn’t have to be just text books.

To sum it up, yes, I think education is very important. At the same time, I think that school isn’t for everyone. You should just try to find your way in life and for some that’s through school, but there are plenty of other ways to get something more out of life.

What is the last thing you taught yourself?