How Education Will Benefit You

From that first tear-filled day of kindergarten to that equally teary day of high school graduation, you go to school because your parents are required by law to send you there, or teach you themselves at home. Either way, education is dictated for you. Where you go from there is up to you however.

Some people catch the "learning bug" fairly early. Other students may call those people names like: nerd, teacher's pet, brown-nose, etc. but in the coming years, those same students will end up calling that "nerd" sir or ma'am or Boss. The nerds and brown noses of the world will work their way up the ladder, climb to the top and then direct the less educated to build new ladders so that they can climb even further up.

Education is not what you are forced to learn, not the things that you cheated your way through or the information that you memorized and could regurgitate verbatim. None of that is truly learned so it does not qualify as education. Education is actually knowledge that is acquired- what you actually have and can use. Memorization may help you pass a test or two, but it does not give that knowledge to you. Do you think that you are cheating your teacher when you do not try to learn the lesson? You cheat only yourself.

Research shows that continual learning will keep the brain active well into old age- it will continue to build and rebuild electrical connections the more you make it work to learn new things. Try to learn a new language, or take a cooking class and learn a whole new cuisine. Whatever you can do to keep your brain fresh and firing is beneficial to you. Scientists in Atlanta, Georgia, conducted a study of 25 men and women which proved that the "brain loves a surprise". Unpredictable actions stimulated more activity in the pleasure center of the brain- a continually learning brain is a happy brain, and a happy brain is a healthy brain.

Do not get hung up on age, or any of the other excuses you wrap around yourself to shield yourself from seeking your education. How many newspaper articles have you read about the seventy year old who went back to finish high school or college? If they can do it so can you. I wanted to go back to seek a degree, but allowed myself to be stopped over and over again. Finally, I had had enough and I went back. I wrote a list of the things that could possibly stop me from my educational goals and figured out how to get over each hurdle. My age has never bothered me, so I did not put it on the list.

Education is one of the greatest gifts that you can give to yourself and to your family. You are setting a good example for your children; you are providing a better life than you could if you were not as well educated. You seek new information everywhere you go, keeping your education fresh and ever changing. Your brain will thank you, and when you are both old and gray, but not senile, your spouse will thank you too.