Is Our Education System an Effective Contribution to Our Quality of Life?

In today's society, we spend a lot of time making sure our children are highly educated: "Make sure you graduate from high school," "Get that college degree," "Go on to get your doctorate." While I'm not opposed to higher education, as I am currently working on my second masters degree, I know that academic education means nothing if it is not accompanied by life education.

When I was growing up, I had a lot of questions about life with the most important one being "How can I be happy?" Being a highly sensitive child, I was easily affected by the opinions and actions of those around me. Unfortunately, my issues were only heightened by a standardized school system that treated all students as if they should learn the same way, going even further to label those who didn't adjust to their preset template as learning disabled.

Of course these feelings did not help my already existent struggles to understand a confusing life where people did not feel obligated to be nice or make me feel accepted. So I turned to my parents for answers on how to cope with life (and school). I felt that if I understood how to deal with life, I would be able to better handle the individual challenges that were thrown at me. I still feel this way to this very day.

Of all the handbooks, textbooks, study guides and lesson plans I've been handed over my life time to learn specific subjects, I am still missing How to Live Life: 101. Yes, 101. I'll settle for the intro-level class. Because as life gets crazier with more irrelevant reality television, sex and violence in the media, and youth having more babies and falling victim to STDs, we STILL have no help in how to turn things around - only guidance in how to make more bad decisions in our lives.

One of the most ironic episodes to date occurred in April of 2007 when a disgruntled student opened fire on dozens of students and faculty in what became known as the deadliest mass killing in US history. Of course I'm speaking of the Virginia Tech shootings where 33 people were murdered at the hands of one student, a COLLEGE student at that, who felt outcast by society. In the days following the horrific event, media repeated over and over, "How could this happen?" and "What happened in this young man's life to make him reach this point?" But no one thought to look at our own government, media and entertainment for the answer. Our government shows us, by example, that when we are unable to solve our problems with another party, we go to war, murdering "deserving" and unfortunately, innocent victims for the sake of "policy." Yet everyone is confused by this young student's actions. But what makes him so different from The Terminator, The Sopranos, Scarface, or any other example in entertainment that chooses violence to solve their problems? We shake our heads and say his parents must have done a bad job in raising him. And guess what? Maybe they did. But again, if someone had given them that elusive Life Handbook that seems to evade everyone living today, maybe they could have done a better job.

I rant about this because I am trying to learn to live a peaceful, loving, harmonious and abundant life, free of the negativity that seems to permeate our society and world abroad. Yet, doing so results in people labeling me weird or unrealistic. And the people who preach the principles of universal law (i.e. The Secret contributors, Wayne Dyer, Deepak Chopra) are seen as New Age quacks trying to gain a quick buck, instead of those trying to share the peace that they've learned to acquire. Instead of embracing those who are trying to create, little by little, a basic guideline for life, we shun them, ignoring their intentions, and instead continue to work overtime to pay for rising gas prices, inflated mortgage costs and more weapons for a war with no purpose. And still, nowhere in that equation is a suggestion to work overtime to improve one's life, help fellow man, or simply have love and respect for animals and nature.

So where do we go from here? Do we continue to live the way we've been living, doing what we know will only keep us afloat in the day we're in? Or do we move forward and create our own Life Handbook to help each other form a positive school of life. We have instincts within us that help guide us toward making the right decisions. Do we listen to them or keep doing what we are doing? The choice is up to us. I just hope that we are able to save ourselves and change the direction our lives are headed before we destroy our own earth in the name of hate and war. I hope that we can begin our first session in life school before it's too late.