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A Worthy Pursuit

I was once told that not everyone is meant to go to college. I was told this by a Chilean Jew who had beautiful curly blond hair and nerdy glasses to go with, what seemed to me, her snarky intellect. She told me this as a matter of fact after hearing me chatting excitedly to my co-workers about a group of girls from Hispanic farmworker families I had recently formed as part of my special project for community development. My plan was to engage these high school girls and inspire them to graduate high school and pursue higher education.

Maybe she meant no harm by it, but that day onward I lost any interest in trying to impress her. Why couldn’t she have just let me be fueled by my inspiration? And what was the point of even telling me that?  Why was she more deserving than my group of friends who may have come from what most would consider impoverish backgrounds, yet had a lot of potential? I was determined to make a difference in their life. Unfortunately, the group disbanded after 6 months, and we each went our separate ways.

I am a firm believer in life-long education. The kind of people that I feel drawn to are the ones that don’t necessarily have the degree on paper; yet, are always learning and improving, even for the sake of it. Those are the kind of people I want to surround myself with. And the best kind of those kind of people? The ones that don’t pretend that you can’t show them anything because you just might not be as bright as they are. Blondie was pretty smart. She had college education and, if I remember correctly, had a masters. But after the aspirations of 19 year-old Ahira got deflated by her frankness, I didn’t care for her much after that. Yes, I know. Grudgeful. Grow up, Ahira!

The other day I sat in for a staff development training for my job. The training was focused on the different various learning and teaching styles that one can incorporate throughout trainings that best suit all participants. All the information was great. What really caught my attention was the quotation that the trainer presented on the last slide. And I paraphrase:

“Give a man a fish and he will eat for a day. Teach a man how to fish and he will eat for a life-time. Teach a man how to teach others how to fish and the whole world will be fed”.

Dear Readers. At the moment, I don’t have who said the quotation. I’ll need to get back to you on that with the exact quotation.

Maybe it’s true that college isn’t for everyone. Maybe we should leave elite education to the haves who think that university education isn't for everyone. But if there’s anything that the quotation, along with the desire to help others become better, has inspired me to believe is that teaching others to be life-long learners is a worthy pursuit. 
   
What is your opinion about education? Should education be accessible for everyone? Share your thoughts in the comment section.

Until next time,


La Morenita Nomada

Comments

  1. PhoebeMarch 5, 2018 at 6:58 PM

    Absolutely! Education should be for everyone. Those who try to limit education to an "elite class" want to maintain the status quo that keeps the rich richer and the poor, poorer.

    However, I would also like to add that education does come in many forms, and while EVERYONE should pursue the education they want to the highest level they desire, there are certainly different paths that can be taken depending on each person's interests and willingness to learn. The decision of whether to get a liberal arts university degree or go to a trade school or complete an associate's degree in a specific technical field is not a "lower" type of education than a liberal arts one - but the decision of what direction to take should be with the learner. For example, my son (who is still quite young) has told me he will not go to college, he wants to go to aviation school instead. He is still too young to make those decisions, but when he is of age and decides that is what he wants to do, I won't let my personal dreams of him getting a B.A. get in the way of his passion!

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    Replies
    1. AhiraMarch 7, 2018 at 3:34 AM

      Thanks for commenting, Phoebe! I so appreciate your input! I agree wholeheartedly that education does come in many forms, and having a technical degree isn't "lower" than a liberal arts degree. And I am so glad that you are supportive of your son, regardless of his educational preferences later on. However, having you as his mama, I'm pretty sure he will be a very well rounded individual who will excel in everything and anything that he does!

      Delete

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