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Health & Fitness

BLOG: Education is Key to Your Designated Destination

Patch contributor Lauren Lola continues her blog on motivating youth to pursue their goals by emphasizing the value of education.

It’s good to set goals for yourself in life and have an idea about where you want to be going and what you want to see yourself doing.

However, in order to get anywhere, it’s always essential to have the proper background of education to help guide you to where you’re going. 

It’s just like what my great aunt once wrote in a letter she sent to my dad: “Pride is a trail of the demagogue while humility is for the educated.”

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I know that school is the last thing many of Newark’s youth wants to hear about, when these are the days dedicated to getting lost under the summer sun, but it’s an ideal subject to bring up in this case scenario when the demographic of youth who don’t value their education enough seems to be getting bigger and bigger as time goes on. 

I know that it’s not the norm for kids to be thinking long-term in regards to what’s up for them later on in life, but this is a way of showing just how important education is in pursuing one’s ambitions.  After all, it is always good to learn at least one new thing each day.

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I think one reason why kids and other young people don’t value education enough are the required subject classes where they may feel that what they learn in those classes won’t be applicable to what they do later on in life.  I know for a fact that that’s why a lot of college students don’t like taking general education classes.

Well let me ask you something: How do you know for sure? 

Classes such as math, English, science and social science are to acquire you with knowledge in subjects aside from the ones you’re interested in.  It’s very valuable to have knowledge in a wide variety of subjects; for it will have you become better-rounded as a person with a wider perspective to the world around you.  Think of these kinds of classes as the building blocks to something much, much greater than you would have ever expected.

It doesn’t even matter if you go onward to college or trade school later on in life.  Professions in all walks of life are going to acquire on knowledge from several of these fields. You need to be a well-rounded educated person to be a citizen of this world.

One other road block that seems to cause kids from doing well or even being the most remotely interested in school is the mindset. Depending on who these kids are, they may be coming from backgrounds where education isn’t as valued or isn’t considered a major priority — hence the mindset that their future does not depend on their education. 

Kids need to realize that education is one of the most major priorities in their life they’ll dedicate their time and energy to; especially those who decide to go onwards to college.  It’s the key that will get you where you need to be and where you want to be. 

A fine example of students taking responsibility for their education was reported by in Newark Patch's recent article about how students with are going to the school three times a week to take care of the sea animals, while the school district is in search of a new teacher to take over the program.

They don’t have to be doing this. They are on summer vacation and really the next time these kids have to be on campus is on orientation day next month.  However, they do it anyway because of the values and lessons they learned from being a part of the program. Remember that biology class that you thought was absolutely pointless? The material from that class is definitely applicable in this case scenario when it comes to taking care of sea animals. I applaud this group of students for their dedication.

Having motivation to pursue your goals and ambitions in life is a great thing.  However, to have the necessary education shows that you’re willing to keep yourself well-informed in all subject matters by any means necessary.

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