Expository essay -- Which aspects of your education do you think will be most useful to you in adult life?
Wednesday, 20 April 2011
Greek philosopher Socrates once said “education means bringing out of the ideas of universal validity which are latent in the mind of everyman.” This proves that education is used everywhere, thus valid in your adult life. However, which aspects of your education do you think will be most useful to you in adult life? Personally, I feel that student development is the most crucial aspect, but it is often neglected in schools.Firstly and most obviously the academic aspect of education, which includes core subjects like math, science, chinese language and english langauge. The main objective of education is to allow for basic knowledge about the world, which is also the basis of employment in adult life. The learning of chinese and english are especially important. As languages, they allow for good communication in the working world, which would help increase the productivity of co-workers and the familiarity between business partners. Most importantly, the learning of chinese allows us to be effectively bilingual and with china recognized as economic powerhouse, the mastering of the language would prove as a competitive edge in the working world.
Secondly, student development programmes in schools like co-curriculum activities and moral education develops crucial social skills. For example, the correct social etiquette in public and the importance of elderly respect. Besides that, moral education lesson is also a way for us to trace back to our roots and cultural appreciation, which would help students understand more about themselves. CCAs, especially sports, emphasizes on the need to work as a team. In the working world, this would be extremely important. English writer John Donne once wrote, “No man is an island”, in the working world, no one can individually do everything, everyone has to work as a team, and here is where the idea of teamwork comes into place. Other than that, resource and research skills in academic subjects are particularly useful in the working world, especially in commerce, with loads of projects and research to be done.
Thirdly, the physical and aesthetic appreciation aspect of education teaches students to strike a fine balance of work and recreation, recognizing that people cannot keep on working and need time for ourselves in order to release stress. Other than that, physical education allows us to fight healthcare problems with obesity the most evident of all.
Some people may argue that content heavy subjects like math and science are not important, due to the fact that these are not usually applied in real life. People usually say, when will u ever need to use algebra? When will you ever need to know how far the earth is from the sun, and why humans can only live on Earth? However, these subjects train the thinking process of your mind. In math, it’s the step-by-step problem solving method. In math, it is the step by step problem solving. In science, it is the idea of pursuing for knowledge. Such skills are instrumental in work success and thus cannot be done without.
Adults widely believe that education is the best form of investment parents can give to their child, and they are probably right. Other than academic education, it is the student development that goes a long way to shape the child’s future, thus it is very important for a child to have gone through education as it is crucial in the adult life.