The Important Factors of a Good Education

In today’s world, more and more countries recognise the importance of educating the younger generation, especially Singapore, who has already risen in its academic ranking to above that of USA’s. In my opinion, I believe that it is important to work hard. Firstly, there a person needs to work hard in order to improve himself. Malcolm Gladwell found out in his calculations that even supposed natural need to work hard for at least 10,000 hours before he has a chance to achieve success. Secondly, it is important to have a conducive learning environment with people that are better than you. This gives a person the incentive to work harder to try to surpass the people around him. This forms health competition in which one is driven to excel. For example, when John sees that Tom’s results are better than his, then he will want to work harder in order to do better than Tom the next time. Thirdly, the students must feel motivated to work hard and do better. If John wants to become an expert in the area of science, and eventually become a respected and reputable scientist, then he would be motivated to work hard towards that goal. People without an aim in mind cannot achieve much. In the end, it boils down to what the parents teach their children about. If society’s parents are relaxed on their children, and do not expect them to work hard, and most of the children will just influence each other and the average academic grades in the country will drop. Parents trying to force children to work hard will discover that this technique only works on younger children. Nevertheless, it is also important to groom a child from young. If parents inculcate the right learning values and attitude, learning, instead of being a chore, can become an enjoyment. Also, teaching them good learning habits such as working ahead of time and not procrastinating, then they would be much more motivated to work hard.

An example of this is the US education system. Californian public schools used to be the finest in USA, were well-funded and well-run, with excellent teachers. However, they are now a disaster, ridden with so many problems that it has become irreparable. The US’ results have been sliding, falling behind many countries in Europe and Asia, like Singapore, to the 26th overall.

The result of a poor education system like the one in the US obviously has its toll upon society. In USA, the dropout rate it 25%, and 14% of high school dropouts unemployed. As such, we can also observe that academic results are directly linked to a person’s future. Thomas Edison once said that genius is 1% inspiration and 99% perspiration – it is nevertheless important for a country with many talents to work hard to groom them. If the country continues like this, then the next generation will find that they are lagging behind other countries in Europe and Asia, and will find it harder to compete in the job market.

1 comments:

Alex 7 November 2011 at 16:08  

That was GOOD!!!!
=D

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Hi guys, I'm a student in Singapore, and this are some thoughts and essays I have written over the years.