Presentation on Education: Part II

Education has been around since time immemorial that some tend to take it for-granted. But education is one of most important weapons human beings have in their arsenal. The Swiss philosopher, Jean-Jack Rousseau thought that education is the only thing that could lift humans out of barbarism.

Education is responsible for catapulting Western countries to economic success and social progress. In some Western nations, education is securitized. That is to say, it is treated as a national security issue; as such, necessary resources are devoted to it. The question that poses itself is why some of our youth are abandoning education and what can we do to help them? This paper will attempt to answer that question by outlining the challenges and providing some suggestions or strategies to solve these problems.

One of the challenges that our kids face is that they do not have something to fallback on at home. In other words, there is a lack of parental support.

The educational system in Canada is set up in such a way that parents/guardians are expected to take active role in the education of their children. Regrettably, that proves to be a problem as far as our community is concerned. Some students come from families where parents or guardians have to work in order to make ends meet leaving little room for them to help the kids. Others have parents/guardians who are either literally or functionally illiterate and have little to offer by way of support.

Lack of parent support is not the only problem facing our youth of course. A systematic problem is another issue. One of these problems is discrimination. By any means and worse of all it is known and being condoned by the authorities. Yet it does exist, and it is subtle.

Last and most important of all, our youth either have low motivation or lack it altogether. This lack of motivation could be a result of several factors. First, there is a problem of language or cultural barrier. Because most kids come here as migrants, they may have trouble picking up the language or appropriate cultural lingo to be able to engage in conversation with their peers at school. When you draw blank in a conversation, you feel left out and this could be a big de-motivating factor. Second and closely linked to this, is the level in which kids are placed in. Kids who immigrate to Canada are placed in grades on the basis of their ages not on the basis of the actual schooling they did prior to coming to Canada. Being put in a grade that is not compatible with one’s level could definitely cause students to fall behind and in turn lose enthusiasm. Third, some kids just do not have staying power that is necessary to carry on with their studies.

Students facing one of the problems outlined above or all of them might understandably decide to drop out from school. We, as parents/guardians or the community at large may react to such a scenario by passing a judgment without knowing the particulars that led the youth to such a decision.

To be sure, there are some kids who drop out from school without sufficient grounds. But, whatever the case, school is tough. Whether kids abandon school for good or no good reasons is immaterial. Leaving school, however, is a quick fix, a band-aid solution at best and a defeatist strategy at worst. Rather, these challenges should make it all the more important for the youth to stay the course and finish what they have started.

Today we live in a consumer society where we are bombarded with advertisements of consumer goods intended to persuade us to reach to our pockets and spend. If you do not have good education or deep pockets, you will be obliged to take a minimum wage job in order to buy consumer goods.

There is nothing wrong with having a job that pays minimum wage. In fact, it is commendable and youth who would like to do this should be lauded.

They can gain experience, make income in a decent manner and feel a sense of ownership. But flipping a burger at a local McDonald’s restaurant or mowing a lawn for a $ 7 will not cut it. You may be able to buy some technological gadgets like cell phone, MP3 or an Ipod if you make $ 7 an hour. You may even be able to drive a secondhand Honda Civic. But, remember, the consumer culture puts a lot of pressure on us. You will not want to settle for less. You will want to own the same goods that your friends have; the latest DLG Flat Screen TV or sexy BMW.

As indicated above, you can not afford those stuff with your current minimum wage job. To meet your needs then you will need higher income and you can not earn higher income unless you have a proper education. To solve that chicken in the egg problem, you will again opt for a quick but wrong solution; that is, doing the drugs, prostitution or any other criminal activity. When you reach that stage, your life becomes a toss up between death or going to jail. Your life becomes “nasty, brutish, and short” to quote Thomas Hobbes. All in all, dropping out from school could have dire consequences.

Only education holds out a hope for a better life. To ensure education of our youth, parents/guardians will have to commit to serious and active involvement in the education of their children. It is incumbent upon parents/guardians to make themselves known to school authorities and bring any problem into their attention if there is one, rather than leaving it to fester. They should not hesitate to reach out for help if students have academic problems. Besides, they have to find time to assist kids with their assignments. Finally, parents/guardians should motivate students by extolling the benefits of education or use any other strategies. Motivation is the single most important factor in education. Even the best teacher in the world will be of little help to students who have no interest in learning. Motivation is not something that the teacher can impart to students; students bring it to class room. Parents/guardians then have to find ways to motivate their kids.

Getting good education may be difficult. But, it is a necessary evil.

Some may argue that it is difficult to find a white-collar job in Canada and as such there is no incentive. That may be true. But one does not have to restrict his search to Canada. If you are not able to get a job in

Canada, you can look for one internationally. Or you can go to Southern Sudan where educated manpower is in short supply and where the need of the people is immense. If you are not motivated by any of those reasons, then do for feel good factor. The Greek philosopher, Plato wrote that “In the knowable realm, the form of the good is that last thing to be seen, and it is reached only with difficulty. Once one has seen it, however, one must conclude that it is the cause of all that is correct and beautiful in anything, that it produces both light and its source in visible realm, and that in the intelligible realm it controls and provides truth and understanding, so that anyone who is to act sensibly in private or public must see it”.