Essays

I am now in the eleventh year of my school life. Whatever it is, I have to admit that I am on the verge of the adulthood and soon I will have to make my own way through life. The question now is—have the past years in school been worthwhile? How has it helped me prepare for adult life?

Since 'education is too general to consider in all its aspects, I shall consider it only in terms of its role in school.

A school is a place where many students of diverse cultures and attitudes converge. The first thing 1 learned in the primary school was that there are so many different kinds of people. I experienced the pains and pleasures of getting to know my schoolmates. I discovered my own strengths and weaknesses. I learned the meaning of tolerance, team-work, friendship as well as prejudice, selfishness and enmity Some experiences were uplifting while some were depressing. However. when taken as a whole, these experiences taught me how to handle life without getting into much trouble. I have to cope with life. By mixing and socializing in school I learnt to fit into society and live according to its norms. Without this schooling experience, I doubt very much whether I would have been a successful social animal. I would not know what to do and worst of all I would not have friends to help me in times of need.

Undeniably school taught me the basic skills of writing, reading and arithmetic without which it would be very difficult to live in this modern world. It also taught me many other things like geography, history and science. In geography, I learnt that there are other countries with different people living in them, speaking different languages and doing different things. I also learnt about our planet Earth and our place in the solar system. History taught me about people who lived before, their hopes, their dreams, their successes and their failures. It also taught me that human race had been at war with one another since time immemorial, and that we seldom learn our lessons from the misdeeds of the past. Our progress in science taught me the enormous capability of man and how much he can achieve if he sets his minds to a task. All this knowledge remains with me and definitely they will determine how my tatter life will proceed, for they have moulded my character and attitude.

Sports, games and extra-curricular activities made me realize how we can involve ourselves in so many different kinds of activities. I learnt that most people are competitive, very few are not. Aggressive ones normally dominate in sports and games while the quieter ones normally spend their time in less vigorous pursuits like reading and visiting the library. I am fortunate to be able to strike d healthy balance between the two extremes, I am fairly good both in games and studies. However, doing well in one's studies is of prime importance and it is here that the competition is the fiercest. I learnt not to underestimate others, especially the skinny little runt who cowers at the back of the classroom. He is the one who knocks all of us flat when that final results come out.

In the process of growing up in the school environment, I discovered that teachers are also human. They err and sometimes behave terribly. When I was in the primary school, the picture was different. A teacher was someone like a superman, a know-all and a much feared and respected figure. Now I see that they are like any of us, except they were born earlier and have a little bit more experience. That does not mean I have lost respect for them. It only means that I don't believe everything they say blindly. I have learnt to reason and discriminate.

Summing up, I would say that my education has been worthwhile. I may not be the ideal student that would make an educationist happy but I know I am not a wastrel either. In my heart I know that the experiences in school are priceless. What I am today is the direct result of my education. The very fact that I can express my views on paper as I am doing now should vouch for the worth of my education.