Can an expensive formal education guarantee a great future for your child?
If your answer is yes, then we need to understand that how someone like Dhirubhai Ambani, son of a village school teacher could found one of India’s mammoth companies called Reliance Industries which gives employment to millions of people directly and indirectly? He did not get an expensive formal education by any means!
How could someone like Narendra Modi, son of a tea seller become the Prime minister of India and occupy the highest office to manage the country’s affairs? He also did not get an expensive education by any means!
There are many such examples like Dhirubhai Ambani and Narendra Modi all around the world. Let us now shift our focus from India to other top economies like United States of America and Japan.
Like Dhirubhai Ambani and Narendra Modi, Steve Jobs was also not from an affluent family which could have provided him with a very expensive formal education. His adoptive father Paul Jobs worked in several jobs and used all his savings to buy a home in Los Altos, California which later became the first site for Apple Computer.
Yoshihide Suga was born to strawberry farmers in a rural area of Japan and he too was not privileged to receive an expensive education. He had to work in a cardboard factory in Tokyo to be able to pay for his own education.
You will find it a never-ending list of people who did not have to get an expensive education in order to be successful in life and set an example for others.
You may ask me that why I have given examples of businessmen and politicians in this article and not corporate leaders and bureaucrats. And my answer is that, yes, even you would find the list of corporate leaders and bureaucrats to be never-ending when we talk about people who made it inspiringly big in spite of not getting an expensive education. But in this article I wished to focus your attention on the ‘Business Owners’ and ‘Politicians’ because these two categories of people are the most highlighted in the media houses of every country, as it is their responsibility to ensure that every individual in the country earns his livelihood.
Hold on. What did i just mention?!
Business Owners and Politicians are the most highlighted in every country because it is their responsibility to ensure livelihood for others!
So won’t it be wise for you to say that being responsible towards others can get you the maximum attention, that is, name and fame. And when you have name and fame, you do not have to work to get money, in fact money gets you.
How would be the fate of a child who gets formal education but no values? And how would be the fate of a child who is taught values but receives no formal education?
Let us discuss about the first scenario, wherein the child gets formally educated but not taught values.
This will lead the child to become a person who clears competitive exams successfully and shows high intelligence quotient but shows very low emotional quotient as he does not care for others much because of lack of having values.
If such a person occupies a powerful position like a very senior corporate leader or becomes a top bureaucrat by clearing competitive exams, then he may use this position for fulfilling his personal ambitions at the cost of others’ interest.
Let us now discuss the second scenario, wherein the child does not get formally educated but receives great values either from his family members or from some other social element like an NGO.
This scenario will lead the child to become a person who does not get employed by a large organization but becomes a person who cares for others and feels responsible towards others because of having high values. This kind of person will certainly receive very high respect and will have the trust of the people surrounding him. So people will not think twice, if they have to follow this kind of person for any social cause like any political movement nor they will think twice to invest time and money in such a person’s business endeavour.
Research tells us that till the age of thirteen, the child keeps learning from his external environment like his parents, teachers, friends, relatives. And from the age of thirteen, the child displays what he thinks to be right and what he thinks to be wrong through his behaviour.
So you might have understood now that why you should coach and not humiliate a seventh or eighth grade student who is not acting as per your expectation. Yes, it might be difficult but not very difficult to change a thirteen year old student’s behaviour by helping him change his perception and attitude towards people and different situations.
You may now conclude that a person can become an asset to the society without formal education but not without good values.
Don’t you think that if children are taught good values since their childhood then they would go on to become people who care for others , feel responsible towards others and consequently it would be possible for us to eliminate even one incident of crime against children and women in our societies?!
Certainly, what the formal education or fear of punishment cannot achieve, teaching good values to our future men and women can achieve, that is, a flourishing society free of any abuse or crime.
The objective of this article is not to undermine the importance of formal education but to highlight the importance of values which is much higher than the formal education in order to build people who can make this world a much better place for everyone.
So what do you think, what should you prioritize for your child? Expensive formal education or Values.
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