Education historian Daniel Sifuna says education builds up a person’s potentialities. Author Napoleon Hill says the power of imagination is the route to success.
Indeed, imagination is a product of right education.
Innovation virtuoso Steve Jobs said what solves problems is ‘thinking different’, a product of education. Jobs, as head of Apple, had moved the world by the time he died in 2011.
Mo Amin, the Kenyan indefatigable photojournalist, moved the world with stills and videos, among them the 1984 Ethiopian famine images that recruited the world to contribute billions of shillings in hunger appeal.
People who think different are A Plain type. Like Mo, who started his photography business at 19 years, they take bold steps to give the world new commitment, new designs, new philosophies, new characters — name it.
These are some of the reasons it is sad taking education as nothing more than acquisition of knowledge and skills for better living.
Better living, which many people translate to mean financial stability and freedom motivates the masses but takes a small percentage of what ought to be the case.
As a result, people’s perception of education get twisted, and end up with a society that does not value education, some claiming without financial power a graduate could have wasted time in school.
It is common to hear schooled yet financially struggling people say that they wasted time in school.
Education is not and will never be a waste of time.
Go to or take someone to school knowing that education is an equaliser and liberator.
It gives you the power to assess the environment and articulate issues for own use and to give the rest new thinking.
Research and critical thinking are taught not just for passing exams, they aim at harmony and coexistence.
Entrepreneurial, innovative and creative skills should help the educated to come up with ideas that take people to the summit of everything they put their minds, hearts, and hands to.
Knowledge and skills liberate individuals.
Tara Westover, in her book ‘Educated ‘ talks about the non-monetary price she pays for education, and as she faces the challenges, discovers the liberating power of education. In education, she finds a voice of reason that speaks beyond her fears, and puts her above oppressors. She learns forgiveness and compassion, and finally gets liberated from radical religious beliefs.
Should you be looking at education as the step to financial freedom, then it is time to have a better view that it gives you more than the power to work for somebody. Hence the challenge to create jobs instead of looking for employment that is non-existent.
.Dear fellow luminary, this is great. Education offers more than the commonly presumed; "..Knowledge and skills liberate individuals" (Scholar, 2019). Iriek, nyaka named dholuo matin jowa.
Education is indeed a liberator. It opens you to look at things differently. Where there is a challenge, an educated eye sees an opportunity to offer a solution and in the process creates employment for both the educated and uneducated.
Because it really isn’t up to education to make you a better person, it’s up to you to implement the acquired knowledge appropriately.
You is right. Very right.
Indeed Education is an equaliser
Education is a liberator.