People of the present society tend to run behind worldly pleasures, like: Money, Lavish houses, Fashionable accessories, Property and so on. Treading on this path, people lose the one forever treasure, “Education”. Just as Nelson Mandela once said, “Education is the most powerful weapon which you can use to change the world”. To earn the weapon of education, a child needs to climb the ladder, starting from preschool, school, college and eventually university.
This ladder of education is never easy to climb. “The roots of Education are bitter but the fruit is sweet”. This saying helps us understand that not only the present society, but even great minds of the past like Aristotle believed in the hardships and obstacles in the path of education, but what he also believed was that the fruit of education is worth all the hardship.
A child explores the world of education at his/her second home, “School”. It is just like Malala Yousafzai said, “One child, one teacher, one pen and one book can change the world”, and the first step towards this change is education.
From the age of three up to eighteen, a kid continuously goes to school in order to acquire knowledge, smarts and skills. A school enhances our intelligence on various subjects and fields like: Medicine, Technology, Agriculture and so on.
During the latter part of our school life, we have to face the challenges of “Ordinary level” and “Advanced level” examinations. These examinations are like a wall between us and our success, so we must have faith in our self, and make an effort to penetrate this wall. It is just like the African Proverb goes “Smooth seas do not make skilful sailors”, which means the easy way, is not always the best way.
With the chapter of school life behind, we begin the new chapter of receiving higher education. Higher education is the final stage of formal learning, and is also known as post-secondary or tertiary education. Universities, Colleges and Polytechnics are the main institutions which provide higher education.
The origin of higher education was attributed to ancient Egypt, while “Pr-Anx” were built as libraries, comprising works of law, maths, art, medicine and architecture. Soon, the countries of South Asia too improved in higher education. India’s educational institute of “Taxila” and China’s grand school of “Taixue” are the best examples for this.
At university, various subjects and fields are studied by students according to their major, career and interest. Subjects are a topic discussed or dealt upon. In the year 2023, the most popular subjects of study include, social science, engineering, biological and biomedical science, psychology and so on.
Among these subjects, the most difficult are: mathematics, economics, chemistry and physics. An advanced level of understanding and skill is needed to master these subjects. Albert Einstein, Pythagoras, Isaac Newton and Aristotle are such great minds who mastered these difficult subjects.
Although higher education is optional, it has many pros like: enabling personal development, benefiting social, technological and economical mobility and facilitating in the process of making better life choices.
The time span taken for higher education varies according to the country, but here in Sri Lanka, it takes approximately 3 to 4 years. Asian countries such as: South Korea, Japan and Singapore are home to some of the toughest education systems in the world.
According to global information, many students have a tendency to study abroad or overseas. Many factors have influenced this outcome, but the most important of them are: A chance to gain a global perspective, experience a new culture and develop language skills. Countries like: United States, United Kingdom, Canada and France have become some of the best destinations for international students.
International relations, business administration and computer science are some of the best studies to do abroad. Even though study abroad is beneficial, there are cons to it as well. Examples are: homesickness, culture shock, language barriers, huge expense and so on. With both pros and cons, foreign study is a voluntary, but valuable choice.
Lectures on a matter dealing with subjects are known as a course. Courses are taken in order to excel in a field of study, demonstrate skills and enhance technical knowledge. This year, the top five trending courses of study are: Full- Stack Developer, Data Science, Cloud Computing, Project Management and Business Analytics.
There are many tough courses in the world, they are deemed according to hard topics, workload, huge syllabus, competition, selectivity and reputation. Amongst these difficult courses, engineering takes the lead, due to rough academic requirements and demanding prospectus. Next in the list is medicine. As it has a lengthy course period and requires qualities like: determination, empathy and patience. And last, but not least is psychology, as it needs the ability to put one’s self in the other’s shoes.
Finally, I would like to rephrase Alan Bloom’s words, “Education is the movement from darkness to light”. Education truly is the wings of the future.
By: Sanduni Jayawardena
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