Five Reasons For A College Education
Following are five reasons why you ought to get as much formal education as possible, with a minimum, if at all possible, of a four year college course and a Bachelor of Arts or Bachelor of Science degree.
1. A College Education Brings A Fuller Life
Education opens the mind to the joy and stimulus of intellectual acquaintance or experience with the best that has been said and done in the past.
Speaking of the virtues of education, Aristotle called it "an ornament in prosperity and a refuge in adversity." And Diogenes said: "Education is a controlling grace to the young, consolation to the old, wealth to the poor, and ornament to the rich." Epictetus declared: "Only the educated are free." Petronius said: "Education is a treasure, and culture never dies." Diogenes maintained that: "The foundation of every state is the education of its youth." Thomas Jefferson wrote, in support of the diffusion of knowledge among the people: "No other sure foundation can be devised for the preservation of freedom and happiness." And Addison put it this way: "What sculpture is to a block of marble, education is to the soul."
And so we see that the great thinkers of the past believed very strongly that education had other values in addition to its material worth - values of the heart and mind and spirit. I am sure most college graduates will testify to that fact.
"Education," said Henry Ward Beecher, revered American clergyman, "is the knowledge of how to use the whole of oneself. Many never use but one or two faculties out of the score with which they are endowed. A man is educated who knows how to make a tool of every faculty - how to open it, how to keep it sharp, and how to apply it to all practical purposes."
Calvin Coolidge, former President of the United States, and sage New Englander, expressed his belief in the broader benefits of education with these words: "Education gives to people the breadth and power to enjoy the best things of life in a wholesome and humane way." . . . "Education raises persons above their surroundings and makes them masters of themselves, rather than being merely creatures of circumstances."
One-time President Hyde of Bowdoin College once said: "To be at home in all lands and all ages; to count Nature a familiar acquaintance and Art an intimate friend; to gain a standard for the appreciation of other men's work and the criticism of one's own; to carry the keys of the world's library in one's pocket, and feel its resources behind one in whatever task he undertakes; to make hosts of friends among the men of one's own age who are the leaders in all walks of life; to lose oneself in generous enthusiasms and cooperate with others for common ends; to learn manners from students who are gentlemen; and to form character under professors who are Christian - these are the return of a college for the best four years of one's life."
And Charles Varle sums it up in these words: "Education is a companion which no misfortune can depress - no enemy alienate - no despotism enslave. At home, a friend; abroad, an introduction; in solitude, a solace; and in society, an ornament. Without it, what is man? - a splendid slave, a reasoning savage."
There are many other respects in which a college education can contribute to a fuller and more successful life. It gives a person, for example, the mental capacity to be a constructive influence in the community, a better citizen, a valued friend, a gracious host or hostess, a more understanding and helpful mate and parent.
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