The Importance Of Formal Education

Because mental power cannot, as Herbert Spencer said, "be got from ill-fed brains," formal education is important to a person's success and happiness. This does not mean, however, that schools are the only source of education, but they are, as Senator John W. Fulbright put it, "the primary organized source in modern societies." The records, both current and past, abound with challenging examples of men and women who, by persevering self-study, planning, and hard work, achieved outstanding success in their chosen fields of endeavor. Sir Winston Churchill, one of the world's great leaders in the last quarter of a century, told a Boston audience some years ago: "I have no technical and no university education, and have just had to pick up a few things as I went along." He never stopped learning.

Many of the greatest men in American history did not have the benefit of a formal college education, but they were, nevertheless, among the best educated men of their times. They were men who used their spare time, and every opportunity, to cultivate their minds - they were eager for knowledge, and forever kept on learning. They were self-educated.

Robert Fulton, whose portraits were exhibited in the Royal Academy in London, England, never had even an ordinary education. Benjamin Franklin had only a few months of school attendance; Patrick Henry and Abraham Lincoln were self-educated. Mark Twain never went to school after the age of twelve, and yet he was one of the great writers and lecturers of his time and received honorary degrees from Yale and Oxford. And there are thousands more who have become famous without benefit of formal education.

In our fast-moving modern world it is, however, wise to acquire as much formal education as possible while you are young. From now on it will be well-nigh impossible for our young men and women to "make it" without at least a college education.

In a 1956 message to the young people of America, Charles F. Kettering, the famous automotive engineer, research scientist and inventor, made a strong appeal to our boys and girls "to go on to as full an education as possible." Mr. Kettering said: "As rich as my life has been, today's exciting era of rapid discovery and almost unbelievable technological progress offers young people with inquisitive minds - and a good education - scores of richly rewarding opportunities that were not even dreamt of in my youth. One Thomas Edison in a generation is no longer enough to sustain our kind of progress - today we literally need thousands of well-trained young people with the kind of vision, imagination and courage that took Edison on his lifelong conquest of the unknown.

"This is why I am constantly urging boys and girls to go on to as full an education as possible - not only in science and engineering, but in the arts, the social sciences, the humanities or any other field that fits their talent.. . ."

And former President Eisenhower has this to say: "Each young American owes it to himself, and to his country, to prepare to meet the demands and opportunities of the future. Toward the achievement of this goal, education and training are essential; our schools provide the powers of tomorrow. I urge every girl and boy in the United States to continue as students in school until they have developed their God-given capacities to the full. Only in this way can they hope to make their finest contribution to the strength of the nation and reach the fulfillment of their own life and purposes."

The professions, and many of the most promising vocations, have extremely high educational requirements for admission to their ranks, and the standards are rising constantly. And all other vocations are bestowing their special favors on those who have acquired superior knowledge, and continue to learn.

With each passing year it becomes increasingly evident that education is a vital factor in the pursuit of success and happiness. The more formal education you acquire, therefore, the greater will be your opportunity for a happy and rewarding life.

Though the money value of an educated mind is often emphasized to the near exclusion of other values, there are definitely other values of paramount importance in achieving a life worthwhile.

In an article in This Week magazine of June 9, 1957, Nathan M. Pusey, President of Harvard University, has this to say about the value of a college education: "I believe the teacher's mission is to help every young person in his care to grow into the broadest, deepest, most vital person possible. And in fulfilling himself, the student will, I am convinced, arrive at moments of heightened insight when he sees more clearly than ever before what the world is about and how he can fit into it creatively and significantly.

"Viewed in this way, a college education suddenly takes on new meaning - and so do the staggering estimates of college enrollment. Instead of a frightening prospect of millions of young people solely concerned with a scramble for better jobs, we can look forward confidently to a challenging tomorrow when millions of young Americans turn to college because they want to realize their full capacities as human beings, to find major pleasure in learning, to live richly and responsibly, and to do their part to create a better world."

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