Comments on: A Simple Story About the Importance of Education

By: Ade Salako

Ade Salako — Tue, 08 Dec 2009 16:37:49 +0000

Life is a like a race track that would involve the baton of education, this baton of education needs to be passed down fom the older generation to the younger generation.
The the importance of education can not be overemphasized. Every second, minute, day adds to the education of an individual.

By: victoria ifeoma

victoria ifeoma — Fri, 13 Jun 2008 10:29:49 +0000

great piece, taught me lesson i`ve always wanted to learn

By: IMPORTANCE OF EDUCATION « Rhozel’s Weblog

IMPORTANCE OF EDUCATION « Rhozel’s Weblog — Thu, 06 Mar 2008 01:41:19 +0000

[...] IMPORTANCE OF EDUCATION A Simple Story About the Importance of Education [...]

By: Bianca

Bianca — Sun, 14 Oct 2007 11:08:34 +0000

I enjoyed reading your story. It was brief, but its message is clear. Kids today have so many distractions. For instance, teens and pre-teens have cell phones, PCs, ipods, and digital cameras. Growing up in this world is far different from my days as youngster. With all these distractions, kids grow up less appreciative and don’t begin to grasp the idea of hard work or the importance of a solid education. Education is something that shouldn’t be taken lightly. It’s the one thing that nobody else can take from you. You can lose material things, your hair, your youth, your heart, your trust in others, but you can’t lose your education.

- Bianca

By: Learning From Truth That Hurts « “As a man seeketh, he findeth” - Chessiq

Tue, 21 Aug 2007 03:30:17 +0000

[...] Learning From Truth That Hurts Filed under: Reason for Breathing, Thoughts and Reflections, Meditation — iseeketh @ 12:43 am When is the last time you read, watched, or heard something that was true about you but you did not want to face up to it because it was painful or hurtful? What did you do? Did you block it out? Did you think about it? Did you wonder what you could do to change things so that the next time those words are said, your stomach does not knot? Hopefully, you thought about it and made some positive changes. Gandhi said, “those who know how to think need no teachers.” Knowing how to think about such things is very important. Steve Olson, has written an excellent piece about education: “A Simple Story About The Importance Of Education”. Here is a quick summary, but I would encourage you to read the whole story for yourself: A rich boy, Flounder, is working with Steve Olson and a few other guys. It is a back-breaking job and the guys wonder what this rich kid is doing working this job. They decide to ask him, and here is his response: “Flounder replied, “No, we don’t need the money. I don’t want this job. I hate it here. My dad makes me do it…. He said he wanted me to know what my life would be like if I didn’t get an education.”” [...]

By: Christopher

Christopher — Fri, 13 Jul 2007 02:21:47 +0000

This is a nice story. Personally, I am against education. I am all for learning. I am all for life-long learning because we need to constantly adapt. But education is an institution and it churns out institutionalized minds. I am appalled at the notion all kids should go to college. In 1950, a college degree meant something. You had to be intelligent to get one. Now that is not the case.

I left home and school at age 16. I had scores of mostly horrible jobs, but one or two were marvelous. I wandered about in Europe and North Africa by myself. I had adventures. I often had no money. I was sometimes hungry. But I lived my life. I read and read. I read Russian classics, I read about astronomy, I learned enough French to get by and read it. I stayed on a farm of an Italian prince (although I never met him). I learned to draw. I even lived for a while in a gravediggers’ cottage in England (where I am from). I had a girlfriend for a while who was an aristocrat and I was a plumber’s mate. I could not have lived this life at any other time.

I was 24 when I had taken enough night school to get into art school where, four years later, they gave me a degree. Was I educated by my degree course? Not really.

But this is just my experience. We are all unique. I mean that. One problem with education (in its present form) is that it wants to make us all the same. At least art school honored our individuality.

I was always an avid reader. I picked up, Deschooling Society, by Ivan IIIich as a kid and never looked back.

Today, my favorite educator is Sir Ken Robinson. See what words of wisdom he has to say in his video on Google.

By: Jeri

Jeri — Thu, 12 Jul 2007 20:10:02 +0000

GREAT story… really made me stop and think. The value of perspective is amazing. My teen boys will be reading it tonight.

By: Goal Setting College

Goal Setting College — Fri, 06 Jul 2007 12:04:36 +0000

Steve, if peeling shrimp has made you what you’re today, I’m really impressed! Excellent post…

Cheers, Ellesse

By: jon miller

jon miller — Thu, 05 Jul 2007 04:39:20 +0000

oh these poor people living in rich countries having to peel shrimp. one of them could invent a shrimp peeler and make millions, without an education.

By: Charlie

Charlie — Sat, 30 Jun 2007 18:19:06 +0000

I agree with Flounder’s father.

When I was 20 I was quickly on the road to know where and started working in a factory. The experience of working in a factory quickly got my act together. Within 8 months I was back in school and had a drive to never end up in a place like that for the rest of my life. Looking back on the factory work experience, it was the best education I ever had.