Education for the sake of knowledge
There are many reasons to become educated. I personally believe in education for the sake of education. Education is part of being a well-rounded person. I am an information sponge, and I believe that increasing your knowledge helps you become a better person. The drive to learn is one of the most fundamental traits required to thrive in the information age.
Learning is a self-supporting ability. Learning increases your capacity to learn. In the same way that practicing the piano in general will increase your ability to sight-read new pieces, learning new concepts helps your ability to learn new concepts in the future.
I know that not everybody shares these views (that explains a lot, doesn’t it….), but I should hope that the head of an educational facility would. But I just read the following quote by University of Phoenix President Laura Palmer Noone. The University of Phoenix is one of the leading “virtual” (online) universities. You’ve probably seen their advertising, which is almost as abundant on the web as the old X10 pop-under ads used to be.
One concept I didn’t cover above was education for the sake of employment. I’m not denying this is a very important necessity. But to say that if something doesn’t help out your employment, it’s a waste of time…. Well, I think I speak on behalf of thousands of years of educators when I say, “Bullshit.” And coming from the president of a ‘university?’ Well, let me just say that I have even less respect for online universities than I did before.