Final Post - 1

Besem Etta-Ashu
Contemporary Literacies
Final Post - 1

 HIGHER EDUCATION

"Ensuring quality higher education is one of the most important things we can do for future generations" by Ron Lewis. 

"Education is the most powerful weapon we can use to change the world' by Nelson Mandela.

"Education is the passport to the future, for tomorrow belongs to those who prepare for it today" by Malcolm X. 

These sets of quotes are one of the most powerful quotes that truly underline the real meaning of what it means to pursue higher education. We are all told at a certain point in our lives that "education is the key to success" but unfortunately we do not really understand the meaning of that sentence/quote until a later point in our lives. 

When I was in middle school, I did not really understand the importance nor the reason why everyone was being forced to go to school. I often wondered what was so special about school that everyone needed to attend it. Just like both Wes from The Other Wes Moore, I only attended school because I was forced to go to school. My parents tried to implement the importance of me attending school and being able to live a good life in the future just like Mary and Joy did for their sons Wes, but I still was not convinced that school was as great as it had seemed to be. I did all my assignments because it was expected of me; I was very punctual to school because it was expected of me; I had really good grades because it was expected of me. Nothing I had worked for at school was because I want to do it but instead because it was expected of me. 

The older I got the more I realized that no one is capable of forcing someone to understand or know the importance of going to school. We can encourage, support, and inspire them to pursue higher education but if they are not willing to do it for themselves and voluntarily, it's not going to work. As we found from our course reading, The Other Wes Moore, when both Wes were forced to go to school, they always ended up skipping school. The author Wes would hang out with his friend and spray paint the wall while the other usually ended up selling drugs and drinking with his friends. 

Eventually, both Wes began realizing the importance of going to school without anyone forcing or persuading them to attend school. The military school that Wes dreadfully hated, he gradually began to see it as his second home and family. In the beginning, Wes saw the school as his greatest punishment, but eventually, when being attacked by the boys in the red car, he ran back to military school using the route he intended to use in escaping as a way back to safety, to the military school. 

When the incarcerated Wes was ready to change his life and abandon the drug world, he decided to go back to school and get his GED. Nobody forced Wes to go to school, he just knew it was something he had to do not just for himself but for his family. 

Tony once told Wes that "If you wouldn't listen, then that's on you. You have the potential to do so much more, go so much further. You can lead a horse to water, but you can't make him drink it, right?" (bottom page 71). Parents can take their kids to school, but they can't force their kids to stay in school. Just like the horse must voluntarily be willing to drink the water, kids must voluntarily be willing to want to stay in school.

Importance of Higher Education by Hanna Jaff