Thinking about the word education, the first thing that comes to mind is a life lesson on education. The importance of education was emphasized in our house. Our parents would say, “you cannot get a good job without education” or “In order to be successful in life, you need education.” As a child, I did not pay much attention to what they were trying to teach us. However, I was taught a valuable lesson about education in middle school.
I was practicing all summer to make it on the school basketball team. I made the basketball team and secured a starting position. During the school years, school grades started to slip a bit. One of the requirements to play on the team you must pass all assigned classes. The Coach advises all team members with failing grades must improve the grades or risk being cut from the team. My grades did not improve, and in the first big game of the year, I was cut from the team and could not play. Devastated about this outcome, I went home intending to convince my mother to come to the school to help get back on the team. The Coach was wrong for cutting the star player from the team.
When I got home and explained the cruel and vicious thing the coach did and how she had to do something about it, she asks “why were you cut from the team?” I took a deep breath and explained my grades has slipped since joining the team. She recites once again, “I told you to be successful in life, you need education; you do not deserve to be on the team.” I stood in total shock; she is not taken her child’s side in this matter. She instructed me to go study. From that day on, I did not take education for granted, and now in adulthood genuinely understand the importance of education.
