Do We Really Need Education?

As a kid my parents preached education was a key to success 

As did my priests, teachers, coaches, and janitors 

But who ever knew it could cause so much stress

12 years of our lives spent sitting behind a desk

Which most of the time is helpful, but what about the rest?

There are people like Steve Jobs and Bill Gates with no college education

But combined make more money than most of our nation

Knowing this, many take high school for granted and drop out

Well that really sucks

Because most of us don't have a great skill and a lot of luck

They end up in factories or on the side of the street

Just because they were too impatient to stay in their seat

Those of us who wait have a higher success rate

but you have to wait 2,4,7 or 8 years longer

The longer you stay, the higher the rate you have of doing great

But at the same time, you unnoticeably dig a deeper and deeper hole

One you won't fill back up again until you're too old

Some people lose hope, and stay at the bottom their whole life

Others scratch and claw at the wall only to see themselves fall

The ones who stay longer fill it up quicker and quicker

Shoving in more and more dirt making it thicker

But why do we even start this?

To be happy but are we really?

Too busy filling the hole we lose our sense of feeling

I want to be happy, this is my goal

And I’ll find my own way, I don't care what I'm told.

Reviews

[Riv]

It's funny, the actual people who created school was prussia and it was a form of mind control to brain wash young men into being obedient soldiers who wouldn't question their authorities. I love this poem because it shows us all sides of how most people feel about education. Those who don't want it are still getting it, and those who are too poor and want it so badly aren't getting it at all. I'm just about to graduate I'm a month and a half away from graduating high school and I plan to go to college. Because ultimately I don't have strong labor skills to handle going off on my own. I also enjoy learning and hope it will be much better than high school, 8-12 more years of school. And I will fight and struggle, and claw my way through. Thank you for writing this poem, sorry for the long review.

[Emily]

I think this to time to time.
Well done!
Keep it up!

[Natureislelove]

yea Education is a key to success, and it plays quite a good deal in our life. Education doesn't always have to mean sitting in a class because every day we are learning something new, either on the streets or in class. A lot of us don't make use of the education system though, but that's life, we're all given choices.

Very nice poem, All the best with your writing.

[Nadia Gerassimenko]

Education is shmeducation. I went through grad school, high school, preuniversity, university and honestly, 10% of what I learned served me, maybe even less. And all these years of stress and hard work did not really pay off, because real education is lived through life. If we could only be taught things that are truly useful. But unfortunately employers value candidates with diplomas, so it does give us some leverage. But I am sure one can accomplish anything even without formal education just like Steve Jobs and Bill Gates did.

[~]

Well yes we do. I do not think there are other outlets for the youth to gain what they need for a future that we do not even know what kind of jobs will offer. An uneducated nation is a nation that will never prosper. No matter how boring it may sound right now to study things that you think you will never need in life, you have to remember that Rome was not built in a day :)

[RiverRei]

I like the message you have with this. Yeah you dig a hole of debt if you go to college, but I think it's worth it. Of course, that's just my opinion. For writers, you don't necessarily have to go to college but it's helpful so that you can essentially run your work through a fine-tooth comb without having to rely on an editor to do it for you.

Anyways! lol. I like how this is very through provoking. It's 9am here, a time that normally has me drinking coffee still, until I can be awake enough to form a coherent though lol. So this is really good. I don't like the line "well that really sucks". It sticks out like a sore thumb to me...It does suck, but I'm not sure that line fits well where you have it or how you have it written. Overall, a great piece though. It's always cool when you can make people think and create a discussion like this.

[nazia]

Except for some A's and The's all is good with the write up.. but education is actually important for any person.. The system does needs some improvements but a handful of names can never substitute the entire education system..

[Madhu]

This is a beautiful write. And people keep telling us to follow a path, however, if we keep following the footsteps of others who is going to lead? Who is going to be the difference and rise above all?
This line of your's is just amazing -
"I want to be happy, this is my goal
And I’ll find my own way, I don't care what I'm told."

[Double T]

You have given a meaningful message in this poem: go for what you reach for.

[Ana D S M]

People like Bill Gates and Steve Jobs are exceptions to the rule but no matter how you look at it, the are still educated, just not formally educated, self-educated. Learning can happen in many different untraditional forms. Knowledge is important, so is school.