Listen to this article

As children grow older, inevitably, they will become distracted by all kinds of harmful and harmless temptations in life. They will be tempted to engage in all kinds of dishonest, immoral, and unethical practices. (Some of these undesirable and harmful temptations are depicted in the top and bottom graphics contained on the Education Hub page of this website. See link above.) One of the purposes of education is to teach children how to detect and avoid succumbing to all kinds of undesirable temptations, self-destructive habits, and regressive behaviors. The number one priority of students should be to obey their parents. The number two priority of students should be to obtain a good education by listening to and obeying their teachers. The number three priority of students should be to engage in wholesome, clean-cut extracurricular kinds of activities. Extracurricular activities not only involve school-sponsored ones (such as joining the choir or debate club) but they also involve age-appropriate, community-sponsored ones.

Education traditionally is hailed as the chief mechanism for achieving upward socioeconomic mobility in civil society. It has been noted that the first three years of primary school, or grades 1 through 3, are the most critical ones. Grades 1 through 3 are when children typically master the three R's, that is, Reading, wRiting, and aRithmetic. (Increasingly, in these 21st century contemporary times, a fourth R needs to be added to the mix—pRogramming.) It has been noted that those students who do not master the three R's during these early school years are the ones most at risk for engaging in undesirable activities such as truancy and dropping out of school later in life. At a bare minimum, schools should redouble their efforts to make certain that all children master the three R's during grades 1 through 3.

The main purpose of education is to prepare students to become responsible, productive, self-disciplined, and self-supporting members in contemporary civil society. Another purpose of education is to teach students how to behave civilly by leading principled lives with the utmost respect for self, respect for others, respect for the property of others, respect for the rule of law, and respect for human life regardless of race, color, creed, ethnicity, gender, sexual orientation, religion, disability, national origin, socioeconomic birth status, political opinion, and so forth. To be sure, basic human decency demands that humans learn to treat one another with courtesy and respect. The questions that each high school senior and college freshman should be asking himself or herself are these: What am I going to do to earn money to make a living after I graduate? What skills or knowledge must I possess to obtain a job in my chosen profession or field of study? The focal point of their high school and college studies should be on obtaining those requisite skills and knowledge needed to sustain a long-term career in life. With few exceptions, success in life will not be handed to school graduates on a silver platter. School graduates have to go into the broader society and secure a lawful career niche to make a living and support a family. The key to successfully securing a career niche involves studying hard to get a good education or working hard at mastering a specific skill.