Education in the Colonial Era

People who were educated were in somewhat of a higher class. They didn't have to participate in the forced labor and they were given jobs with higher salaries like business firms. In the passage where a man talks about a boy he encountered, he describes him as "a young god" because of his "smart clothes" and "a beautiful bicycle." He claims that these wonderful aspects came from his education and knowledge of reading and writing. The man who encountered him says in the end of this passage that he wanted to have the stuff that this boy had, especially his bike, and so therefore he wanted education. This made me think of the education that we have today. Today education is still an advantage in society, the only difference is that education is available to more people now so it doesn't seem as big of a deal. But to people who dropped out of high school or who weren't given a chance to excel in school are at an extreme disadvantage when it comes to getting a job. This is sometimes what causes people to become homeless. They may not have been given as many opportunities for education as some have. We are at Menlo, a private high school that exposes us to many different subjects that many people aren't given the chance to experience. For example, World Religions. Not everyone is exposed to many different religions like the freshman class is at Menlo. Some may argue that it doesn't benefit them because they believe their religion and only that. But I think that it has given me many different view points of different cultures and it helped me to understand why people may do things like fasting and other traditions or ceremonies. To tie this back to the reading, education has made many improvements. Back then , a limited few were able to receive education, and it only enabled them to read and write. As I have said it was a big deal then because not very many people were able to receive it. Nowadays, people are able to go to schools from kindergarten to extra years of college like getting a PHD. Education has many many advancements and it has consistently stayed important and has been a disadvantage in people lives when they have not been educated.

Ways of the world by Robert W. Strayer (pg 604-609)