It isn’t just one man’s belief but an entire section of the wise and educated genre that agrees with Plato. There are no arguments about it. Education is, without doubt the most important part in a man’s life.

The benefits of education are not limited to building a great career financially. Besides being a prime catalyst in building every human’s future and also instrumental in a good career decision, the benefits of education are far beyond.

In fact the impact of education is so high and severe that it scares the hell out of me to even think of a nation without education. 

I strongly feel that there isn’t any person alive who doesn’t really understand the importance of education in a very basic general way. And hence I wouldn’t like to discuss that.

What I’d like to talk about is the huge underlying effect of education that goes unnoticed sometimes even by the very intelligent people.

The state of  who we are - right up to the point of what we become and what we attain - can be, without doubt, attributed purely to education.

Education isn’t just about books and studies. It’s about what one soaks from the knowledge attained not just on a superfluous level but on a more intensively personal base as well. It provides the ability to think. Not to mention the increase in the capacity to use those grey cells. It not only makes us wise but also inculcates in us the trait to receive each experience with strength and grow with each of them.

And it doesn’t just stop at that. Going to an educational institution helps develop us into a more wholesome personality; nurturing our inter-personal as well as the intra-personal skills.

Now one may question how is education responsible for all of that which is in a man? I’d say just look around!

Look in and around your homes. Look at your neighbors and even people who are not your neighbours- people in the malls, people in crowded public places in temples, mosques, gurudwaras and churches , the people in the parliament,  the people who run and govern our country.
Just look. Keep your eyes open and see.

Observe. And you’ll know.

You’ll see the difference between education and no education.

You’ll know just how imperative education is to our system!

Having said that, I’d also like to state that although education is the only road to a man’s betterment in future; it’s not foolproof. And it is no way a magical wand that automatically ensures success.

One also cannot overlook the fact that in this age and century education from books may also not be ‘the only’ part. There are extra miles to travel.
The question is how many of us are willing to take those steps?

How many will ensure that the education is worthwhile and not just namesake?

I believe in education just as much as I believe in the piousness of its effect.

I believe that the nation that invests well in the education of its young will never see a downfall.

And for me education doesn’t stop at schools or universities. I believe that if one is well educated, his education begins where the university books stop - and when one steps into the real world.

I am firmly of the conviction that some times we may have to take a step backwards in order to take a leap ahead into the future. And that time has come for us. In this day and age where we stand today is a huge reflection of what we’ve learnt through our education.

It is time to take a step back and take in the learning of the old. Mix them with the new; that will benefit all and form our new direction of the word ‘education’.