People misunderstand the words education and knowledge. People think that finishing your education means being filled with knowledge. Some parents only focus on their children’s studies, which is schooling.
Many parents out there would be happy if their child got the highest marks at the exams, and would be sad if their child won a trophy in a sports event, but got below 50 in a test.
Knowledge isn’t about what we learn in school. It’s about everything out there in the world. We could be dictionaries on a certain topic but be beginners in the other. Some elders who have obtained university degrees of this and that, tend to mock youngsters.
Just because we are younger than them doesn’t mean we are less knowledgeable than them. We could even know about something more than them.
Being smart isn’t a championship, a competition or a challenge. We are all smart in our own ways. We need to have adequate knowledge, but a little bit more won’t hurt as the world is rapidly developing.
Being called the class topper in my class, I would say this. Not all of us are the same; we are thoroughly disparate, even our knowledge differs. Should we all react the same way? Should we all talk the same way? Should our brains work the same way? No, we have got to be smart and wise to win in life. But we can be smart and wise in our own ways. You know what lasts longer than beauty? Being smart.
Ameera Ramzan
8(N) B
Royal Institute
Havelock Town
Colombo