“The function of education is to teach one to think intensively and to think critically. Intelligence plus character-that is the goal of true education.”
--Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.
--Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.
If the function of education is to teach one to think intensively and to think critically than we as a nation have been failing at this for a very long time because our youth are not thinking intensively and are not thinking critically. However it is not their own fault when we as nation are not giving them the proper resources they need to think intensively. We are not giving them the most up to date textbooks and giving them assignments that lead them to think critically as well as intensively about their studies and life.
If intelligence plus character is the goal of a true education than we are lagging behind as a nation because our educational institutions are not teaching character. In fact, it is not teaching our youth to be prepared for not just the present but for what’s ahead. America needs to reform its educational institutions if we are to have a generation of youth who can compete with the likes of anyone in the world. Today our nation finds itself in a position to not only teach our youth to think intensively and critically but to think responsibly about what lays ahead for them.
We have to reform our educational institutions to not teach our youth but to prepare them for the present while learning and understanding their past and teaching them to master their future. That is what a 21st century education must be about. It is time for us as a nation to teach our youth how to have strong character because it is one’s character that should determine one’s future not one’s action. Today’s 21st century education does not provide our youth with the insightful input to help build characteristics such as integrity, leadership, responsibility, and courage.
Today’s 21st century education must teach our youth to have integrity no matter what and to always treat people how they want to be treated. Today’s 21st century education must teach our youth how to be leaders of their trades and how to stand up for those who can’t stand up for themselves. Today’s 21st century education must teach our youth to be responsible for their studies and to stop making excuses for why they are not where they should be in life because it is through accepting responsibility that our youth learn the best lesson of all which is the world owes them nothing so they have to learn how to create their own opportunities in life through obtaining a strong education. Today’s 21st century education must provide our youth with the courage to pursue their dreams despite their economic conditions and any other social hardships that they may endure while pursuing their educational endeavors.
If the function of education is to teach one to think intensively and critically than we must provide our youth with a support system that fosters their dreams, their fosters their goals and helps them achieve their dreams and goals while not being fearful o fail. If our 21st century education doesn’t encourage our youth to succeed and doesn’t encourage our youth to feel courageous than they will feel inferior and might accept that inferiority as their status in life. “If you make a man feel that he is inferior, you do not have to compel him to accept inferior status, for he will seek it himself,” said Dr. Carter G. Woodson. Well we can’t allow this to happen o our youth.
We must find a way to inspire our youth. We must find a way to show our youth that through education they can be anything they want to be and they can achieve anything they want to achieve as long as they work hard for it and pursue it. Our 21st century education must equip most of our youth have trades and skills that can help them find their niche in life. Our 21st century education must teach our youth how to entrepreneurs and how to be financially stable to invest their money in the stock market. We must provide our youth with not just the knowledge for them to pass a test or the skills to move on to the next grade but it must instill in our youth a sense of invincibility and a sense of pride.
That is why we must provide our youth with not just the knowledge for them to survive but for them to eat and feed off of this great nation and world. We must provide our youth with the skills, the knowledge and the character for them to not only help themselves succeed but for them to help other nations while giving back to this great nation of ours. We must provide our youth with the ability to understand our nation’s past so they can own their present and they can conquer their future. We must do this in a 21st century education. It won’t be easy but if we provide our youth the best math, English and science teachers than we can create the latest technologies and medicines that can save lives, provide social fun for so many Americans and the world while at the same providing the latest rhetoric and ideas that lead to innovation in society.
We must teach our youth to pursue their goals no matter what because “the tragedy in life does not lie in not reaching one’s goal; the tragedy lies in having no goal to reach,” said Dr. Benjamin E. Mays. Therefore let it be clear that our youth must have goals to pursue and we must help pursue those goals so that they can reach them or at least try to reach them. We cannot allow our 21st century educational institutions to kill any more youth dreams. The dreams of the future cannot and shall not be dashed away in the darkness of night. Instead we must provide light for our youth. We must provide hope for youth. We must provide opportunities for our youth.
A 21st century education must be the beckon of hope for youth, a beam of light for our youth and keeper of our youth’s dreams. This is the path that our educational system must head in and this is the direction our nation must pursue if we are to build a generation of future doctors, lawyers, teachers, politicians, etc. If our nation is to lead the world in green energy and green technology as well as to have the most post graduate degrees in the world than that starts with us installing positivity and invincibility in youth. A 21st century education must not only teach but it must be positive character, it must create opportunity and must of all it must teach our youth to learn, unlearn and relearn.
As Alvin Toffler said, "The illiterate of the 21st century will not be those who cannot read and write, but those who cannot learn, unlearn, and relearn." Therefore we must teach our youth to be flexible and to be amendable to change because nothing endures but change. So our youth must learn that only they can change their life and that no one can do it for them but we can be there to support them why is why a 21st century education must have a strong support system for not just fostering learning but dreams as well.
A 21st century education must teach our youth that things might change but that doesn’t mean us as individuals should remain constant. Our youth in a 21st century education should be equipped to deal with any problem and to adjust to any situation that arises. This must be the goal of our 21st century education. We can do it and we must do this not just for our sake but our youth nation’s sake and future generations sakes. A 21st century education must help our youth succeed, it must help our youth dream and it must help our youth pursue their dreams. This is what a 21st century should be about and this is what we must work to achieve as we reform education.
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