Education is viewed by many people more in terms of the utilitarian perspective as a means to get a degree, get employment and attain success. But education is not confined to a preset phase in human life rather it continues all through the life of an individual. Education for life is paramount in all one’s endeavors if he or she is to be productive in the society.
You’ll notice that from when we are in the womb to when we are born, we are a work in progress. It is in the course of our early childhood that we learn how to walk, talk, and manipulate our environment. In our day to day learning in school we are endowed with knowledge and skills to enable us to face life challenges. But let me tell you this – formal education as we know it is just the tip of the iceberg. Education enables us to grow, unlearn and learn all our lives, thus is enriching our minds and changing our believes and perspectives to new paradigms.
Lifelong learning also aims at the positive enhancement of the self. In this case, it is important to emphasize the fact that learning can be seen as the process of achieving various kinds of new knowledge and experience, by means of which we expand our horizons and come to know ourselves and the world in a richer way. It can result in developing crucial insights, skills of analyzing, as well as essential feelings of empathy and compassion.
Thus, one can claim that in parallel with the growth of a person, the acquisition of knowledge throughout one’s life is also crucial in the contemporary environment. There is always new information out there and a new version of the old information may be out there tomorrow. For example when we remain open-minded and interested in the occurrence of new ideas, then we can effectively stand to be able to address new changes when they occur in the workplace.
Lifelong learning also has many advantages on the level of implementation. It can make us more creative and come up with better solutions to problems, facilitate our communication with others, help build our character and make us more confident facing various obstacles. In today’s work world where speed and ability is paramount these skills are more vital than ever.
Also, such learning helps to increase the quality of life and, therefore, is beneficial for our health. Some of the findings have linked the ability to stay mentally engaged to the possibility of slowing the affects of ageing on the human brain. Education and training, as well as, talent hunt and creativity also imply certain level of satisfaction in life, other things being constant, hence implying a higher level of life satisfaction in humanity.
Thus, education cannot be considered as a single process but as a continuous process which goes throughout human life. Accepting lifelong learning as one of our core values means that, as people, we can improve and develop ourselves and the world around us, and achieve personal fulfilment in various spheres of our lives. Hence, let us make a resolve to stick with it and accept education in all of its possibilities throughout the length of our lives. After all, as Nelson Mandela once put it, “education is the most powerful weapon with which you can use to change the world.”