“Ma'am, I know you've done your homework and so you know that money isn't a big part of my life, but at the moment I could buy Mt. Auburn Street, take the Phoenix Club, and turn it into my ping-pong room.” [1]
What’s the goal of the education? Is it the obvious one: gain knowledge? Or the hidden one: gain money? From my point of view: Both.
We spend almost the one fourth of our lives studying (in most cases studying hard). I know that teenagers in Greece, and I suppose in all the countries of the developed world, sacrifice the most carefree years of their life carrying heavy bags, listening to “I-know-everything” professors and living without any kind of free time activities.
When I was younger, my grandmother said that this process is necessary in order to build a good life, create a family and have the resources to grow your children wealthy. Resources? She never made that clear, and unfortunately I can’t ask her to make it clear now. Did she mean money or knowledge? Is knowledge, including practical skills, culture, experiences enough to create the circumstances under which life is considered to be absolutely fabulous? A bunch of questions and here are my thoughts on that:
No, knowledge is not enough. We study to gain money, too. Actually, we study to find a job to earn as much as we can. It is a clear trade. Since the age of 22-25 we pay to buy the goods and then we sell those goods to future employers, trying to have the biggest profit. Of course, the sold knowledge remains to our possession as it is an intangible good. And we can sell it again to hit a better salary. However, it still exists. Knowledge remains in our brain. It helps as to organize better our lives, to make better decisions, to live a life that fit our needs.
I believe that this educational pain is worth doing. It is not only a way to refine the working environment but the whole life.
[1] Quote from the movie “The social network”. In the movie, Mark Zuckerberg said that as part of his apology when he was sued by the Winklevoss brothers for the paternity of Facebook. Sometimes knowledge is not enough, you need to be lucky, too.
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