Wednesday, June 25, 2008

Education

It has been a long time indeed. A hectic work schedule, coupled with the anticipation of one's first child left very little room for any discursive or poetic output. The following reading, however, was borne out of necessity and read by two students at the Simba School Leaving Ceremony for the year 2008.

Education does not end when you are awarded a degree or you pass out of school or university. In fact, it just begins.

Education is not just the absorption of knowledge, it is putting the knowledge you gain into practice, for:

Education is gained in the holding of a conversation. It occurs when you observe the people around you. It occurs when you think for yourself, rather than when you read someone else's thoughts.

Education is garnered from experience; the experience of doing something by yourself for the first time, the experience of gratitude that you earn when you help someone else, the experience of a smile on the face of your child, the experience of pride in a parents' eyes.

Education is showing yourself the ropes as you continue learning lessons for life and rules for living. Education is creating and valuing your own personal history.

All the best, graduates of the Simba International School Classes of 2008 as you continue learning moment by moment, day by day, year by year - as you go on to gain the experience - and education of a lifetime.