presentation in history class strengthens his or her ability to speak in front of peers.
Through composition courses and the requirements of essay tests, students become
more confident as writers and learn to hone their written skills. Simply the process
of answering questions in class can help students to become more confident
speakers, skills that may benefit them enormously in later job interviews.
Education also helps individuals to become more valued contributors, in
whatever realm they choose to interact. A more educated worker will often have
additional skills that enable him to gain not only financial rewards, but also more
responsibility in his work. This individual is able to use his judgment more often
and to contribute his expertise. He makes leadership decisions based on his own
unique perspective, an opportunity that might have been lost had he not had the
necessary training for advancement.
Without the education that he obtained before becoming president, for instance,
John F. Kennedy might not have been in a position during the Cuban Missile Crisis
to make the decisions he did to respond to Russian leader Nikita Khrushchev, and
the U.S. might not have avoided a catastrophic war with the Soviet Union. Nobel
Prize–winning scientists Marie and Pierre Curie might never have discovered
radium or developed their theory of radioactivity without obtaining their
educations in science. Their training brought them to a level of skill where they
could know enough to experiment and finally succeed, making contributions for
which history will always remember them.
Not many of us will be remembered in history for our contributions. But even
the first-grade teachers or school social workers who help in a circumscribed
community will, due in part to their educations, make contributions that change
student’s lives. Those students will go on to positively affect others, as Jimmy
Stewart’s character, George Bailey, recognized about his own contributions in the
Christmas movie It’s a Wonderful Life. Education helps provide individuals with
better financial prospects in their jobs, certainly, but that is only part of what it
does. Its greater purpose lies in helping empower us as thriving individuals by
increasing our own personal happiness, relationship skills, emotional maturity,
problem-solving abilities, self-confidence, and societal contributions.52 PART 1 ■ GETTING STARTED01-GRE-Test-2018_001-106.indd 52 12/05/17 11:38 am