Monday, February 16, 2009

The Real Purpose of Education

A marvelous passage by Frederick Buechner which I read today and wanted to share...

"But the absolutely fundamental purpose of education, as I see it anyway, is to show you that what's most important of all is to be the one thing that nobody else in the whole wide world can be except you, and that is your own unique and precious self. Whatever you do with your life - whatever you end up achieving or not achieving - the great gift you have in you to give to the world is the gift of who you alone are: your way of seeing things, and saying things, and feeling about things, that is like nobody else's. If so much as a single one of you were missing, there would be an empty place at the great feast of life that nobody else in all creation could fill."

(Taken from "The Emerald City: A Commencement Address," in The Clown in the Belfry.)

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

this is most certainly the lesson that i need to learn, i just wish that it weren't so difficult to be who God created us to be - thanks.

Marlo

kc bob said...

I guess I agree with that but just wish that our American schools were not losing so much ground in the global education market.

Ed G. said...

not sure they teach that much in schools nowaday... maybe we don't teach that enough in our homes, either. good words!