WHAT SCHOOL IS FOR

We spend almost two decades in school. Yet, we don’t remember every lectures we take or every single info our teachers try to feed us. Yes, we can call ourselves “educated” or “degree holder” once we graduate in College. But that’s not the whole point. Our parents send us to school not just to study the lessons about our subjects but the lessons of life as well. This is why I admire those teachers and professors who impose life matters through the school ones.

School is a sea of strangers, a place where we are forced to make friends, to develop camaraderie. There is no other perfect place to interact with people you don’t know but inside those premises. Funny how some parents forbid their child to talk to strangers but send them to school anyway. That just doesn’t make sense.

In school, we are taught how to deal with other people, we find people with the same interests as ours, we meet people who are the exact opposite of us. In school, we are mold to be one of the best-est people not just by intelligence but by character. And that reminds me of what a priest has once said, that we are soils. People plant us things that will make us either good or bad, and as we grow, it shows. I don’t agree in the whole concept of it, though. There is no either good or bad. We are both. But I do believe that we are soils. Feed with different seeds, fertilizers, even sunlight and water. We take everything in as we live. And everyday we are being cultivated.

In real world, your credentials are one thing but your attitude is another. Not every excellent student excels in being a person.

Sure, you need to be school-wise. The society needs it. You’ll need it to have a better future. But the world needs a soul. A soul that is well-fed not just with mere professionalism but with the depths of life. A soul that consists of a brain and a heart.