Your financial success hinges on whether your coworkers, consumers and employees are educated or not. Although we thankfully live in a capitalist economy where each individual has the opportunity for success, our system falls short of the ideal. There are many thieves who hijack the system to fulfill their short-sighted greed. Mainly, they succeed through exploiting the uneducated or uninformed. Investing in your school will help prevent that.
When you enter the job market, your position will force you into contact with many people that you must work with, but who exhibit a startling lack of cognitive ability for still being alive at their age. Many have degrees, many have extensive work experience, but they don’t have what is often termed “common sense.” Their education prepared them for taking a test on material they’ve memorized, but they lack the education in real-life problem-solving, thinking and application skills. Consider the years in the workforce we will spend and ponder the number of these individuals we will meet. Frankly, it scares us. Why are we students scared? Because we will rely on them for project completion, for vital communication in our jobs and for promotion-deciding reviews from them as our bosses.
Still worse, the undereducated and the unmotivated masses will populate your consumer base. Whether you’re managing a Kohl’s outlet, designing software for Apple or teaching history at the University of Minnesota, a large base of emotionally biased individuals with undernourished intelligences stand poised to ruin your career. Consumers can dismantle a company with just a senseless rumor. Ever received six copies of the same chain e-mail? People don’t just forward those along because they think it’s funny: they honestly believe, at some level, that they will get the mate of their dreams if they send out 50 copies in an hour. These superstitious people decide if Kohl’s really has snake eggs in their clothing or decide not to buy Apple because they think only communist hippies work there. Or maybe they decide the history department is a waste of resources and start a campaign to stop public funding.
Our taxes go towards public education because capitalism and democracy only work if the participants are informed. The ignorant will only destroy those around them and then start appointing others to protect themselves from themselves. Some people argue that everyone should vote. Do you really want someone who will vote the same way the kid next to you who never studies takes multiple choice exams — playing the odds and filling in random bubbles — helping choose government leaders? Everyone should vote, but only on the condition that everyone has been educated on the options. You want more responsible legislation? Educate the masses not only on why they should vote for it, but on why they should even care. Many honestly don’t recognize the consequences of their actions and inactions.
We enjoy great privileges coming from the University of Wisconsin, but massive budget cuts will change that for succeeding generations. Those following us will soon be our coworkers and consumers and our employees. They will soon have the power to ruin our successes. What can we do to stop it? Invest in the education system. Don’t donate — that implies you’re giving without returns, a capitalist’s nightmare. The effects of ensuring an educated populace are tangible. Smarter consumers make better purchasing decisions, cutting costs for companies and consumers alike. They welcome innovative solutions to better the quality of human life. They work harder and more efficiently, both assisting you in your job and maximizing profits for the company. They vote based on their reason, not based on fuzzy emotions and commercial colors.
When we go on to “the real world” let’s not forget how we got there — and how we stay there. Put money back into your alma mater. Invest in local schooling wherever you find yourself. Take an active role in educating those around you and demand intelligent decision making from both yourself and others. Elect officials with proven intelligence. An educated country is the key to long-term success.
Matthew Clausen ([email protected]) is a junior majoring in English.
