By Jan Vicente B. Pekas
A classroom is often a gathering of swirling ambitions. Goals and objectives that bypass even the borders of our country gather. In that small space, each one is walking in their respective path. Knowledge is shared and passed around. All those who are sitting right now just eager to run forward past graduation and take on the world.
It had always been my view of what life beyond my elementary classroom was like. Highschool first, then college before landing a good job and living out my life. Many years have passed and I now wonder inside a college classroom, wondering of life outside of it.
Like others, I am all too eager to get out of that small space. Make a mark on the world and not be constrained by all these responsibilities of a student.
In that classroom, I learned not everyone want to get out just yet. Some want to take a second course and finish that too. This seemed so foreign to me just a few years ago. I never imagined anyone would want to go for another round of a bachelor degree’s beatings. I assumed everyone wanted to go out.
Such thirst for knowledge was mesmerizing to see. Especially when meeting these people who are back on the saddle and going through another course.
What can you do but admire these people. When knowledge is in front of them they don’t hesitate to grab it and grab again.
Such an appetite for learning is what we often leave out in the corner of our minds and leave to rot, willingly and unwillingly. Undermining the potential of each individual, in a country that greatly needs more admirable people.
It is a shame that for every one of these type who go back and learn, several more who graduate but want to go back are forced to work. Education is only a means to earn the money to help your family, that has always been the law in most of young peoples’ minds.
Instead of further polishing one’s imaginations, a corporate work replaces it with protocols and regulations.
An opportunity to learn is not enjoyed by everyone much less going back for another course. This opportunity should not just be cherished but shared to the rest. Everyone deserves to learn as much as they want.
For every graduate who wants to fix society is another hope for those left out of a basic right. Graduates should not just be robots ready to serve and be willingly exploited, but become intellectuals who can challenge the norm and raise everyone to a higher level.
Because someone who has been inside a classroom should not guard the door but open it to everyone. **
