The Importance of Education in the World and the Dangers Threatening Its Failure
Most of us have spent time scrolling through social media, watching everything from dance and music videos to satire and news. Some of these are informative and even enlightening, but others can dull our thinking.
Thomas Paine once wrote, “The mind once enlightened cannot again become dark.” Even after more than two hundred years, his words still ring true: education is essential for society to move forward. It helps each of us understand the world, gives us a basic grasp of science, math, literature, and social studies, and helps us find what we enjoy.
Education also helps us see how history connects to what’s happening now. We need to recognize how important education is, because we might not realize its value until it’s gone.
Historically, regimes seeking absolute control often target education first. By shaping what people read, believe, and question, they manipulate entire generations. For example, the Hitler Youth required young people to learn Nazi ideas through state-run lessons and books like Mein Kampf.
While World War Two happened nearly a century ago, we see similar issues today with more books being banned, not just in the United States but around the world. In my state, North Dakota, books like Crank by Ellen Hopkins, Gender Queer: A Memoir by Maia Kobabe, and Beloved by Toni Morrison are banned. Globally, well-known books such as To Kill A Mockingbird by Harper Lee, 1984 by George Orwell, and The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain are banned in some countries. We live in a time when education and stories are controlled, and many people just accept it as normal.
Great thinkers and leaders, from Aristotle to Nelson Mandela, have always seen education as the base of a strong society. This idea is even more important now. With social media, artificial intelligence, and more political division, education helps people judge information, avoid being misled, and make smart decisions.
When we watch the news on channels like FOX, CNN, AP, or Reuters, we see a lot of conflict, instability, and suffering. People in the past hoped the future would be full of peace, new ideas, and progress. Technology has come a long way, but our moral and social growth hasn’t always kept up. This is why education is so important. It’s not just about getting ready for a job or inventing new things. Education also teaches us empathy, good judgment, responsibility, and how to handle tough problems.
In 1965, President Lyndon B. Johnson told Congress, “A third place to build the Great Society is in the classrooms of America. There your children’s lives will be shaped. Our society will not be great until every young mind is set free to scan the farthest reaches of thought and imagination.” Over sixty years ago, President Johnson made it clear that education’s purpose is to set young minds free.
Today, though, artificial intelligence is getting in the way of that freedom. More students are turning to AI for help, and the results are troubling: people rely on it too much, skip fact-checking, and sometimes copy work directly, which makes others doubt young people’s abilities. Nelson Mandela once said, “Education is the most powerful weapon which you can use to change the world.” If students stop truly learning and just use AI as a shortcut, we risk ending up like the animals in George Orwell’s Animal Farm: oppressed, illiterate, codependent, and unaware of the abuses around us.
Education is crucial to our livelihoods; it shapes our thoughts, our reasoning, our morality, and, most of all, our relationships. Artificial intelligence may be useful and—in moderation—an incredible tool, but when over-relied upon, it hinders our growth. It becomes a parasite, leeching us of our potential. Education builds not only our individual futures, but humanity’s future. Let us not doom ourselves for the sake of laziness and indifference.
Jacob Drewlow is a junior in high school in Bismarck, North Dakota. He is a Horizon Academic candidate, a Harvard Crimson Global Essay Contest competitor, a Luv Michael volunteer, and a HarvardX student. Beyond academia, he competes in congressional debate, Lincoln-Douglas debate, writes articles for his school magazine, and takes photos for the yearbook. As an Ambassador for NSHSS, he strives to broaden NSHSS members' perspectives and introduce them to new ideas. He strives to be a criminal defense and constitutional lawyer, potentially moonlighting as a political philosophy professor, and hopes to run for president one day.