It goes without saying that a person can have access to many doors of opportunities when educated. The utmost gift or investment, therefore, anyone or any parent can ever present to their child, is quality education. It is in this line that Plato, an Athenian philosopher, says, “Take your child to school, if not, have time with him or her and think together.” Regarding thinking or schooling, Plato believes that both platforms provide a basis for an individual to grow their intellect. In fact, there is a clear scientific explanation of these two variables and how they are closely allied. Thinking is an affirmation of cognitive growth which is many times manifested as an individual’s interaction with society; this is why schooling is a primary player in cognitive growth and human development. According to Plato, school and thinking are two concepts that are equally related. Since men and women of Plato’s time, school was actually rare; knowledge was majorly attained through social interactions and was entirely through discussions and clarifications about several occurrences. Schooling entails logical growth that helps people view the world in a global sense and influence it for the creation of a better society. This is where US politician, Lorie Burch’s take on education and social development comes in. She provides a firm ground on how relevant the quality of education is to an individual, community or national development. Burch pointed out that, “If we are to continue to compete in the global marketplace, our education system needs to provide quality education to every student with equal opportunities for advancement and learning.” While I agree with Burch’s notion, we need to ask ourselves whether quality education can only be sought from the school environment. From the time I started to critically follow up social issues; education has been loudly pointed-out as the pinnacle of skill development and ultimately socio-economic development. Although the past few years have seen education become more of a human right code, less is done to enhance quality. This leads to the production of less skilled graduates who can hardly write their own résumé or possess enough creativity, they instead depend on Google sources to sanctify their performance. There is, however, hope that things will get better and better given the various initiatives by leaders to make education more relevant enough to address today’s problems. We have a responsibility to ensure the best and brightest future for our country. This begins with providing quality education, one that equips students with the knowledge and skills necessary to not only provide for themselves and their families, but to keep our country competitive in an ever-evolving global economy. The writer is a PhD student at Beijing Normal University Pontiankbr@outlook.com
