A proper education is supposedly the key to a successful and productive life. However, the desire to learn and become exceptional allows some students to outshine others academically despite being taught using the same methods. Passion and willingness to put in work are what separate the average from the extraordinary, because an education is what one makes of it. Today, it is incredibly common to see students motivated by the aesthetics of a degree rather than the expansion of knowledge. Although many abuse the extensive resources available to access information, education is what enables humans to be productive. It allows people to think creatively and form opinions, discover different areas of interest, as well as expand on the research of the driven individuals before them. An education is invaluable, but without the desire to learn for the proper reasons, an education is simply pointless.

College is a defining point in life between childhood and adulthood. After high school graduation, one takes on newfound responsibilities and will begin to prepare for the next level of education, in preparation for future careers. Yet, today college students are less focused on learning and care much more about the social aspects of university. There has been a total switch in priorities over the past five decades, and new technology is to blame among other causes. Our access to information enables the population the act lazily, and expect knowledge to be regurgitated from a search browser on command. It has allowed college students to slack and not understand the meaning of true research and devotion to their studies. When compared to the hours college students spent studying in 1961, today students study on average 12 hours less a week. For reasons that are unknown, education is not held in as high of a regard in today’s society, and it is negatively impacting the work ethic of the new generation.

Education facilitates intellectual growth, and the whole purpose of pursuing a degree is to expand on knowledge, not dwell on the personal gains you can get from high achievement in that specific field of study. An issue today is not the lack of students attending colleges; it’s the lack of students attending colleges to study for the right reasons. The ability to earn as much money as possible is coveted over sheer knowledge, although knowledge is what truly makes one's character rich. Many believe happiness is derived from wealth, but one can only truly be happy with the gift of wisdom. It is of vast importance for college students to rethink their priorities to be more tailored to their fields of interest, rather than the field that might offer more money this day in age.

Without the fruits of education, people would become mindless neanderthals, which lack a sense of wit. It is a mystery as to why the value of a good education is no longer upheld, and it is of vast importance for society to remember how integral intelligence is.