EDUCATION

Mark Twain, the author of The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, uses Huck's life to describe education in the mid 1800's. He uses the beginning portion of the book to elaborate on book learning and school, then gradually moves into learning and making decisions based on an individual's experiences. Now, learning is taken for granted although it's more important and is customary for people of all nations and backgrounds to be educated.

Today, as in the 1800's, education is focused on the youth. This week on the Channel Five News the Unity Community Farm Share tried to plant the importance of fresh healthy foods without a lot of pesticides in the minds of the young people. This is because the young people are the people who will need to maintain and improve the country after this generation has passed. In addition, we have people who have been specially trained in specific areas of society, for example biologists. Their job is to study the behavior and life of specific species. Recently on the news, biologists reported that the salmon count was lower than usual. The biologists needed to be trained and educated properly to correctly document and handle the Atlantic salmon.

Within the past few month the towns around where I live, including Etna and Dixmont have been forced to discuss consolidation because the state is requiring it. The goal for consolidation is to decrease administrative costs. Furthermore, the world today is constantly talking about education. People want to decrease costs, enlarge facilities, and help our environment by maintaining a stable balance between nature and human activity.

The scope of education has expanded. In high school there are many paths a person can take. We have our traditional courses such as history, math, reading/writing. However, we also have sports, technology, art, and taxidermy classes. We as a society and as individuals have become more diverse in learning a little about many different areas in life. Everyone is also equal and has the same opportunity to take each course, compared to the mid 1800's where only white people were educated.

Universally, each country is competing for the greatest educational system and for the most intelligent students. Immigrants are moving to America for more opportunities and for the chance to increase their knowledge. They are not only learning from sitting in a class but they are also learning from the world around them. For example, they learn the customs and language just by being exposed to it and living in it everyday. In addition, with an incredible improvement in technology over the past hundred years people are able to collaborate from all over the world, giving us the greatest brain power we have ever had.

In conclusion, school and education have become more worldwide. It's no longer the individual's choice to become educated. It's a requirement. In order to survive in the society today we must be educated and continue learning new systems and ideas.