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A t the suggestion of her teacher.
an Onlario schoolgirl wrote
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The Royal Bank of Canada in
1956 asking: "Why do you think
l should conrinue school anáget
an education?" This is their
•·eply, given lwenly years ago. l t
was good advice then; it is good
advice today. We think s/Udents
ofevery age wi/1 find it helpful.
D
earNancy.
Your letter is one 10 which
we are happy 10 reply. The
commonplace lhing lo do would be
to enlarge upon the material aspects
of a good education. and to tell you
that thc principal benefit is in hclp–
ing you to get a good job, etc. We
are sure you already know about
that. A boy or girl who does not
make the best of all the learning
opportunities of school years wiJI be
al a disadvantage in competition
with olhers in laler life.
We are not going to suggest that
you should fill yourself chock-full of
information, for lhe real benefit of
your education will be knowledge
and unders tanding, not a long list of
memorized facts. T he main purpose
of education, as we see it, is to teach
one to think.
Learnlng to Think
lt is only by learning how to think
and by learoing how to sift out
things worth thinking about that
you can put yourself in the best po–
sitien for enjoying a happy life. This
YESNANCV.
environment lhat is not always so
well disposed toward you as your
home and your school; (3) you
could never achieve thc peace of
mind and understanding one must
have to endure the crises that come
to lry us all.
We bel ieve it is vcry much worth
while for you to study, and we hope
that you will pursue your education
so successfully that you will have a
very happy life.
You will realize, we are sure. tha t
everyone faces problems and diffi–
culties at sorne time or other and
suffers distress and sorrow. These
seem to be inescapable. But the boy
or girl with a good education is in a
much better position to cope wi th
life, to solve problems, and thus in
the end to be lcss disturbed and
grieved by it all.
An educated boy or girl is entitled
to count upon life holding out pros–
pects of achievement and security -
not the kind of security that is de–
penden! upon what someone else
does, but the security that c<;>mes
from within one's self, bascd solidly
upon one's ideals. capability, and
understanding.
What we are saying is that educa–
tion is absolutely essential, but we
are not referring to what is called
"book learning" and nothing else.
What we are after is the education
that will teach you to think and rea–
son properly, which will improve
your material prospects, which will
add to your poise and dcportment,
which wiiJ develop your judgment,
and which, a ll in a ll. will round you
out for a fu lly successfu l and happy
EDUCATION IS NECESSARY
is a very important reason for wish–
ing to continue at school and getting
an education.
Educatiou, when of the right sort,
helps you see things clearly. lt helps
you distinguish between the essen–
tial and the trivial.
lt
gives you a
framc of mind and system of
thought and judgment that will fit
you into your place in life.
Without education
(1)
you could
never hope to really understand the
world or its people or whal goes on
in it; (2) you could nol handle your–
self graciously and with ease in an
The
PLAIN TRUTH September 1976
life. T hat is exac1ly the
~ind
of
life that we wish for you. Nancy.
A Sense of Values
One of the most frightcning
things in our world is ignorance -
ignorance of better things, better
ways of doing things, and a social
responsibility to try to see and do
these better things.
Education will help you to think
clearly and reach good judgments
about the relative importance of the
many activities that make up
human life. Each one clamors for
attention, effort, and time. The
value you give to any one of them b
in relation to the values you give the
others.
An ancient Greek philosopher
said the purpose of education is to
persuade you to like what you ought
to like, and to dislike what you
ought to dislike.
Education will open up to you the
opportunity to follow the true, the
beautiful, and the good. and it will
help you avoid vulgarity and false
sentiments by providing you with
standards by which to judge values.
It will enable you to decide what
will contribute toward your happi–
ness in life. Without education, how
can you disccrn wha t is good for
you, what is right or wrong, what is
lrue or false, or what is lovely or
ugly?
This Changlng World
We in Canada are very conscious of
our natural resources, because our
economy is founded on them. But
all these resources are useless with–
out two others: the intelligence and
the initiative of our people.
And whcre do we get these per–
sonal qualities? Through the dis–
cipline of cducation.
We need knowledge and enter–
prise more than people ever before
needed them, because we are living
in a period of profound social and
cultural transition.
Less than 1wo generations ago a
crisis was something that carne <?nly
once in ten years, and it was han–
dled by the experts. Today. we live
with crises at home and abroad. Not
only are the catastrophe-relief
people, the politicians, and the mili–
tary men involved: We are all in it.
Therefore, we all need education so
we can gain the knowledge and
wisdom to cope with these 'crises.
We cannot estímate with
any
cer–
tainty what changes may be brought
about in thc lifetime of you who are
now youthful : changes dueto medi–
ca] sciencc, nuclear energy, increas–
ing population, exhaustion of
certain natural resources. or aggres–
sion by despotic powers. You cannot
face these prospective changes with
intelligence or serenity if you have
only the educa1ion that was ade–
quate a halfcentury ago.
Young people have more and
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