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How do we define "succeed in life" and "education"?

Without the defined standards, the best of any discussion is quite pointless at worst and entirely subjective at best.

If we define "success in life" as being materially opulent and "education" as in having attained papers to prove that you have successfully completed and passed all examinations required to qualify as one who have had a formal education, the answer is an empirical "NO".

Look around and you will realize that the richest people are not those who have the most or highest of paper qualifications: Bill Gates is one big good example.

If success in life has nothing to do with material but assessed on how meaningful it has been spent in terms of personal and social fulfillment, and education as in formal education, attending schools, passing examinations and attaining certificates, diplomas etc, it is also a resounding "NO".

Look at the people of Bhutan where "success" is defined as "happiness sans material". They value how successful a life not on the amount of material you have accumulated but how happy you are, with or without money and wealth: that intrinsic happiness. Are they highly educated you may ask? Yes, but not in a formal way; they are though, religious and informally.

So again, to be successful in life through the eyes of the average Bhutanese, some form of spiritual education helps, but principally it is all about one being at peace with oneself, the state of personal nirvana where the ultimate is the voiding of ones desires save the position of happiness in a state of vacuum.

However, alas, for the majority of us living in the real material world where we live, breathe and defecate on money from the cradle to the grave, to succeed in the rat race of life, we do need a job and securing a job is very competitive.

Prospective employers who knows nothing and have absolutely no experience with us could only rely on records and that includes papers, papers that tell us of our qualifications.

If you don't get that first job, you won't have that experience and without experience, you have nothing to show and with nothing to show, you either end up perpetually on unemployment benefits or hand outs of some kind.

Being dependent is bad for one's ego and having a bad ego slips us on that slippery slope of a vicious cycle of low self esteem and misery.

While it may be true that we can still be happy with no money, but a hungry man is still is dangerous man no matter where he is and what generation he is from

Do the rest of us need an education to succeed in life?

Pretty much so.

Not so much as to just help us to get us a job, but more so, also to hopefully equip us with the relevant living skills in head knowledge, relating with people, working together in a team, networking etc.

The value of a formal education is not just the certificate per se, but the hidden value of interacting with other people, through whom we learn things and establish relationships for networking purposes.

Yes, to succeed in life, we need an education, so don't cut school, the world is lonely out there without you, go and make someone happy and you will be blessed with happiness in reciprocity, that is the law of reaping what you have sown and it works because it is almost as sure as the Law of Gravity and the Law of Aerodynamics!

Learn more about this author, Alex Kee.
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