Education Should Be More Than a Degree

By: Honor Tamminga

Illustrated by: Carla Cieza

I almost prayed for a book character once. I was reading “Anne of Green Gables” at the time, and had become so immersed in the story that the characters were like real friends. I worried and cared for them. I began to identify with the characters in “Anne of Green Gables” and was able to step into their shoes.

Books bring one to a different world. The characters and ideas presented in books create a space for the reader to discover truths about their own world.

Reading and thinking about literature expands our boundaries and helps us become people who think and feel and embody things. A degree alone cannot do this.

Unfortunately, college students have become so focused on the path towards a career that they neglect the path towards becoming a more full person. The role of education is not to make us into something. Rather, education ought to help us become someone.

I understand that reading doesn’t look like the most interesting activity. In a world where there are so many other means of entertainment and education, a book is not the most popular option.

When I go to the George Fox University (GFU) Murdock Library, most of the people there are on their computers or phones. Very few books are missing from the bookshelves upstairs.

Of course, it’s nearly impossible to avoid the necessity of screens to do homework, study, and keep up with responsibilities. I myself spend a portion of every day on my laptop or phone. But I think it is also clear that, as a society, we don’t read nearly enough.

As a student in GFU’s Honors Program, I am required to read a significant amount of literature each week to discuss. I’m glad I am a part of the Honors Program, because without it, my school life would almost certainly take precedence over my reading life. The Honors Program allows me to read as a part of my course work, thereby bringing my reading life and school life together.

Through the Honors Program, the value, and indeed necessity, of reading has been impressed upon me once more.

Reading exposes us to ideas that we may be unfamiliar with. It increases our understanding of the world around us and exercises our imagination.

I believe the primary reason that college students don’t read is because they think they are too busy to do so. Balancing sleep, school work, and a social life is hard enough. To add in time for reading would be almost impossible.

It’s extremely important that college students have ambition and seek to succeed. But when the end goal of a college education is nothing more than a degree, then our education system, or perhaps our students, have their priorities out of order. We may have successful individuals in our society, but if they are not also readers, then a part of our humanity has been lost.

Those who are avid readers are some of the wisest, most intelligent, and best people I know. They have a broad understanding of matters that others know nothing about. They are open-minded to new ideas, but firm in their own convictions. The best thing about them is that they are always seeking to know more. Education doesn’t end when you have a degree. It ends when you stop reading.