Educating_Rita_Speech-_from_Her_Perspective

Good morning/Afternoon. My name is Rita and I will be giving a speech on education and its role in society. What is education' To me education is the ability to gain knowledge that is capable of effecting our mind and character. To many people education is thought to be responsible for the complexity of our civilised society. To me education is very important because it enables us to consider the moral and ethical actions we undertake in everyday life. When I mean ethics and morals I mean making the right decisions. Consequently, this paves the way for a healthy society. Education also gives us a deeper understanding of the fundamental principles of life. Education enables individuals to earn a living giving them access to a great job that allows them to live comfortably. A few months ago I just completed a course on English literature that I have entered through an Open University. Before that I was a working class hairdresser. I was dissatisfied with my life, struggling for an education. I wasn’t really comfortable with my life simply because I didn’t have an education. I wanted to have a good school life but I couldn’t because my family and friends said that school isn’t cool. I wanted choice but I didn’t have choice because I was trapped in a world surrounded with people who didn’t have good moral or ethical principals because they didn’t have an education. As I progressed through Open University I felt that I was stuck between two worlds. I felt like a half caste. In one world I couldn’t talk to the people I was living with and in the other I didn’t have ability to talk to people because I lacked their language. Education gives you choice, it opens up new doors. To me it open up an entirely new world, it came with choice, it came with me making right decisions and it came with new friends. ‘’The aim of education should be to teach us rather how to think rather than what to think.’’ This is a quote from Bill Beattie. I love this quote because it reflects how I have changed. When I was younger, I was expected to get married and have kids, because that was what I was told, I was told what was expected of me thus telling me what to think, but now I have an education and I know what to think, I now have the mentality to control my life. Education allows us to grow as individuals. My confidence increased as my knowledge increased. I knew what sort of clothes to wear and the sort of entrainment to attend. My language was full of slang before I attended Open University. I used words such as ‘’bein’’, y’can and cant y’. As time went on I starting speaking more sophisticatedly and more classy. The person I was before I attended the Open University and the person in front of you now are two very different people. Education allows us to fill our aspirations and goals. Education allows us to build our careers. Education provides a wealth of knowledge for an individual. Education can contribute to the satisfaction of our goals being met. I wanted a better way of living. I wanted to get out of my unsatisfying life. I didn’t want to hang around in the bar and bein pissed all day. I didn’t want to be afraid of going to dinners because I didn’t know which wine to buy. Education was the ticket out. I was determined to get an education to escape the world I was in. on my first lesson, my teacher Frank didn’t even want to teach me , but I took no for an answer. A couple of months latter I passed my final exams. After that exam I knew I fulfilled one of my aspirations through the power of education. Education can allow us to discover new relationships. As I was studying at Open University, I became very good friends with me teacher. But in the process I started losing me old roots. I didn’t want to hang around with my old friends. When the first semester ended, I went to summer school. While I was there I got acquainted with new people. They were educated people. At summer school we would be dead late every night; we stayed up talking all night and did essays. I was having so much fun. I didn’t want to go back home to my friends at the bar. From that point onwards I have change allot. No longer am I the notorious rita who had no education and no choice. I am my own person, with choice and control. Education allowed me to find myself as a person.