Why Study in School?

Helpful facts that young people want to know

IF YOU are a young person attending school, ask yourself this question: Why am I in school?

You may reply that you go to school because where you live it is required for a certain length of time. Or it may be that you are yet a minor and are obliged to do as your parents direct.

However, do you personally see any other reasons for being in school? Do you know of any benefits that may come from spending your time wisely in school? You likely know some young people who are not spending their time wisely. They may study just enough to get by, if that. Yet, by not taking advantage of the opportunity to learn, these young people usually handicap themselves for the rest of their lives. Why?

Because what a person does during his youth has a great bearing on what he can do as an adult. Even in school study, the Bible principle applies: “Whatever a man is sowing, this he will also reap.” (Gal. 6:7) But what are some of the benefits you can reap from ‘sowing’ time and effort in school study now?

PRACTICAL TRAINING

You have to face the fact that before many more years, you will be called upon to support yourself. You may eventually take on the obligations of a husband and father, or wife and mother.

Would you like to make those responsibilities easier, more enjoyable? You can help to do that if you take advantage of your school years, learning things that will be useful in your adult life.

In many schools there are subjects that teach you the fundamentals of different skills. For young men, there may be courses in carpentry, installing electrical equipment, welding, accounting and others. Young women can take courses in homemaking arts such as cooking and sewing, as well as typing and secretarial work.

Much of this training may not be easily available to you after you get out of school. If you desire some of that instruction later, you might even have to pay for it. Or you might have to learn it by working with or under individuals who perhaps have little interest in teaching you. Why not, then, take advantage of the opportunity to learn some of these things while you can? And when selecting school courses, by all means talk the matter over with your parents. They can give you the benefit of their experience in life.

LEARN TO READ WELL

While there are many things of practical value that you can learn in school, there is one that will have a tremendous influence on the rest of your school life and your entire adult life as well. It is the ability to read​—and to read WELL. It is the key to unlocking many kinds of knowledge, skill and enjoyment.

In your waking hours you are constantly confronted with things to read: signs, labels, books, magazines, newspapers, bills, official forms and mail. All of this can be an unpleasant chore for those who read poorly. However, if you learn to read well, you will find your life enriched by things to read instead of having them be a burden to you.

Christian youths, especially, will want to learn how to read well because they want to know what is in God’s Word, the Bible. They also will find skillful reading of great value when explaining God’s purposes to others.​—Matt. 24:14.

Do you have problems in reading? If so, do not be discouraged. You can learn to read well, as others have. Reading is mainly a matter of practice​—plus being alert to note the way words are spelled. Read aloud at times. This will help you to see if you are developing any bad habits in your silent reading. Too, you will find it helpful if you ask others who read well to listen to you occasionally when you read aloud. They can help you to correct your mistakes.

Yes, the ability to read with ease and fluency does not come without real effort. But for the effort you put forth now you will be repaid many times over in later life.

OTHER BENEFITS FROM STUDYING

Some school subjects may not seem too practical to you, but they do help to broaden your outlook and can be useful in other ways. History, geography and language help you to learn about other peoples and places. Mathematics is useful in many trades and occupations, even in homemaking, where there is always the need to use recipes and to keep budgets.

There is another benefit to studying in school, even subjects you do not especially like. Study exercises your mind and improves your ability to use it. In a way, you can compare your mind to a muscle of your body​—the more you exercise it the better it will serve you. You will find that mental effort steadily comes easier, and it will be more productive. But, as with a muscle, the mind will get ‘flabby’ if you do not use it enough.

Is there something else of value that comes from applying yourself to your studies in school? Yes, you can learn self-discipline. True, that may not seem so desirable now. But as you know, you cannot just do the things you prefer to do in life. Often you have to do things you may not really want to do or may not like to do, but which need to be done anyhow. Particularly will that be true when the time comes for you to take on greater responsibility in making your own living, or in caring for your own family.

If you get used to disciplining yourself now, it will help you to acquire the discipline needed to face adult obligations. So while you may prefer doing something else rather than study, if you set your mind to it and do not let other things interfere, you will be acquiring a quality you will appreciate more and more as you get older.

A PROTECTION

There is yet another benefit that comes from applying yourself diligently to your studies. It can serve as a protection to you. In what way?

Well, likely you have already seen evidences of the moral breakdown among your schoolmates. There is much sexual immorality and taking of drugs. Also, a spirit of rebellion prevails among many youths.

It may distress you to be around people who have no respect for the high standards of conduct taught in God’s Word. Although you cannot avoid contacting such persons altogether, you can avoid having any association with them beyond what is necessary for your schoolwork. And if you pay attention to your studies, and work at being successful in them, that will fill a sizable portion of your free time after school, which will automatically limit your association with unprincipled persons. Seeing your desire to get on with your education, persons of that type, in time, will likely not seek out your association. This will be a protection to you.

Then, too, if you are known as a true Christian, by applying yourself in your schoolwork you can set a fine example. That will be a credit to you, to your parents and to the God you worship. You can be like Daniel and his three friends who applied themselves in the educational system of ancient Babylon and were commended for their diligence. At the same time, they too had to deal with unprincipled persons, but they put first their worship of God and did not compromise their high standards.

Christian youths should find great encouragement and incentive in this fact: many of the abilities and skills they develop now by applying themselves will be useful for more than just a brief lifetime in this system of things. Why? Because this entire wicked system is nearing its end. Soon now it will be replaced by God’s righteous new order where honest-hearted persons will be able to enjoy everlasting life. (1 John 2:15-17) In that new order God’s promise will be fulfilled: “The work of their own hands my chosen ones will use to the full.” (Isa. 65:22) So the good study and work habits youths learn now will prove to be a source of satisfaction and enjoyment forever in God’s new order.