"Education should be equally devoted to enriching the personal lives of students and to training students to be productive workers."

There are those who believe that education should be purely focused on the professional skills and knowledge that would serve to train students into productive workers. However, there are others that believe that such a view is outdated and that education should also be devoted to enriching the personal lives of students. I am in agreement with the topic statement that education should be equally devoted to both aspects of enriching the personal lives of students and to train them to be productive workers.

There is no denying that in order for a person to be able to do his or her job, he or she would need the sufficient knowledge and skill sets that is required of the job. A surgeon cannot perform surgery if he or she does not have a medical background. An architect cannot draft blueprints for a building if he or she does not have an understanding of the mechanics of architecture. This is where education comes in. Education instills the knowledge that is needed of a student to perform for his or her future job. In today's progressive societies, requirements for professional skill sets in the workplace are becoming increasingly demanding. Employers are demanding for higher qualifications and often times more specialized skills, and the education industry have reflected this trend. A high school diploma used to be adequate back in the days. Now it is commonplace for many to have a university degrees, or perhaps even two degrees. The bar is constantly rising and students are clambering to meet the challenge. There is no wonder that there is a strong emphasis on education to devote itself to training students to be productive workers, both for the benefit of the future career of the student himself as well as the organization that he or she would be working for one day.

However, education should equally devote itself to enhancing the personal lives of students. Education is an essential process in our lives. We spend a big part of our lives in various educational institutions-- from elementary school all the way to college, or perhaps graduate school. Though learning necessary skills and knowledge for future uses are important, there is more to our educational career than just absorbing facts and technical skills. What about the other experiences that the technical educational process cannot offer? By building on the other aspects of the educational process that enhances the personal lives of the students, we inculcate students with other soft skills that no text or classroom training can ever develop. The art of building relationships for instance. This is an invaluable skill for anyone to have, whether it is in their personal lives or in their careers. A business graduate with great interpersonal skills have that ability to crack that great business merger, or negotiate a favorable outcome with business partners. Also, there is another reason why education should equally devote itself to enriching students' personal lives. Many employers today are emphasizing on individual personality fit of employees for their companies. It is clear that there is more to being a productive worker than being a bank of knowledge and skills. Therefore education should go beyond the process of simply instilling students with knowledge; there should be a focus on fostering the individual personalities of the students as well.

For all the reasons mention above, I like to reiterate my agreement that education should be equally devoted to enhancing the personal lives of students as well as provide training to make them into productive workers. Education is important for instilling the necessary knowledge and skills that the students need in order to perform a job. However, education should also enhance students' personal lives as it can foster invaluable soft skills that will be beneficial to the student as a person as well as a professional.