Welcome to
Sacred Heart School of Theology's
English as a Second Language Program
The ESL Times / Spring, 2004
A College Degree
By: Fr. Thomas Runggaldier, SDS
(Austria)
Without doubt a man with a college degree has a different way of life from a man without it. At the time of the old Egyptians or the Greeks, it was well-educated men who determined the way of history. That’s true today. What are the advantages and disadvantages of being well-educated?
A proverb already from the antiquity says: ‘Knowledge is power’. If you read about the battles of Alexander the Great, Julius Caesar, Napoleon, or Hitler, you will notice that the reason behind their power was not the strength of their armies but the power of their minds. A well-educated man can convince others to offer their lives for him and his ideas.
You don’t have to be a military genius to make great victories, even in your daily life, if you see the advantages of being well-educated. Many processes of life you can understand with education. You can grasp social, religious, ethnical, and economical connections better, and you can understand why other people think and live differently.
But a college degree is not always necessary for you to have a good life. There are some men who have talents but don’t want a college degree because they are afraid to become proud. Sometimes very educated people do not have the feelings they need to be able to understand the simple interests of the ‘common’ people especially the poor.
In conclusion, you can say there’s no doubt that the leaders of a country, of a factory, of a school all need college degrees. In any case, they need great responsibility. Hard work also is a part of the responsibility that everyone needs.
Therefore we can’t say what’s more important in someone’s life - to have a college degree or not. Both kinds of people need to have responsibility for each other, and therefore we all need one another.
Priests of the Sacred Heart
Sacred Heart School of Theology
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Hales Corners, WI 53130-0429
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