Hello Everyone,
I hope this week has treated you well.
I received an email from one of my avid readers, a local high school teacher, who informed me that the school drop-out rate within her community is increasing. She said multiple factors were causing this and that drop-outs are becoming younger and younger. There is so much community, governmental and familial work that needs to be done to decrease this but for now, I will make the first step and write about the importance of education and how it effects our overall wellbeing. There is a common saying that goes “education is the only thing that cannot be taken away from you.” It’s cliché and I rolled my eyes whenever I heard it growing up but I’ve come to believe and appreciate it over the last few years.
It might seem like an easy question with an obvious answer but why is education important in life? The obvious answer? It allows people to better navigate the world through reading, writing and communicating. The not so obvious answer? Education allows for awareness, reasoning and enables individuals to make informed decisions.

It is easy to see the harm in uninformed decisions (not just in Guyana) when you look at general voters opinion. For example, the recent Brexit where the locals voted and was granted the United Kingdom’s withdrawal from the European Union in June of this year. This resulted in so many financial, educational and societal issues that it was obvious the majority made an uninformed decision. Having said that, education allows people to positively contribute to their community.

It removes gender discrimination and inequality, promote women and children rights, bring good governance and remove corruption. Education decreases baseless superstitions, creates exposure to other worlds without the expense of travel. I’ve never been to a Middle Eastern country but I know some of their history, culture and practises. It is what allows for further planning, goals and ambitions.

It allows for better morality, mental and social skills. Education even allows for mental and physical health. It results in the understanding of the problem, decreases stigma and encourages help seeking. It allows for higher self-confidence and esteem. It increases medical testing and healthier lifestyles. A recent study shows that if a mother is educated, the mortality rate of her child is reduced by at least half.

If the power of education is so obvious, why do so many people drop out?
These reasons vary and can depend on many factors such as the family, environment and the individual. If one comes from an impoverished or uneducated family, they are likely to be uneducated as well. In Guyana, it is most common for children to drop out of school in order to help financially support their family. Additionally, if they are in an environment of drugs and alcohol, gangs, teenage pregnancies and bullying, they are much more likely to drop out. Early marriages, abuse in the school and mental and physical disabilities are also common reasons for Guyana as, sadly, most schools are not equipped to deal with these issues.

The sad truth is that simply going to school is not the answer. Many schools actually promote early promiscuity, drug/alcohol abuse and have overall toxic environments so the problems equally lie between the family, school and community. We have a lot of work to do.
In my experience, the higher the education a person has, the more they know they have to learn. An educated person always listens and continues to learn as they are aware they can never know all there is to know because they understand that education is a continuous and slow process.

My parents always told my sister and I that we can decide where their money will go. That they will either pay for a wedding or university- but not both- and it is our decision. We both chose schooling but I don’t think at the time it was an easy decision for either of us. However, I have never once regretted it, only appreciated it, as it showed us the true value and sacrifice of a formal education.

I want to say that it’s never too late to want or get an education. It’s common to not even want it until later in life. In primary and high school, I was a very average student with at times less than average grades. Sometimes, when you are young and something is just given to you, you take it for granted. I promise you if you are feeling this now, your opinion will change in a few years.

Being uneducated is not a problem just for the individual but rather a societal problem. If a society has high levels of school drop-out, it also has high crime rate, drug abuse, gangs, lost earnings and tax revenues, poorer health services, higher mortality rate and so much more.
I don’t live in an idealistic world. Actually, a lot of people confuse my realism with pessimism, which tends to upset me. I know that there are hundreds of people in Guyana who cannot go to school for many reasons. However, there are many other ways to get an education. Don’t give up- self- educate.

Show curiosity about everything. When I was younger, I would hear a word or topic mentioned that I didn’t know and I simply ignored it. During university, I forced myself to Google anything that was brought up around me that I didn’t know. It’s now a habit that I cannot break. Read – all the time. You can never go wrong with reading. You can also learn a lot from television if you watch the right programmes- news, documentaries and so on. Don’t get comfortable. Many people re-read or re-watch the same thing. Comfort and familiarity brings us no new knowledge.

The hardest part about doing this is there are no teachers or deadlines pushing you to do it. Major self-discipline is required. However, it’s not unlike any other routine- force yourself for the first bit and then you will genuinely enjoy it. Kind of like how most of us feel about gym.
Just like anything else, education may not be the key to happiness, but it definitely is the key to a lot of other things which come together to make you happy. There is absolutely no down side of having an education.

Thanking you for reading. Please keep sending any topics you’d like to talk about to caitlinvieira@gmail.com Or come in to see me at:
Georgetown Public Hospital: Psychiatric Department:
Monday- Friday – 8am- 12pm

Woodlands Hospital: Outpatient Department
Drug and Alcohol group meetings – Mondays 4:15
Good mental health group meetings- Wednesdays 4:15

Say Yes to Life and No to Drugs! Always!