A quote has a meaning, weather it be a useful life lesson or simply something to entertain it always has a meaning. Of course no one but the person who said the quote can really know what the quote really means but you can always make an educated guess. “There are…two educations; one should teach you how to make a living and the other how to live.” This quote by J.T. Adams has a meaning like any other quote but what is that meaning? Why does it matter? Is it a fun quote or does it have a lesson?
This quote has a hidden message, one that has a lesson. Like a child is curious of what's behind the forbidden door we should be curious of the meanings behind quotes, songs and dialogues for who knows what we may discover. Let’s analyze this quote. First of all, there is two lessons being mentioned the first one being “…one should teach you how to make a living…” now lets see if it's true: in school a student learns the basics on how to work, how to be organized, what is expected from you, how to make connections, how to spend your earnings, etc. some examples of this would be economics, business, etc. these courses are studied in high school and then narrowed down specific subjects in college, which is why having a high school diploma isn’t enough to go far in life.
So is that it? You go to school, you learn your stuff and your done right? But then what's the second lesson? Is it also in school or is there something else we need to know? The second lesson mentioned in the quote is “…and the other how to live” so wait now your going to tell me step by step what to do? Well that can be one interpretation but a more logical consideration could be that what you see people around you do and the consequences you see for each and every action tells you what's wrong and what's right, or the benefits and set backs of a decision. Take a child for example, a three year old girl walks into the store and watches an older woman put something in her purse without paying. Now bare in mind the child is only three she doesn’t understand the concept of stealing as of yet; at first the child considers it borrowing and thinks it's ok but then that lady gets caught and yelled at and then roughly taken away. What has the child learned? Not that what the lady did is stealing but that borrowing without permission is wrong and if you take something you pay for it or you ask the person your taking from if it's ok.
Another example would be when a teenager sees her parents smoking, she will think its ok because even though she is not three she still considers that her parents can't possibly be wrong so if they’re smoking it's ok to smoke. Now she finds out her dad is sick due to the nicotine in the cigarette and automatically begins to hate smoking and soon gets upset with anyone that smokes. This teaches her that smoking is bad and you shouldn’t even try the first time because that can do enough of damage on its own.
So we have two lessons; one that helps you survive in society and the other that helps you understand the concept of good and bad. Although both being similar reasons for existence, both have their areas for learning. While life decisions are understood in school, right and wrong; good and bad are all learned in social environments and life experiences. If even one of the educations falls short the person’s life could be destroyed.
This quote, being both, a life lesson and a concept of understanding one self, exemplifies both the necessities of graduating college and the need to stay a part of society and notice the small things that haven’t been noticed before. As one of Hillary Duff’s songs quotes “…there will be no flashing neon light …” no one can tell you what the lesson is but they can tell you there is a lesson which is why I believe J.T. Adams wrote this quote: to let us know that a second lesson exists and that we need to be aware of it's presence and look for it because the lesson wont come to you, you have to go to the lesson.
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