The need for education of Croatian people and especially Croatian children
There is an old Latin saying that history teaches us (our) life. When we look at people who survived through the history and those who perished and disappeared, the Jewish people are bright example of an ancient and very successful people. What has made Jewish people unique and most prosperous people in the history of mankind? Two things; religion and education.
While we Croats are religious people we miss the second part – education. There is a saying that every Jewish mother wants her son or daughter to be a university professor, medical doctor, lawyer, famous composer or pianist.
Recently, the New York Times has published an article in which they talked about average salaries in the USA. The average salary of the people per year with high school diplomas was about $20,000, those with college or university degree $45,000, those with masters degree $60,000 and those with a doctoral degree $80,000. The results of that survey obviously show that there is a strong correlation between education and average salaries. There are some people with low education levels who can have good salaries, but this is more the exception than the rule.
The only safe way for our children to have decent salaries in future is through education. Everything else is the same as wining a lottery ticket.
In addition to relatively high income, higher education also provides better quality of life. Earning $80,000 per year working on a hot roof, with dirty hands and nails is not the same as earning the same moneys in a nice air-conditioned office.
Even more, higher education gives inside pleasure of grasping ideas and knowledge, exploring exciting realms of art, music, science, the universe, the human body, and travel in time and space. These are the things that uneducated man cannot even dream about.
Education teaches us how to approach problems, how to critically evaluate information, how to accept and be open for other experiences and opinions, and how to grow and improve. Uneducated people can easily be manipulated, abused and exploited.
The very existence and prosperity of Croatian people depends on our education. Without education we’ll become, first intellectual slaves who are manipulated and abused and this will lead to real slavery, i.e., working long ours for others for miserable salaries and being without any quality of life and political influence.
What should our Croatian community in New York City and USA do? First, we should recognize the problem of low education among us and even worse, among our children. Croatian mothers and fathers should start educating their children from earlier ages to become university professors, doctors, lawyers, etc. We have an obligation to help our children to get the best possible education (Harvard, Yale, Stanford, MIT, Princeton, etc.). We cannot expect any help from Republic of Croatia. Therefore, we should organize tax-deductible foundations for education of Croats in Diaspora and from Croatia and B&H. Our role is to educate and to transfer our knowledge and skills to younger generations.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Dr. Karin Knešaurek
New York USA
e-mail: Karin.Knesaurek@msnyuhealth.org
The need for education of Croatian people and especially Croatian children
There is an old Latin saying that history teaches us (our) life. When we look at people who survived through the history and those who perished and disappeared, the Jewish people are bright example of an ancient and very successful people. What has made Jewish people unique and most prosperous people in the history of mankind? Two things; religion and education.
While we Croats are religious people we miss the second part – education. There is a saying that every Jewish mother wants her son or daughter to be a university professor, medical doctor, lawyer, famous composer or pianist.
Recently, the New York Times has published an article in which they talked about average salaries in the USA. The average salary of the people per year with high school diplomas was about $20,000, those with college or university degree $45,000, those with masters degree $60,000 and those with a doctoral degree $80,000. The results of that survey obviously show that there is a strong correlation between education and average salaries. There are some people with low education levels who can have good salaries, but this is more the exception than the rule.
The only safe way for our children to have decent salaries in future is through education. Everything else is the same as wining a lottery ticket.
In addition to relatively high income, higher education also provides better quality of life. Earning $80,000 per year working on a hot roof, with dirty hands and nails is not the same as earning the same moneys in a nice air-conditioned office.
Even more, higher education gives inside pleasure of grasping ideas and knowledge, exploring exciting realms of art, music, science, the universe, the human body, and travel in time and space. These are the things that uneducated man cannot even dream about.
Education teaches us how to approach problems, how to critically evaluate information, how to accept and be open for other experiences and opinions, and how to grow and improve. Uneducated people can easily be manipulated, abused and exploited.
The very existence and prosperity of Croatian people depends on our education. Without education we’ll become, first intellectual slaves who are manipulated and abused and this will lead to real slavery, i.e., working long ours for others for miserable salaries and being without any quality of life and political influence.
What should our Croatian community in New York City and USA do? First, we should recognize the problem of low education among us and even worse, among our children. Croatian mothers and fathers should start educating their children from earlier ages to become university professors, doctors, lawyers, etc. We have an obligation to help our children to get the best possible education (Harvard, Yale, Stanford, MIT, Princeton, etc.). We cannot expect any help from Republic of Croatia. Therefore, we should organize tax-deductible foundations for education of Croats in Diaspora and from Croatia and B&H. Our role is to educate and to transfer our knowledge and skills to younger generations.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Dr. Karin Knešaurek
New York USA
e-mail: Karin.Knesaurek@msnyuhealth.org