Education is a fundamental principle of what made America a

Hear, O children of tomorrow, the words of Ben Carson, spoken with the weight of both experience and conviction: “Education is a fundamental principle of what made America a success. We can’t afford to throw any young people away.” This is no idle saying, but a trumpet-call to remember the foundations of a people and the sacred duty toward the rising generation. For what is a nation without its youth? What is a people without the wisdom to nurture its own future? To neglect the child is to abandon the harvest, to cast away treasure, to build upon sand rather than stone.

Consider first the claim that education is the cornerstone of America’s triumph. From its earliest days, the Republic was not sustained by wealth alone, nor by the strength of its armies, but by the cultivation of knowledge, skill, and vision in its citizens. It was the farmer who studied his land, the inventor who tinkered by candlelight, the teacher who shaped young minds, and the leader who read deeply and reasoned well. These were the forces that propelled America from fragile beginnings to enduring strength. Education forged the tools, the industries, the sciences, and the ideals that lifted a scattered people into greatness.

But Carson’s words burn with a second fire: “We can’t afford to throw any young people away.” Here is the truth too often forgotten—that every child, no matter how humble, carries within them the spark of possibility. To discard them through neglect, poverty, or indifference is to wound not only the child but the nation itself. Each neglected life is a book unwritten, a song unsung, an invention unrealized, a leader unborn. The wealth of a nation is not in its gold or land, but in the minds and hearts of its children.

Reflect upon the story of Booker T. Washington, born into slavery, yet rising through the power of education to found Tuskegee Institute and to guide countless others into self-reliance and dignity. Had society cast him aside, deeming him unworthy of opportunity, his brilliance would have been lost to the ages. Instead, through perseverance and learning, he became a beacon whose light still shines. His life is proof that when a single youth is given the gift of education, generations are uplifted.

Carson himself embodies the power of this truth. Born in poverty, struggling in school, nearly written off by society, he was saved by the guiding hand of his mother, who demanded he read and learn. Through that discipline he rose to become a world-renowned surgeon. His life is the living testimony that no child is expendable. What if he had been cast away? What if the doors of education had been closed to him? The world would have lost both a healer and a voice urging us never to waste the treasure of our youth.

Beware, then, the poison of indifference. A nation that allows its schools to decay, its children to fall into despair, its poor to remain untaught, prepares its own downfall. For neglected youth grow into disillusioned adults, and abandoned children become the cracks in the foundation of a nation’s strength. To waste them is to waste the very promise of tomorrow. The downfall of many empires began not with invasion from without, but with neglect from within.

Therefore, O keepers of the future, take this charge: educate diligently, and guard the dignity of every young soul. Invest in schools as you would in fortresses, for they are the true defense of a people. Encourage the child who falters, support the youth who struggles, lift up the overlooked, and believe in the potential of each life. For in every mind there lies the seed of greatness—if only it is nourished.

The lesson is clear: education is the path to national strength, and no child must be cast aside. Let us, then, vow to waste no young life, to kindle every flame, to see in each child not a burden but a blessing. In this way, we honor the past, we secure the present, and we build a future where the success of the nation rests not on a chosen few, but on the uplifted many.