Good education means learning to read, write and most importantly

In the wise and heartfelt words of Patty Murray, we find the essence of what it means to truly awaken the human mind: “Good education means learning to read, write and most importantly learn how to learn so that you can be whatever you want to be when you grow up.” This is not merely a lesson about schooling—it is a revelation about freedom, possibility, and the sacred art of learning how to learn. For education, when rightly understood, is not the filling of a vessel, but the kindling of a fire. It is the gift that allows each soul to shape its own destiny, to rise beyond the boundaries of birth, and to choose the course of its own becoming.

In the ancient days, before the word “education” had taken its modern form, the wise understood that knowledge was a living flame passed from teacher to student, from heart to heart. The philosopher Plato taught in the groves of Athens that the goal of learning was not to memorize what others had said, but to awaken the mind to think for itself. So too does Murray remind us that the highest purpose of education is not simply to read or write words upon a page, but to unlock the capacity to seek truth, to question, to discover. To learn how to learn is to gain mastery over one’s own mind—it is to hold in one’s hands the key to all other knowledge.

Think of the young Abraham Lincoln, born in a cabin of rough-hewn logs, whose schooling lasted barely a year. Yet the boy taught himself to read by the light of the hearth, borrowing books from neighbors, copying passages upon wooden planks when paper was scarce. He had no teacher but his own hunger for learning. In time, that self-taught child became a lawyer, a statesman, and one of the greatest leaders the world has ever known. Lincoln’s life was the embodiment of Murray’s truth: that those who learn how to learn can become whatever they wish to be, no matter their beginnings.

But this kind of learning cannot thrive where minds are chained by fear or where curiosity is scorned. In too many places, education has become a race of repetition, a contest of memory, rather than a journey of discovery. Children are taught to pass tests, not to pursue questions; to obey the printed page, not to explore beyond it. Yet the ancients knew—and the wise of every age have known—that the mind must be nourished with wonder, with imagination, with the courage to fail and rise again. True education is not a task to complete, but a lifelong pilgrimage of the spirit.

To learn how to learn is to become a creator of one’s own destiny. It means to see every challenge as a lesson, every failure as a teacher, every day as an opportunity to grow. The person who possesses this skill is never trapped, never idle, never defeated, for within them burns an endless power: the power to adapt, to discover, to change. Such learning breeds not only knowledge, but wisdom, and with wisdom comes freedom—the freedom to choose one’s path with open eyes and a steadfast heart.

Let us also remember that education, in its truest form, is an act of faith in the future. When we teach a child to read, we are not merely passing along words; we are whispering into their soul, “You are capable. You can shape your own life.” To teach writing is to grant the gift of voice. To teach thinking is to give the gift of power. But to teach one to learn how to learn—that is to give the gift of limitless becoming. Such an education does not merely prepare a person for work, but for life itself, for all its mysteries and transformations.

So, O listener and seeker of wisdom, take these words to heart: do not be content merely to know—learn to learn. Let your curiosity be your compass, your perseverance your guide. Read deeply, write boldly, question constantly. For every skill may fade, every fact may change, but the mind that knows how to learn is eternal. And when the storms of life come—and they will—you will not be swept away, for you will know how to begin again, to grow anew, to become once more.

In the end, good education is not a classroom, nor a diploma, nor a collection of facts—it is the awakening of the human spirit to its own boundless potential. It is the sacred promise that within every child lies the power to become whatever they dream to be. Nurture that power, cherish it, and you will have given not only knowledge, but freedom, and not only skill, but hope—the most precious legacy one generation can bestow upon the next.