We think about education as a stepping stone into a higher

Hear, O seekers of wisdom, the voice of Tara Westover, who rose from the wilderness of isolation to the halls of learning, and who spoke thus: “We think about education as a stepping stone into a higher socio-economic class, into a better job. And it does do those things. But I don’t think that’s what it really is. I experienced it as getting access to different ideas and perspectives and using them to construct my own mind.” In this confession, she unmasks a truth forgotten by many—that education is not merely a ladder to wealth, but the very art of becoming human.

For too long, men and women have measured the worth of education in wages, in promotions, in material gain. These are real fruits, and Westover does not deny them. Yet she testifies that its deeper power lies in something far greater: in the opening of the mind, in the meeting of diverse ideas, in the freedom to question and to shape one’s own vision of the world. The true gift of education is not simply the better job—it is the better self.

Westover herself is the origin of this wisdom. Born into a strict and isolated household in rural Idaho, denied formal schooling for much of her childhood, she lived in a world where voices of authority dictated truth without question. Yet through her own fierce will, she found her way into books, into universities, into the realm of thought. In that realm she discovered not just knowledge but freedom: the freedom to weigh ideas, to consider other perspectives, to construct her own mind rather than inherit the prison of another’s. Her journey, told in her memoir Educated, is the living embodiment of her quote.

History echoes this truth in many lives. Consider Frederick Douglass, who, born into slavery, risked all to learn to read. He knew that literacy was not only a path to escape bondage but also the key to constructing an independent mind. He later declared, “Knowledge makes a man unfit to be a slave.” His words align with Westover’s testimony: education is not simply a tool for mobility but the essence of liberation, the awakening of one’s inner sovereignty.

To construct one’s own mind is the highest calling of education. It is the power to think critically, to resist manipulation, to discern truth from falsehood. It is to move from being a passive receiver of ideas to an active builder of understanding. Without this, wealth and position are hollow; with this, even the poor and obscure may be kings within themselves. This is why Westover’s words resound with such force—they recall us to the sacred heart of learning.

But beware, for there is a danger in forgetting this. When education is reduced to mere job training, it loses its soul. A nation of skilled workers without independent minds is a nation vulnerable to tyranny, for its people may know how to labor but not how to question. Westover warns us against such narrowing of vision. True education is not the memorization of facts nor the acquisition of credentials, but the lifelong dialogue with ideas, the shaping of thought, the building of the inner citadel.

Therefore, O children of tomorrow, take this lesson: pursue education not only for success, but for freedom. Read not only to pass exams, but to encounter new worlds of thought. Listen not only to confirm your beliefs, but to hear voices unlike your own. In doing so, you will construct your own mind, strong and luminous, able to stand in the storms of life.

The final word is this: as Tara Westover has spoken, so it must be remembered—education is not merely a stepping stone, but a forge. In it, you are shaped; by it, you awaken; through it, you become truly yourself. Treasure it not only as a means to climb, but as the fire in which your mind is made whole. For to be educated is not only to succeed, but to be free.