It Can't be Overstressed

By Eric Evans, 2nd dan

It is human nature for people to place a value on everything they posses or encounter.  Society tends to measure status and success by our appearance, social status, jobs and possessions.  It is the intangible items that are truly beyond measure.  Everything you have can be taken away from you.  Your money, home, clothes, even your life can be taken.  The one thing no one can take from you is your education.

At each campus of the Colorado Taekwondo Institute, including our classes in Golden, we place a strong emphasis on education.  Because it is an integral part of life, CTI places education at the top of their priorities.  Students are required to complete monthly homework, study for tests and learn about their body.  They are also exposed to the education of their culture and the culture of others.  This is a process that must be constantly and consistently practiced as students hone their ability to become thoughtful, self-directed learners.  These skills must be applied outside of Moo Sul Kwan Taekwondo in our daily lives in order to become more effective.  Much like poomse, your ability to learn only enhances with practice.

You may consider school boring or a waste of your time.  You may have even bought into the misconception that you will never use the skill and concepts you learn in school in the “Real World.”  One of my personal favorites is “Who uses Algebra any way?”   You use algebra everyday of your life!  You may not realize it but even children use it.  Consider the situation where a child is saving money to purchase a new toy.  They currently have x dollars saved and they need to save y more to earn the much needed 49.99 toy.  Algebra enables them to determine how much more money they need to earn before they are rewarded for their hard work.

CTI students learn to strive to be in the front of the classroom while studying in grade school or college, just striving to be in a leadership position of a CTI class.

• By placing yourself in the front of the classroom you:
• Remove distractions from fellow students
• Remove obstructions from your view
• Become the example for other students to follow
• Place yourself in a position that requires your full attention
• Have a higher level of retention of the information or lecture being provided.

The value of education cannot ever be overly expressed.  It enables us to perform simple tasks like counting money back to a customer, without the aid of a computer, to more complex tasks such as the ability to solve a quantum physics equation.  It is the only thing that can never be taken away from you.  If not for the dedicated men and women of older times in regards to education, MSK Taekwondo and everything we do and enjoy would not be what it is today.