Why Is Education Important?

            Formal education and/or informal education are essential to reaching one’s full potential. College or university is not for everyone for career training. The fact is that we need plumbers, electricians, construction workers, and vehicle mechanics as well as many other trades. However, everyone should read and study out of good books.

            President Dallin H. Oaks of the First Presidency said that the “ultimate coal of an education is to make us better parents….” Then-Elder Russell M. Nelson said the following about education: “There is no shortcut to excellence and competence. Education is the difference between wishing you could help other people and being able to help them. No matter how one prepares for a career or trade, everyone should participate in lifelong learning.”

            Knowing the value that prophets put on education, it is easier to understand why Florida Governor Ron DeSantis is so outspoken about education. At a Heritage Foundation event held last Friday in Florida, DeSantis made the following statement: 

We’ve seen over the last few years in our country how important policy is, both good and very bad…. There may be no area where the contrast between a free state like Florida and some of the lockdown states was [bigger] than on education during COVID….

We’re not going to let fear drive policy making…. We’re going to make sure that we’re there to support the well-being of our kids and also to support families throughout Florida….

The purpose of our school system is to educate kids, not to indoctrinate kids…. You do not distort American history to try to advance your current ideological agenda….

As [we] fight back against things like [critical race theory] … we’ve put a renewed emphasis on American civics, on making sure that the kids who come through our schools have an idea of what it means to be an American.

            Kevin Roberts, President of Heritage Foundation, called DeSantis “America’s governor.” This is a good name for him because he has led the nation in many areas. Roberts also said that the work done by the Florida legislature is the “lever for taking back our schools for our kids, and our parents, and our families.”