EFFECTS OF MONEY, TV & OIL ON EDUCATION

Education refers to the process of giving or receiving instructions especially in places such as a school. Money has played a major role in the lives of many persons. In a similar manner, money has either had effects both positive and negative towards education. For instance, money could be quickly used to pay up for school fees, get the students/pupils with school uniforms, and provide for upkeep alongside other learning materials like exercise books, writing and reading materials too. Money has a tendency to act as a big morale booster as far as education is concerned. Picture a student preparing for their exams but with the full knowledge that their tuition fees have already been cleared. In most cases, such students never lose focus or concentration towards their revisions and dwell more on the exam preparations. Their morale is normally very high knowing full well they will sit the upcoming exam. This in the long run leads to very good grades, mainly because the students have ample time and a relaxed mind to prepare well for their exams. Students who get scholarship opportunities benefit a lot from them. These scholarships help them settle down on their education, have full concentration and end up impacting positively on their education. On the contrary, money could have devastating effects as far as education is concerned. Picture this: a student is forced to drop out of school or even defer a class or semester for lack of funds to allow them proceed with their course work. It is normally so painful given much time which could never be recovered goes to waste especially when one is out of class. There is normally much lose of contact with already used friends and classmates. Such would lead to one not attaining their lifelong desired goals and objectives. Whereas on the other hand a student may proceed to completion of their studies even with lack of funding (money), the grades attained may be unsatisfactory especially in cases whereby they do not have any extra learning materials they could probably obtain. These scenarios are evident in third world countries or most developing countries which are in so much ways looking for various means to sustain themselves. Communities and especially parents rely on unskilled labor to earn a living. These meager earnings are not in many instances sufficient enough to allow parents provide education live alone good education to their children. Their children thus end up dropping out of school at an early age, are exposed to child labor as they learn at an early age to fend for themselves which in turn should not be the case. They are thus deprived of their perpetual basic need ‘education’ by one ‘money’. It is thus the bigger responsibility of the privileged in society, Non-Governmental Organizations and the government of the day to help with scholarships, donor funding and intense civic education to help students and families caught up in this plight. Such cases have been observed to be highly critical in the remote parts of the said countries where even the parents have no means of fending for themselves and their families let alone go in search for money for their children’s education. Out of the two situations, there have been instances whereby students have been brought up in families where money has never been an issue especially when it comes to ensuring they get good education. However, such students tend to think and see that there’s everything provided for them and do not put much effort into their education. In short, much as money may have either a positive or negative impact on one’s education, the baton lies with the student in ensuring they work hard towards improving their standard and status of education.

The television set has for a long time been an educational tool that has for so many years been recommended by both parents and teachers to their children and students respectively. Televisions have helped students to look into being who is who in society when they grow up. There are those who would want to excel high in their studies and say be the news anchor just like the anchors they normally watch on their TV sets. Others would want to be actors/actresses, comedians, lawyers, ministers or even presidents. This comes about as a result of the many TV programs they watch. TV therefore would be said to have a positive impact on education in the sense that students would want to so much assimilate themselves to the many good things they view. They quickly help students find role models and personalities they would want to be like them at some point in their life. TV’s equally tend to have educational programs such as debating sessions, science club programs or many others which in one way or the other touch on matters educational say for instance programs that dwell on nature for both flora and fauna would go a long way to interest some children who eventually would work hard to come and either work or research for. These tend to help a great deal especially now that students get to learn negotiations skills from other students they watch in debate or parliamentary sessions, language skills and lots understanding and translation apart from usage of grammar and words. In short, just like the teacher teaches in class, TV sets equally go to a greater extent in ensuring students educational skills are enhanced. On the contrary though, TV sets have led to poor morals to many students in society and therefore adversely affected modern education and its standards. For instance, so many romantic programs have come up on television screens. Many of which are not educational at all, they tend to lead students astray in matters education. Other than students doing research or rather reading, doing revisions, they spend time watching soap operas and discuss the same with friends, wasting lots valuable time. Some of the late night television programs tend to contain pornographic content. These to a large extent have never been educational, rather they are misguiding and pose a great risk to many persons especially those who still happen to be students. Some may end up wanting to practice what they watch which again can be very detrimental to one self or others. It is from such illicit material whereby students who are homosexuals or lesbians come into being. In the long run, a school is found to have students who violate or flout school rules, are indisciplined to a great extent and care less about themselves, their future and the fate they put their parents into. These unbecoming behaviors could be brought about by the content they watch and then students may want to carry the same character with them so they may prove heroic before others. Parents should thus regulate the amount of television time and what programs their children watch. Any child who sticks to watching educational programs on television tends to benefit a lot. Their performances in school are no doubt exemplary and so will be their behavior and discipline. In short, much as students must at some point be let free to do and choose what it is that they aspire in life, such choices must be monitored and guided with right controls in order for them to benefit in the long run.

Oil reserves and mining has always prompted to have the parent countries being the richest. Oil is a major and a basic commodity especially after it’s by products have been refined and are absorbed in the market for human usage. Oil has to a greater extent had a good impact on education. This could be attributed to the gallons of oil being extracted for shipment and thereby earning the country a lot of revenue which in turn helps the government of the day set up structures some or most of which will be educational to benefit its citizens. Foreign investors will be the very first persons that will come in for oil exploration and extraction. These investors will help the country in earning foreign currencies, trade internationally and in turn improve living standards, education standards mainly to avoid shipping their own labor. Oil enhances good relations with other countries and even aids in numerous learning exchange programs between host country and contracted countries to do explorations, extraction. In some instances, countries tasked with extraction take the greater responsibility of training or even educating some individuals from the host country on certain specific work related courses or skills such as mining for example or oil and gas explorations. Similarly, contracted companies working in oil reserves have very nice policies guiding their corporate social responsibility. This could range from construction works of say schools and amenities like hospitals and churches. The schools will again be furnished, provided with the best learning materials to help the locals benefit from the oil first hand. From the oil companies, that has always been their way of appreciating the community in which they stay and work together for many years to come. This close relation tends to place both parties together and each benefits in one way or the other from the other party. On the other hand, oil has to a greater extent caused a lot of wars between communities. A good example to cite which has even crippled life, let alone education is the Abyei area in South Sudan Republic in which both Sudan and South Sudan claim to be theirs. Oil has caused many deaths due to many wrangles between communities fighting say for land, the resource for each to claim as theirs. Skirmishes or wars have never been good for education. Education may be thought of as being jealous. Much as it depends on so many external factors, they must on the other hand be very conducive in order for it to be felt. Oil rich areas are equally found to be very hot, rather extremely hot. These extremely hot conditions are never good environments where education would do well. The harsh, hot conditions have disastrous health effects thereby posing dangers to communities. Oil is equally a highly flammable commodity. It therefore puts everyone at risk at all times especially when not properly handled could lead to bodily harm, can quickly cause fires which could raze down everything creating huge losses. Much as oil as a commodity earns a country a lot of income plus helps the country to quickly develop, it poses major risks to life and in turn to even the education of a certain area together with the community. A good example would be the oil spillage that was experienced in the Niger Delta recently. There were so many effects from that spillage ranging from deaths to sea life which is vegetation and fish as a result of the contamination. You will realize that there are individuals who relied on fishing for their livelihood. The spillage which brought an end to sea life meant they had no other source of fending for their families for some time. That in turn affected so many eating outlets which relied on the same fish supply, in turn many students did not go to school due to disease outbreaks, lack of school fees from their parents for having recorded no sales. From time to time, children are left with no parents when fires start up in oil reserves, when oil mines get filled up. In so many of these examples, education is so much interrupted and students suffer given the sole provider for money is not there thus education is duly affected.

In conclusion, money, TV and oil will either have positive and negative effects on education and the education standards and systems in place in general. It is thus the responsibility of each and every individual to check and see to it that there are no devastating effects to the education systems by ensuring a balance is placed on each and every one of them so that the negative effects are highly controlled to avoid getting out of hand.