Kwesi Caldwell was a student in Jason Akst's spring 2025 Journalism 401 class at Northern Illinois University.
“Okay who can tell me what letter comes after B?”
“Can anyone tell me what 2+2 is?”
I remember some of the first things my mother taught me in her daycare: The simple things in life, like letters, numbers, and blowing my nose when a boogie is hanging down for the world to see… So maybe I’m not as special as I thought.
But there is always something so special, so pristine, so divine, and so pure about the information we gather.
For instance, have you ever thought about where the deepest ocean trench is? (The Mariana Trench in the west Pacific Ocean about 36,200 feet below sea level.
Or maybe considered how old you were when you figured out that Alaska is the only U.S. State that you can type only using one row of the keyboard.
The importance of being well educated in any facet is by far one of the most important values you can have in this day and age.
The amount of knowledge one has about a situation ultimately plays a direct role in how they react to said situation.
So let’s break it down to a T: You plan an amazing vacation with some of your closest friends. You want everything to work out as planned; however, you decide not to research the area you are going to visit.
How well would you expect your amazing trip to go if you are ill-informed about the place you are about to travel?
The things I have learned over the years in school, from friends and family, even the homeless eye patch man who stands at the corner of my neighborhood asking for cups of sugar daily-- they have taught me time and time again that there is no greater value in this world than being well-educated.
I’m Kwesi Caldwell and that’s my perspective.