We spend years getting educated.
Degrees.
Certificates.
Qualifications.
We learn mathematics, science, economics, technology and a hundred other things.
But sometimes I wonder:
What is the point of all that education if we still don't know how to behave in public?
You finish college.
You get a good job.
You earn well.
You call yourself educated.
And then you throw garbage on the street.
Jump a red light because nobody is watching.
Drive on the wrong side of the road because it's "just for a minute."
Honk continuously in a traffic jam as if the person in front can make the road disappear.
Park wherever you want and block someone else's way.
Stand outside a queue instead of waiting your turn.
Spit on a public wall.
Damage public property because "someone will fix it."
And then we complain that our cities aren't clean, organized or developed.
That's the irony.
We often measure education by how much someone knows.
Maybe we should also measure it by how someone behaves when nobody is forcing them to behave.
Civic sense isn't complicated.
Follow traffic signals even when there is no traffic police around.
Wear a helmet because your life matters, not because there is a fine.
Don't throw garbage on the road because someone else shouldn't have to clean up after you.
Don't use the wrong side of the road because you're in a hurry.
Don't block a footpath with your vehicle.
Don't jump a queue because you think your time is more valuable than everyone else's.
Respect public spaces because they belong to everyone.
These aren't advanced concepts.
You don't need a degree to understand them.
You need consideration.
And that's where education should matter.
Because education isn't supposed to only help you build a better career.
It should also help you become a better human being and a more responsible citizen.
What's the point of having a master's degree if you still can't follow a traffic signal?
What's the point of earning a great salary if you throw your waste on the street and expect someone else to clean it?
What's the point of calling ourselves a developed society if we only follow rules when someone is watching?
Maybe being educated isn't about knowing more than others.
Maybe it's about behaving better because you know better.
The real test of education isn't always what you write in an exam.
Sometimes it's whether you stop at a red light when nobody is around.
Sometimes it's whether you pick up the wrapper you dropped.
Sometimes it's whether you let someone cross the road.
Sometimes it's whether you wait your turn.
Sometimes it's simply whether you leave a public place the way you found it.
Education gives us knowledge.
Civic sense shows us what to do with it.
And perhaps that's the kind of education our society needs a little more of.