If I had a billion dollars

Since I’m a perpetual student, I value education but not just for me but for everybody.

Education is a privilege and a right. It should be available to everyone but sadly it isn’t which is why those who have access to it are very privileged.

Education is an exercise of delayed gratification. It takes time to acquire knowledge and the benefits are not always instant or obvious.   

Education provides so much value to everybody both at an individual level but also at a societal level too.

So if I had a billion dollars, I would spend it on educational programs because of the benefits that it delivers to so many people. It is something that someone is able to acquire and belongs to them alone. It can stay with them forever. Hopefully the process inspires them to use for the benefit of their family and wider community.

Since a billion dollars is a large amount of money, it will allow me to ‘thump tables’ or gain access to those in power to promote investment in education. While having money isn’t always the only way to influence, it does help.

But as an aside, in the media recently we’ve been hearing about how one political party charged large amounts of money to business people and lobbyists to meet ministers at their annual conference. This has happened for many years and so I ask you this – why is it that people are only now up-in-arms?    

Anyway, I can only dream about having a billion dollars so in the mean time I’ll have to be content with giving away small amounts.