ANYWHERE in the world, education must start as early as when the child is a toddler. This is an ideal stage for a child to develop his or her cognitive abilities because a person’s brain develops only during the childhood stage.

That’s why in the United Kingdom, the legislature there is calling for a massive funding for education. Like other European countries, the United Kingdom mandates that all high school students acquire a second language. This is actually a directive from the European Union. The European leaders have earlier saw that the European mainland is peculiarly composed of countries contiguously situated to each other, have the same skin color but do not speak the same language. In order to save themselves from this predicament of a Babel-like situation, the European Union has made the directive stated above to wiggle itself out of a lost in translation situation. Other countries in Europe which excel themselves in the education arena are Belgium, the Czech Republic, Greece and Italy.

Across the Atlantic in New York City, the place was adjudged the best in urban education all over the world. The award was given by a civilian foundation called ELi and Edy the Broad Foundation. Mayor Michael Bloomberg accepted the prize on September 19. This is reputedly among the most prestigious awards as far as worldwide education is concerned. The criterion of the award was the academic performance of the students encompassing all levels from pre-school to fourth year of high school. New York City is a melting pot of all races from as far as the Eskimos in Alaska to students coming across the Pacific in Hawaii to foreign students coming from Northern Europe, Africa, Asia and Australia. The survey was conducted out of 1,450 schools and 80,000 teachers and one million students all over New York City. For the prize, New York City will receive $500,000 and the amount will be used for scholarships of students from nursery, kinder, elementary, junior high school, middle school and high school. Some of the finalists for the prize also come from the United States like Bridgeport Public Schools, Long Beach, Miami-Dade and San Antonio, Texas. The review was conducted by 14 reputable individuals.

In the college arena, the United States has extended its superiority in the education field by offering scholarship to poor but deserving college hopefuls in India. The scholarship is initiated nonetheless by Harvard University, arguably the most credible institution of higher learning in the world. The program is based on ten years of review by Harvard University representatives. Scholarship applications are available within a 15 day period, from February 1 to 15, 2008. Indian high school graduates are encouraged to take part in this once in a lifetime fair. There are some tips on how to impress college admissions staff. During interviews, the potential college hopeful must face the interviewer smartly and answer questions in a tact manner.

In all of these education updates, one can surmise that it really is a very essential part of life. Thus, education must be valued and must not be taken for granted.