Seduced by a thirty-year old lover, a young prospective
Oxford student quits high school in hope of marrying this old romanticist.
However, soon after the rosy engagement, the female protagonist soon realizes
that he is a married man, a habitual perjurer who deceives young girls for
sexual relationships. Unfortunately, the girl has learned her lesson too late,
missing the college application deadline for Oxford University and various
examinations to graduate. When the female student returns to the high school to
beg the principal to accept her again as a senior, the professor calmly asks
her for the purpose of the education.
The student replies that she was temporarily blinded
by immediate pleasures of life, such as improvised travel to Paris, late date
night in a five-star restaurant and wild sex in the hotel room. Burdened by
piles of homework and assignments, she has indeed been coaxed by such
pleasurable activities that seemed to be the whole end for (of) studying.
However, the female student finally and prudently concludes that though
education can be arduous, it provides an honest route to success and pleasures
that accompany life. Instead of waiting for her husband and marriage to bring
such earthly pleasures, education enables her to be financially and emotionally
independent.
(I will stop reading here because this is not
how you write TOEFL essay. You wrote you attend college in US. Try to write an
essay similar to SAT essay. You have to be logical yet simple, show grammatical
capability, and make smart word choices.)
Having never thought about why I was rigorously studying for TOEFL and attending one of the most prestigious universities in the United States, I have become suddenly enlightened by this movie, An Education. Perhaps, as the topic stated, some might attend university for new experience, career preparation and increased knowledge. However, as the protagonist in An Education experiences and realizes, the purpose of college education is to ultimately prepare and mature ourselves enough to earn our very own status in the society. Instead of depending or parasiting on others, education provides opportunities to be independent and mature in this world.