We live in a world which is speeding up day after day, and it's not easy to stay connected to it. Many years ago, the life was surely harder than now, but I'm pretty sure that we had the time to live learning, at our own pace, many things deeply. But the world hugely changed and we have to be the most competitive possible among a large amount of competitors to stay alive. Of course, if our way of life allows it, it's also a very interesting age to discover various progresses and enjoy them... Still it is necessary to be able to access it :/
At the beginning, it's very important to grow in a stable family to get, little by little, a psychological balance between emotional relationships, education and learning life skills; if you miss one of these steps, you create the onset of a mental disorder which could be worse in a futur. After that, comes school time which is a critical period for all children regarless their social background; each one will have to be ready for a frantic learning pace in an environment that is not always favourable to quality education. More importantly, there will be - from the outset -, disparities between each schoolmate which will make progression harder for the less prepared children, and our different educational models totally don't fit to fix this reality. A few years later, you'll have to take your place in the society, and because of very unstable economic curves, it'll be very complicated to get a comfortable life without the work-related or job search stress. At this point will start a long, tiring and demanding fight to stay up-to-date with a world which doesn't leave you in peace enjoying simple happinesses.
Growing up learning fundamentals of our society codes, their history - including the various philosophical, scientific and political fields -, understanding the current challenges our societies have to face... All of these aspects really matter, and the more information you can gather, the more doors will open to you. For example, training to one or many trade, speaking many languages, being literate, and even more, will guarantee you many opportunities, because capitalism really like "full stack(*)" people.
* A Full-Stack Web Developer is someone who is able to work on both the front-end and back-end portions of an application.If you have the misfortune to lack of knowledge, you will drastically reduce your chance to find a job, and so your ability to consumme. And as you probably already know, a moneyless person can't enjoy any social or material pleasures; you'll stay home (if you still have a home) to not spend the little money you have on you - in other word, you will confine yourself to using your computer, because it's the only wealth you have and the only life you can afford.
Acquiring knowledge is not only a necessity, it's a vital process to better understand the world we're living in; and we can't really manage without it if we want to enjoy our life. Some people's life breaks down because of ignorance, and this often leads to excesses such as alcoholism, drug addiction, excessive violence towards others or oneself (such as scarifications or suicide attempts); more generally it pushes a large part of our fellow citizens to depression and to the development of more or less serious illnesses which require various drug treatments. Let's not forget the loneliness felt by marginalization, because we do not count for others.
If knowledge does not enable you to become rich, it will be a salvation for your soul.
