the-importance-of-education

A seven-panel SMBC comic. Panel 1: a woman tells a balding man, "Gally, you should read more classics," while he holds up a book titled "Ambrose Bierce's Most Boring Scene Descriptions." Panel 2: she says, "But you never read books like this," and he replies, "Well, I'm an adult." Panels 3 through 6 are a monologue by the man, who grows increasingly intense (eventually wearing dark sunglasses and looking unhinged): for the first eighteen years of life it is ethically imperative that children be forced to learn arithmetic and classic literature; from eighteen to twenty-two it is crucial they learn a great deal about a narrow, arbitrarily-categorized region of knowledge; but the moment they enter adulthood they must learn only the exact minimum needed to not get fired from their current job; anything beyond that is an affectation. Panel 7: a young red-haired child looks up at the man and asks, "Do people start off crazy, or just end up that way?" The man answers, "I dunno. They don't talk about it on TV." The joke skewers how society stops valuing learning once adulthood and employment begin. Votey (aftercomic): hand-lettered text reading "Take that Ambrose Bierce."