If you could choose one book as a mandatory read for all high school students, which book would you choose?
by Jonathan Hilton Day 33
To find a great work of literature that would be appropriate for a high school curriculum would be easy, but my own opinion is that I should choose a book that will foster thought as well as provide a guide on life.
Too much of our school curriculum are designed to teach people how to perform tomorrow, ignoring the here and now.
My choice provides a lot of guidance and information rolled into one fantastic package. Self Control, Its Kingship and Majesty by William George Jordan provides readers with the motivation and inspiration to reach to become better people and to try to understand life that is happening in the here and now. Everyone in the world should read this book and here is why.
Sparks In My Mind
In my own life there have been a lot of important moments and accomplishments, that at the time meant something wonderful. My journey into thought and actually becoming more aware began the day I started to read this book. I had never heard of William George Jordan, most people never have, but that does not make his words any less powerful to digest.
My mind was like an old mansion with a lot of dust on the furniture and cobwebs all over the place because it had never been properly used up to its capacity. The reading of this book was like throwing the windows open and allowing the first cleaning crews in to make the place presentable.
This power of words, has led to further investigation and expansion, that seems to have no end, nor do I want it to. Yet this entire journey would not have been possible without the key the thoughts of William George Jordan gifted to me a hundred years after it was originally published.
Good Seeds Lead to Strong Crops
In any mind, especially the young, what you put into them is going to have a distinct influence on what you are able to yield out of them. Playing video games and watching television are not 
going to permanently harm anyone, but there is not a lot of thought stimulated by these activities.
Reading this book, really reading and thinking would change lives and allow students to take their minds further, because there is great advice for how to live. This Guidance applies to life today as well as it did to life at the beginning of the 20th Century.
These seeds of thought would be planted and for some they would grow quick and for others it might take years, but if young minds are exposed to high ideas these ideas can’t have anything but a positive effect on people.
Ideas That Transcend Time
The thoughts and writings of William George Jordan really do apply to today as much as they did in 1907. Thinking well of others and becoming aware of how you think are the 
kinds of Thoughts that will resonate with all people at all times.
For me, I had never comprehended that how I thought was affecting my life and if I didn’t like what was happening in my life then I had to make changes in the way that I was thinking. The idea that I had control over this thought process was empowering and has been the basis of my personal growth.
If I had never read this book, I am not sure that would have happened. Another theme was the crime of the tongue, how gossip is demeaning to all.
Jordan not only states this but goes on to explain in detail why it is so. Another great one is how blind allegiance to duty is not only foolish but unhealthy. Blindly following anything without questioning is not a good way to live your life.
There are many great thoughts like this that I may have heard of before but never had explained to me in an appropriate way. These lessons resonated and pounded my brain like a bell tolling. Think! Think! Think! The dignity of self-reliance, Think! Worry the great American disease, think! Syndicating our sorrows, think! Failure as success, think! The royal road to happiness, think! There is a weight in these thoughts that stays in your mind.
It touched my Soul and Still Does
So many books I have read since that time and learned a lot of different ideas and studied philosophies of life but none had the impact on me personally as the collection of books written by William George Jordan.
It is great advice, great motivation and also inspiration. I feel like the first step that I had in the journey to actively become a better human being stared the moment I started to read the words in this book.
It could only have a positive impact on the lives of others and the best part is that you can get his books digitally for next to nothing.
This is the greatest bargain in the history of man. Incredible knowledge at your disposal and it doesn’t cost a thing.
If you could choose one book as a mandatory read for all high school students, which book would you choose?
My video tribute to William George Jordan!
4 Ways To Harness Your Mind
Of what I have known about Books.