Why is Education Important?
The importance of education (or being able to receive and attend basic classroom schooling from the kindergarten years to college and graduate years) have increased dramatically over the last 50 years according to recent studies and surveys. Education now stands at a critical standpoint in each individual’s life, particularly the ability to predict the turnout of that individual’s social and professional subsistence. Education now determines what you can expect to earn over the course of your lifetime.
Education provides more opportunities to graduates or to individuals who have had at least some decent years of schooling as opposed to the individuals who have not. It was observed that the job and career opportunities for an individual without college education went down by 50 to 75% compared to the opportunities presented to the same types of individuals fifty years ago. Individuals today with low levels of basic education are finding it harder and harder to obtain high-paying jobs that were once available. Most economies across the globe have shifted from being the manufacturing-based economies to the communications technology-based economies that require careers with certain levels of mastery with extensive skills and specific career specializations.
In a recent report from the Commerce Department of the Census Bureau in the United States, an individual with a college master’s degree can earn $1.3 million dollars more in lifetime earnings than an individual with only a high school diploma. In the report, assuming a fulltime year-round employment throughout a 40-year work life revealed that high school graduates can expect to earn an average of lifetime earnings of $1.2 million dollars. On the other hand, people with an Associate degree or some college but no degree can earn up to $1.5 to $1.6 million dollars, and college graduates or people with Bachelor’s degrees up to $2.1 million dollars. People with a master’s degree can earn up to $2.5 million dollars, people with doctoral degrees can earn as much as $3.4 million dollars during their working life, and finally up to $4.4 million dollars for those with professional degrees. The numbers simply states that at most ages, more education means much higher earnings. This means that there is a huge payoff at the highest educational levels. Funding for a higher level of education may be a feat for most people, but the payoff will definitely be huge in the years to come.
There are already numerous good and altruistic reasons why individuals need to seek education and attain the highest possible levels of education. But considering the kind of environment and world we are living in today, the amount of salaries and earnings educated people can receive definitely dictate and state that education really pays off.