Why is Education Important?
Ask yourself, “Why is education important?” The Merriam-Webster dictionary defines education as “the knowledge and development resulting from the process of being educated.”1 Knowledge and growth are the primary outcomes of education. During the educational process, you come to understand how to apply what you are learning to your life. Education can be experienced via a formal process like attending school or reading carefully chosen books, but it is also gained from practical life experience.
Our society values education. As you move along the path to your education degree, you will discover many reasons education matters. Your education degree journey will show you a wealth of benefits to be gained by pursuing an education.
12 Reasons Education Matters
1. Stability
When you have an education, especially a college degree, you may find your life has more stability. Your education cannot be taken away from you. Whatever you learn, inside the classroom or outside it, enriches your life. Your education may enrich you financially as well, helping you increase your income at your current workplace. It may even lead you to new career opportunities or directions.
2. Financial Security
People with a college degree make more money than high school graduates — about $500 a week more. Graduates who have earned advanced degrees — that is, masters or doctoral degrees — make about $12,000 more a year than people with bachelor's degrees. In our society, a formal education tends to lead to work that pays better. Furthermore, a higher education environment imparts not only academics but also soft skills, such as communication, flexibility and technological facility, that are important in the workplace.
3. Independence
With an education, you can build a career that gives you financial independence. When your education qualifies you for work that pays well enough to cover a place to live and other necessities, you become independent. You are no longer tethered financially to your parents or guardians. The financial independence that comes from your education can also give you the freedom to experience the continuing benefits of learning and growing your skills throughout your life. Further education may prepare you professionally for more interesting or financially rewarding career options.
4. Goal Attainment
Although higher education is not always possible for everyone, it is a goal people often set for themselves or their children. They see the benefits of earning a college degree, and they want those benefits for themselves or their children. By persisting in your educational journey, you can reach the goals you have set for a more stable and secure life. This practice of setting goals, such as educational attainment, can lead to a lifetime of setting and fulfilling high expectations for yourself. You will continue to establish and reach difficult goals because you have acquired the skills, habits and expectations involved in doing so.
5. Global Connection
When we learn about history and various cultures, we become connected to the world beyond ourselves and our own communities. When we better understand where other people are coming from or what they have been through, we are more likely to seek and find peaceful resolutions to conflict.
6. Self-Confidence
Your education can result in new interests in your personal life and promotions in your career. Working to achieve your educational goals builds self-confidence. When you work hard, you strengthen your sense of self. When you believe that you can do a certain job or reach a certain goal, you feel freer to speak your mind, share your experience and help others along the way.
7. Economic Growth
Pursuing higher education improves the national economic situation. This outcome was likely not your primary goal in going to college, but it does have significant implications for you. Countries with higher literacy rates also have better economic projections.2 When a population is better educated, employment opportunities generally pay better and are more readily available.
8. Awareness
A satisfying job and a comfortable life are not the only benefits of an education. When you know how to read and write, you understand the documents that you are signing. You are less likely to fall for scams. You may have more awareness of your health needs and be better able to understand your medical history and discuss it with your physician. A high-quality education gives you access to more information that can help you stay healthy and safe.
9. Appreciation
Education exposes you to ideas and cultures beyond what you are familiar with. Growing up, you may know about only certain types of music, art or literature. A higher education exposes you to a wide variety of topics and cultural expressions, heightening your appreciation of global contributions. The process of scientific discovery may be new to you. You may hear new types of music or see works of art by people you did not even know existed. An education helps you appreciate the beauty in life and see and hear things not everyone has a chance to experience.
10. Productivity
Employers are looking for people who can complete tasks efficiently. The faster and more precisely you work, the more you are appreciated on the job. Getting an education enhances your productivity. You learn how to juggle multiple projects for your classes while still maintaining the quality of your work. This skill is transferable to the workplace, where you may have many tasks to complete at any given time.
11. Personal Growth
You need never stop learning, and one major benefit of education is learning how to learn. Having completed your formal education, you will know even better how to find the information you want and how to read and study effectively to become more knowledgeable about the world around you. Education thus helps you continue to grow as an individual throughout your life. The questions that you ask about the world, now or later, can be explored and answered through your study. The more questions you ask, the more you get to know what is important to you and the world around you.
12. Information Access
Through education, you learn research skills and how to question what you read and hear. A high-quality education helps you evaluate the information you receive and determine whether the sources are likely to be reliable.
Earning your education degree at Grand Canyon University empowers you to answer with confidence when your students ask, “Why is education important?” Become an elementary school teacher and help shape children's early experiences of education. Or earn a secondary teaching degree and work with older students. No matter what age range or level you teach, earning an education degree helps you support students’ lives and futures.
At Grand Canyon University, you can earn a bachelor's degree, master's degree or doctoral degree in teaching and education. No matter where you are on your path to becoming a qualified educator, Grand Canyon University’s College of Education can help you get there with high-quality classes and hands-on teaching experiences.
1Retrieved from https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/education, November 2020.
2Retrieved from http://trumancenter.org/doctrine-blog/illiteracy-costs-the-global-economy-1-trillion/, November 2020.
The views and opinions expressed in this article are those of the author’s and do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of Grand Canyon University.