Why Education Is Important for Everyone

Answer the question, What is the importance of education? The Merriam-Webster dictionary defines education as “the knowledge and development resulting from the process of being educated.” 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 as a whole understands the importance of education. As you move along the path to your degree, you will discover many reasons why education is important. Your education journey will show you a wealth of benefits to be gained by not only pursuing an education, but also making it your life’s work to educate the generations to come.

In This Article:

• 12 Reasons for the Importance of Education
• The Value of Education Is Undeniable: Get Started Today

12 Reasons for the Importance of Education

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

Financial security is a significant contributor to the importance of education. People with a college degree make more money than high school graduates. In our society, a formal education tends to lead to work that pays better. Here is a look at the median weekly wages for 2021 by education level, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics:¹

• High school diploma – $809
• Bachelor’s degree – $1,334
• Master’s degree – $1,574
• Doctoral degree – $1,909

Furthermore, a higher education environment imparts not only academics but also soft skills that are important in the workplace, such as the following:²

• Communication skills
• Budgeting and money management
• Time management
• Problem solving
• Critical thinking
• Taking constructive criticism

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 generally experience the following benefits:

• Better economic projections³
• More readily available employment opportunities
• Higher-paying employment opportunities

8. Awareness

A satisfying job and a comfortable life are not the only benefits of an education. An education can also offer the following advantages:

• You may have a better understanding of your legal obligations when signing documents/contracts.
• You may be less likely to fall for scams or conspiracy theories.
• You might enjoy better health literacy, which improves your ability to discuss your medical issues with your providers.

In short, 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 already 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 to 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. Understanding the importance of education fuels your personal growth.

12. Information Access

Through education, you learn research skills and how to question what you read and hear. Higher education helps you evaluate the information you receive and determine whether the sources are likely to be reliable and impartial.

The Value of Education is Undeniable: Get Started Today

Earning a degree at Grand Canyon University (GCU) empowers you to answer with confidence when your students ask, What is the importance of education? 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 GCU, 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, GCU’s College of Education can help you get there with informative classes and hands-on teaching experiences. 

¹ The earnings referenced were reported by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS), as of May 2021, retrieved on June 13 2023. Due to COVID-19, data from 2020 and 2021 may be atypical compared to prior years. The pandemic may also impact the predicted future workforce outcomes indicated by the BLS. BLS calculates the median using salaries of workers from across the country with varying levels of education and experience and does not reflect the earnings of GCU graduates as teachers. It does not reflect earnings of workers in one city or region of the country. It also does not reflect a typical entry-level salary. Median income is the statistical midpoint for the range of salaries in a specific occupation. It represents what you would earn if you were paid more money than half the workers in an occupation, and less than half the workers in an occupation. It may give you a basis to estimate what you might earn at some point if you enter this career. You may also wish to compare median salaries if you are considering more than one career path. Grand Canyon University can make no guarantees on individual graduates’ salaries as the employer the graduate chooses to apply to, and accept employment from, determines salary not only based on education, but also individual characteristics and skills and fit to that organization (among other categories) against a pool of candidates.

² Patenall, E. (2021, December 10). Five Soft Skills You Develop at University. Top Universities. Retrieved on June 13, 2023.

³ Cherry, Vignoles. (n.d.). What is the economic value of literacy and numeracy? IZA World of Labor. Retrieved on June 13, 2023.

Approved by the dean for the College of Education on June 21, 2023.