You may be perfectly happy where you are in your career or you may think that graduating from high school is all you will need to pursue a good career. However, the way to improve your chances for future advancement in your career or to change careers is by making yourself better qualified than others with respect to both job and leadership skills.
One important benefit of a college degree is increased earnings. A study by the University of Illinois shows that a college graduate with a bachelor’s degree, on average, will earn an additional $811,246 over a lifetime of employment in comparison to a person with just a high school diploma. The United States Department of Labor, Bureau of Labor Statistics has information on the relationship between level of education and income.
As you can see, a college education “pays.” This may be a reason to pursue a college education, but there are other equally important reasons. According to the U of I study, people who have some college education:
- Are healthier, as are their families
- Are better at family planning
- Are more involved in their children’s education
- Are more skillful in household purchasing
- Have a higher savings rate
- Experience better working conditions
- Find work more enjoyable, interesting, and challenging
- Are less likely to commit a crime
- Are less likely to need government assistance
A college education allows a person to function well in our increasingly complex world. It gives one the ability:
- To think logically and critically about events, beliefs, values, and experiences, to ask relevant questions and make well-thought-out decisions, and to understand the importance of context (physical, biological, social, historical) in evaluating information and ideas.
- To write well, necessary for communicating in the work environment, expressing opinions to others, for voicing your views to your elected representatives or the editor of your local paper.
- To communicate verbally, necessary for effectively and efficiently directing the actions of others, for briefing superiors, for answering questions concisely, for interviewing others, and for maintaining good interpersonal relations (e.g., with your spouse, children, parents, and friends).
- To use computers and other technology effectively and efficiently.
- To work well with others since education tends to show you how others live and think and make it easier for you to see things through their eyes.
- To locate information on any given topic, necessary to you as a consumer, spouse, parent, and professional..
- To understand nonverbal symbols (e.g., those presented through the arts).
- To understand the limits and significance of your knowledge.
- To examine problems and develop creative solutions to them.
- To manage time (both your own and your subordinates') efficiently.
On the whole, more education increases your sense of personal worth and accomplishment, which makes you an effective coworker and, in turn, increases your likely success in personal and professional relationships.
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