The More Education….The Better?

Recently, I have been doing a lot of reorganizing of old college files that I stored away for the longest time, and I decided to go down memory lane with the different completed assignments. I was looking at papers I wrote, and realized how my writing and comprehension has vastly improved. With the exception of a post college continuing education course here and there, I have not pursued any graduate programs, and I’m beginning to rethink that route.  Education after high school unfortunately is not a free ride, unless you are a lucky individual who has access and/or earns a scholarship. Education is expensive, but does it earn you more money in the long run?

Bill Gates and Mark Zuckerberg have certainly proved that you don’t have to have those pieces of paper in order to earn those extra figure paychecks.

Here’s another great question: is experience or education better? I know some people, who do not have college degrees, whereas I do. However, they are more established in their careers than I am. Is that because they were out working hard in career aspirations establishing themselves, while I was focusing more of my time on academic endeavors. If both of us were applying for the same job today, and we both had similar to equal qualifications and experience for the job, but the only true difference between us was that piece of paper….who would get the job. It’s a debatable question at times.

They say that more education earns more money, but is there enough evidence to back this up. Do all of the celebrities who are out there making money off of their films have college diplomas and even further qualifications. Do all of the journalists, artists, entertainers, etc have diplomas?

To set the record straight, do I regret going to college and graduating? Absolutely not. I do not regret it for a second and I am a very lucky person who does not have any college debt. There are many people out there, however, who are paying off their loans, and perhaps are still not done with academic interests and programs. We never stop learning, but the true question is does shelling out thousands of dollars for a program honestly help us earn more money. The question may never be 100% truly answered. Just some food for thought.

I complete this posting still on the notion of applying to graduate school. You just never know what the world has in store for you. Always learn, never stop (it just depends on how much money you want to spend :))