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What is the advantage of having an education?
I mean, really, why should I have a "good" education anyway?
What will my education get me in the long run?
I was talking to my best friend about dropping out of high school. I know you're legally allowed to drop out when you turn 16 in the United States. I feel that if I drop out of school then I won't be missing too much, but she says that a high school drop-out isn't going to make it in the real world and that high school prepares us for that. High school just seems to be full of drama, cliques, Hollister and Abercrombie whores, popularity contests, sex, and drugs. It's like learning isn't even a concept in high school anymore anyway! What would I be missing out on?
I use to think about going to college but it's so expensive. Is college really worth it anyway? I know people keep saying that it's good to have a decent education, but why in the world is it so good? Nobody has ever explained that to me.
Why is a good education important to have?
Please, someone, explain!
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Want to answer more questions in the Work & School category?
Maybe give some free advice about: School?
Education...
Finishing an education basically shows the world that you can function inside of it. Inside its many rules and conventions.
Simply put, there are few decent jobs you can get without a high school education, and alot of the better paying jobs in the world require a college degree, even if not a specific one.
Yeah, the SOCIAL aspect of high school is BS. Image concious teens convincing each other that trends and the right bags make you a better (or even decent in the first place) person.
High school doesnt prepare you for the real world, at all. But this is the time when you must be preparing regardless. And a basic education is part of that.
College...
Is a 4 year college necessary for life? No. But when it comes to jobs, you get paid based on experience and achievements, and get hired for the same reasons.
There are four basic kinds of jobs you can find out there.
Jobs that require no experience or achievements, jobs that require one, or the other, and jobs that require both.
Jobs that require little to nothing
- Examples would be Bus boy/girl at a restaurant, cashier, etc. These are jobs you can be trained to do in a short period of time. They point you in a direction, and you go. These jobs usually pay very little, though experience can increase wages.
Personal example - I have worked various jobs since I was 14, but I've done cashier a bunch in there. Telling a job that I have 3 years of "cashier experience" is the difference between 8 and 11 dollars an hour.
Jobs that require experience
- Examples are usually things that you work into. Server at a restaurant is a perfect example, as is customer service. Both of these positions require some small base level of proficiency and multitasking, as well as higher levels of self control. Not much, in the scheme of things, but enough that employers don't want to put the complete idiots you might see working the drive through at Taco Bell in these positions.
Personal examples include both serving and customer service. Serving rose from being a bus boy for a short period, and customer service was the step up from cashier (though often customer service is on the same level as cashier authority wise)
Jobs that require achievements.
- This is a pretty large area of jobs. A sidenote. I'm going to consider a high school diploma or GED baseline "neccesary". Most jobs that require you to have some other achievement also want a high school grad. More on that in a bit.
Examples of these achievements are things like technical certifications (like networking cert to be able to work with computer networks, or certain technician certifications which allow you to work on cars) 2 year degrees, 4 year degrees, etc.
You might hear the term "entry level" bandied around. Alot of jobs in this category are precursors to the jobs listed in the next. Physical therapy assistant, entry level accountant, even some teachers, alot of these positions make the transition out of hourly pay into some kind of salary.
Jobs that require both achievements and experience
- These are the big boys. My goal is to be a psychiatrist someday. Ive got 8 years of school and 4 years of on the job training to get through.
When I'm done with that, I'll be making 200k or more a year.
Thats the difference of education. The opportunity to find something you love, and actually get paid a wage you can live on while doing it (or in my hopeful case, making enough money to raise ten kids comfortably, not that I plan to have that many)
Heres the thing. High school grad is expected most of the time, even for small stuff. It shows your ability to get through it even when it sucks, because everyone remembers high school, and everyone remembers how bad it can be.
An example, retail management.
So, you manage high school students, college students, and people over 25 with nothing to look forward to except more retail.
Its a shit job, and it still requires a high school diploma.
You are correct, however, that everything you described in high school is pretty much worthless. High school is nothing like the real world. The good thing is, that the whole "popularity" aspect will disappear pretty much as soon as you graduate. Going to a big college will help that even more.
Basically, just having a college diploma opens alot of doors, because there are alot of jobs in that third category who's requirement is "have _A_ college diploma"
Major doesnt matter half the time, unless you're an accountant or something like that. It just shows a basic level of achievement, "I was able to get through high school and college" and it sets you apart. When competing for jobs, things that set you apart are good things.
::Edit::
I almost forgot. Heres a down home example of why I wish I was a college grad already.
I am a server. I make around 400 a week after taxes on an average week. 1600 a month.
I spend 500 on rent and 100 on electricity.
1 grand left.
I spend about 15 a day on food averaged out over 30 days with eating out (very occasionally) take out, and shopping for house supplied to eat at home. Thats another 450 a month.
550 left.
Gas is about 30 dollars a week.
430
Cable/Internet - 100 a month
330 left
Phones - 50 a month
280 left
So, after working about 40 hours a week, paying all my monthly bills and budgeting for expenses, I have 280 dollars left.
Buying a new computer? If I want to not have ANY extra fun I could save up for a decent one in like 6-8 months.
But in all reality, right now, theres little extra money left saved at the end of the month, if any.
And this is working a job I'm good at with a regular schedule, a job that pays better than most other jobs you might end up working (400 a week works out to like 13/hr average pay with taxes taken into account). I live with my girlfriend, so our finances aren't quite as tight as I mentioned, but it works out to us having about 600 a month extra between the two of us after expenses, food, both phone plans, gas, etc.
600 a month towards debts, fun, savings, and whatever else we want. In the real world, 600 isnt that much money. Going out to see a movie, and going to a restaurant? 30+ for dinner, 20 for movie tickets, 10 for concessions. Thats 60 bucks plus gas gone in a night, for just dinner and a movie.
If we were married with a kid, all that money would be going to the kid and we'd be broke constantly, and probably in debt from extra expenses.
Now imagine psychiatrist. Who never makes below 150k a year. After taxes thats probably more than 10 grand a month.
Thats a mortgage payment, food for a family of 4-5, two car payments, cell phones for anyone who needs them, a few nights out to something more than Chili's and a movie at Tinsel Town during the month, and all kinds of other fun things possible while still putting 2-4 grand a month or more into retirement accounts and college funds.
Thats why I'm going to college. Without my college degree, I will be able to be married some day making enough money to keep my kids in hand me downs and hope that financial aid helps them alot in college.
With college, I'll be able to pay (just myself) for three kids to go to college while supporting a family in a nice big house, work just about anywhere as long as its a large city, and let my wife do whatever she wants (though I refuse to date a woman without her own career ambitions)
Thats the difference.
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Yes high school is drama and stuff, but you have to ignore that. it's okay to want to fit in but focusing on your school work is much more important for example my freshman year i was the whole party fighting and stuff girl, (thats how i ended up pregnant), home school 10th grade year well yeah that sucks i needed teached infront of me. so my eleventh grade year i took 17 classes in one year on the computer at a tech school. and graduated a year early. there was even teachers there to help. i wish i could go back and work on a higher gpa. you can hardly even get a job any more with out a high school diploma.. and i am going to college to become a social worker. you cant have any type of good job with out going to college to even take 2 years and get your general studies done. good luck.
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You need book smarts as well as street smarts to make it in the real world. An education is well worth it if you want a good salary in order to maintain a good standard of living. You may love college. I know a lot of people who have hated high school but in college you get the freedom you want and people are not as petty and a good education. You will meet a lot of people and open up your mind. You will also make connections that will be important later on in life. If I were you, I would opt to stay in school.
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first of all, i do believe education is very important. yes it's true, high school is full of drama and shit, and it sucks. but you will know so little about the world. You need to learn about politics, and i can't imagine why you wouldn't want to learn about something you're interested in.
another reason for being well educated is, you will simply get more respect, from everyone. my boyfriend hasn't graduated from highschool yet, and he's like brilliant, but his family treats him like shit. he's a lot smarter than i am and i'm in college. also if you sound more intelligent, you are more likely to make a good impression on someone. although i can tell you aren't THAT uneducated, becuz U don talkk lik dis. when people do that it just pisses me off, so thanks for not being stupid hahaha. no one likes to be called stupid, and i'm pretty sure if you drop out, more than one person will ask you if you are stupid.
and even though a lot of people have sex and do drugs and are horrible to each other, doesn't mean that has to be a part of your highschool or college experience. there are a ton of people who don't do those things as well. you may be surrounded by people who do those things, but trust me, a lot of people don't. so don't feel pressured to do anything you don't want to
plus you need to socialize. you don't want to become a lonely hermit. if you can't keep up with an intelligent conversation, you won't feel intelligent either.
Honestly, if you don't want to end up working at McDonalds for the rest of your life, then i would really suggest finishing school, and possibly attending college. College isn't for everyone, but i think everyone can get something out of college. it is REALLY expensive, but worth it in the long run. plus if you work hard enough you can earn grants and scholarships.
i am so glad that i'm going to college, and you'd find out that its actually a lot of fun. its not like high school. its not structured the same way. it's not how its depicted in movies either. you can take so many different classes. it isn't like you are going to be stuck learning how to be a doctor or run a business, there are so many other things you can go to school for like music, acting, digital design, fashion design, language, political science, psychology, and a lot of other things.
it does seem that a lot of highschool isn't even about learning anymore, but it's up to you to learn something. the teacher isn't going to just insert a disk into your head and you automatically know all you need to know. although that would be a pretty awesome concept.
would you parents REALLY let you drop out at sixteen anyway.
THINK about long and hard before you do anything radical. do you really want to know less than half of the world? or do you want to know more? do you want to be looked down upon? or do you want to make a difference? because you can make a difference. starting with your own life. why just do nothing with your life? why not do something great? do you want to live with your parents forever?
i'd also like to mention that i once felt like, what's the point of college. i'm sick of school and it's not like i have to go. so what, i'll be fine without it, but then i realized how much of an opportunity i had, and i seized it. i don't know what i would have done without it.
without school i'd be a depressed wreck.
think about it. tell me if what i have said has helped at all. i really hope so. i really hope you think about it. good luck with everything :D <3 sara 19yo
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