Role of Education in Career Success Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Role of Education in Career Success - Essay Example Education and successful careers are often seen as unrelated. People often quote examples of figures that have made it to the top without a degree. However, as this paper shows, education provides a stable ground for a healthy, stable career. Researches show that education instills and hones certain set of skills, which come in handy in professional lives, and gives an edge to those who take the long road than those who prefer short cuts and drop out. Although, there are examples of those who attained great heights without a degree, the paper shows that education did play a part in their success as well. With the economic recession and financial turmoil surrounding economies around the world, the importance of education is neglected and traded off for quick income. However, with the economic crises increases the risk of financial crashing. In such times, a degree is more stable a resource than work experience. It is a human tendency to look for short cuts. In every sphere of life, one easily finds examples of people making it through short cuts and taking a non-conventional path to their destination. Rag to riches stories of high school and college dropouts, like Bill Gates and Steve Jobs, who made it to the top and used to their inner innovation and abilities to the maximum potential, are cases, which make a strong point against the orthodox path of education. As appealing as it all sounds, role of education in career success is vital and significant. Statistics from Lansing Community College reveal that elementary teachers work less than most other professionals i.e. 10 months per year with best and the most experienced ones earning up to 85,000 dollars per year. The point to mention this is to emphasize on the government investment on schooling. Secondly, teaching is one of those professions where one is supposed to carry a college degree. Thus, it is an example of how higher education gives way to successful high-paid jobs. Education is a complex term. With stages of schooling including elementary, middle, high, and college, one usually perplexes himself with its utility at every stage. Therefore, parents rarely object to send their kids to elementary or middle school, even high school. However, things are more complicated at the level of college since individuals now have to make their own decisions and parents grow tired of supporting their children for so long. Despite of these issues, education is very significant in main of a successful career. This paper will attempt to highlight some of the ways in which a good education is a necessary factor to an ideal, successful career. Literature Review The field of education is full of studies on role of education on successful careers. Researchers are interested in finding out, how exactly education plays a role in determining successful career paths. To review the literature, one must be clear about the terms used in the search. The keywords of this paper are education and career. Education It is defined as a process of acquiring knowledge and skills set which enables an individual to process information and make wise decisions. The concept of education has grown expansive in the past couple of decades. Earlier, education was perceived limited to getting a degree whereby with the growth in competition in all fields of sciences, the concept of education is expanded to more continuous and encompassing form of education which does not restrict itself to the walls of a classroom. Career It is defined as the occupation a person takes up for most part of his life and progresses within its scope. Career is, to say the least, the most important part of a person’s life. People select their careers usually quite early but many people make shifts across different careers, depending on various factors. Many studies (Paik, 2004) highly correlate