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Education, income and job security
As we approach the time of the year when Pomp and Circumstance will be playing on football fields and gymnasiums across America as we graduate another crop of young people, it's important for all of us to understand the role education plays in a person's life.
The obvious and manifest reasons are the accumulation of knowledge, developing the ability to think critically and analytically and the realization that there are always, at the very least, two sides to every story. But this year, it's particularly important to realize how an education affects our life chances.
We've heard a lot in the past several months that the recession we're enduring cuts so deeply that no particular group escapes but, as usual, this broad-brushed approach simply isn't accurate. The unemployment rate in the United States is higher than it's been in decades at 8.5 percent and may reach double digits by early next year but that only tells part of the story. The unemployment rate for those over 25 with a college degree is only 4.3%, half the national rate, and for those college educated and white, only 2.3% (Newsweek, April 20, 2009).
I preach the value of a college education in every class I teach every semester and these numbers and those to follow are stark examples of why I do. I often hear young people complaining that they're tired of school and they're ready to go to work. I listen to them say that they can go out and get a good-paying job without an education and a degree and, to a certain extent, that's true. The problem is that when the economic shoe falls, as it has for the past year, they're also the first ones to LOSE their jobs. The simple truth is the more educated one is, the more you're going to make and the less likely you are to be fired or laid off.
How many of you know that the average college graduate will make ONE MILLION DOLLARS more in their lifetime than the average high school graduate? If you plan on raising a family and enjoying the good life this country provides, that's a lot of money. On top of that, a person with a master's degree will make a million and a half more, a doctoral degree will make 2.2 million more and a professional degree will make 3.2 million more. (U.S. Census Bureau)
In terms a little more palatable and understandable, the average person with a professional degree earns $109,600 a year, a doctoral degree $89,400, a master's degree $62,300, a bachelor's degree $52,200, an associate's degree $38,200, some college $36,800, a high school diploma $30,400, and some high school $23,400 a year. (U.S. Census Bureau) These are stark, firm, and real numbers that quantify the economic value of education across the board.
So if you're a parent and your child is working overtime trying to convince you that degrees don't really matter that much, show him or her this column. And if you're a young person who is "tired" of school, just keep this handy and refer to it from time to time when you try and convince yourself that you'll be "better off" if you quit school and get a job.
I understand the whole burn-out factor when it comes to school and we often talk about this in class too. By the time young people get to college, they feel like they've been in school forever and, for all practical purposes, they have. Many started pre-school when they were four and they've been in school ever since. When that happens, they often lose sight of the prize at the end; they lose sight of the importance of school; they forget the United States was the first country in the world to pioneer the idea of mass education and, consequently, one school day merges into another and the reason why they're there is often forgotten.
Because of that, I've long advocated a dramatic change in our educational system. I believe that every young person should go out and get a job after high school graduation and work in the real world for three years to get a taste of how life really is when you have to support yourself. In conjunction with that idea, I have long proposed that no one be allowed to enter college until they're twenty-one years old. This would not only provide a break for them in what seems to them to be an unending school career but it would also help them refocus on why they're going to school to begin with.
It should be no surprise to anyone that our non-traditional students (those who are older than the 18-22 age group that traditionally fill our college classrooms) as a group, ALWAYS have significantly higher grade point averages than the traditional students. The reason is simple and clear: They've lived in the real world, they've endured the hard knocks and disappointments of trying to make it through life undereducated, underpaid, and always in fear of losing whatever job they have and they have returned to school with a new attitude, a new mission, and a dogged determination to be the best they can be for themselves and their families.
And as the numbers mentioned earlier in this column indicate, they will be rewarded handsomely for their efforts.