Introduction:
Education has been a highly valued quality in American society. The majority of Americans see a college degree as a staple of success and an important part of life, while many Europeans do not value this educational level as much. Although there are differences across the board of education between European countries, most Americans place more emphasis on education’s role in their own country. In America, parents encourage their children to attend four-year colleges after secondary schooling at the minimum, often pushing them to achieve higher degrees such as masters or doctoral programs. This cultural propensity for high education is justified by six reasons that explain its prevalence in the USA:
1) Employment Prospects:
In order to earn a stable living without facing too difficult a challenge in everyday life, one must have at least a bachelor’s degree.
According to the United States Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS), “workers with higher levels of education tend to have greater opportunities for employment.” For example, in 2008 nearly 73% of individuals who had earned at least a bachelor’s degree were employed full-time compared with only 43% of those with only high school degrees.
This significant difference in employment rates is not just because college graduates are more able to afford things that high school graduates cannot, but also due to the fact that companies often prefer applicants who possess at least a bachelor’s degree. With this knowledge, it becomes clear why so many Americans push towards achieving higher levels of education after completing secondary schooling.
After, if there is an exceptional guarantee of being able to find a job with just a bachelor’s degree, then it makes sense that many Americans would want to achieve higher levels of education. With almost 20% unemployment rate in the USA nowadays, this is not an easy task.
2) Access To Higher Wages:
An individual who has earned at least a bachelor’s degree can expect to earn much more than someone who has never attended college. According to the BLS, the median weekly earnings for individuals age 25 or older who have completed at least four years of college were $1,101 compared with $638 for those with less than a high school diploma.
This large gap in wages between workers with differing levels of educations perhaps explains why many Americans choose to pursue further education after secondary schooling, as it ensures that they will be able to afford their living expenses.
3) Complex Requirements For Many Jobs
Due to the complex nature of many jobs today, there are often specific educational backgrounds or degrees required for them. This difficulty in entering a job market with only the necessary credentials is another reason why so many Americans choose to pursue higher education after secondary school near me.
As an example, someone who desires to become a lawyer must first go through three years of legal studies at an accredited law school before taking the bar exam and becoming licensed. Since this process involves much time, money, and effort into achieving these goals, people feel like they need to be more educated than others in order for them not to fail later on. The same principle applies to jobs like nursing, medicine, advertising, accounting, and many other fields.
4) Entry To High-Paying Fields
Many high-paying jobs require at least a bachelor’s degree in order to obtain employment. For example, the highest-paid major is engineering which has the median annual income of $87,140 for Wharton graduates according to Pascale. This statistic demonstrates that even if someone does not necessarily want to continue their education after getting their bachelor’s degree or attend graduate studies for whatever reasons they may have, it still makes sense for them to get this degree so that they can earn more money than before.
5) Increased Social Status
The public often views individuals who possess high rations with higher statuses than those who do not. This idea of attaching one’s social status to how much education they have is another reason why so many Americans strive to obtain higher levels of education. As an example, according to Pascale, employees working in the oil and gas industry receive median annual compensation that is $4,000 greater than the national average.
What makes this industry atypical is that workers with just a high school diploma earn approximately $111,500 whereas those who hold bachelor’s degrees earn about $154,400 on average per year. After seeing these statistics it does not seem like too much of a stretch for someone graduating from secondary school to want to continue their studies even if they are already making more money than other people who lack college educations.
6) Prevents Future Underemployment
In a tough economy, going to college is sometimes the only way for someone to ensure that they will have a job. There are people who believe that having a higher education degree or pursuing more education ensures them of future employment which may not be true in some cases. However, it is certainly a step up from having nothing and being unemployed for a long time.
While individuals with less than an associate’s degree suffer underemployment at one of the highest rates (24%), those with bachelor’s degrees experience underemployment at merely half this rate (12%) according to Economic Policy Institute (EPI). This statistic demonstrates how having such degree such as an associate’s or bachelor’s degree can help protect against underemployment in the future.
Conclusion paragraph:
Readers, it is important to be aware of the many reasons that education has become such a prevalent part of American society. This article discussed six very different perspectives on why this may have happened. If you think there are more reasons for this phenomenon please feel free to leave them in the comments section below!
