Education-What's it really worth?

[Mantas 3]

I've recently been in touch with some old school friends through an online social site. People I haven't seen for 20 years. What strikes me the most is how well some of them are doing financially despite doing very poorly at school.

I mean there's a guy who got 6 % in a grade 10 maths test, left school at 15, spent time in prison and is now running a large construction company in Queensland and has a big house on the beach.

Another guy was a total delinquent who stole cars in his spare time. He's now living in Florida and doing very well in the corporate world, managing an investment company in 5 states.

Another mate of mine left school at 16 to work in a supermarket. He's now a millionaire with many properties in Sydney.

There are quite a few more examples that I won't share.

 

I'm not suggesting education is a waste of time or that your education should be measured only by the amount of income you earn later in life, but it does make you wonder.

 

 

 

 

 

[cal 6]

There will always be people like that.

Education isn't a guarantee for doing well in life, but it's a better bet to have it than not.

[kintaro 0]

You cannot buy an entrepreneurial spirit. Formal education helps open doors and in many cases it no doubt is a healthy addition to your quality of life in general. But financial success and how smart you are aren't necessarily intertwined.

 

A friend of mine is the same. He was a mediocre student at best but had a very strong drive to make money. He's 36 and retired. He's no more book smart than before.

[grungy-gonads 54]

Your friend sounds pretty smart to me - he is surely not stupid if he has made himself such a success.

Not going to learn that kind of thing from studying Shakespeare, messing around with bunsen burners, learning latin and knowing what differentiation and intergration is.

[bobby12 0]

I often think the worst thing you can do is play safe and be a model citizen.

 

Success = Risk + Luck.

 

Though lucky, I am naturally extremely risk averse, hence my lack of wealth.

[Ctrl-Z 0]

One of those things - don't know what it's worth.... but it's sure better to have it than not.

[Jynxx 4]

Yeah, Mantas.

but you have to consider the Australian factor. Anyone can get in Uni, after 1st year, 1/2 will drop out, after 2nd year another 1/2 and you might end up with 1/4 of the original number graduating that doesn't mean you have job security. I remember in the late 70's you were more likely to get a job straight out of high school. Only people who were academically orientated went to Uni, or who wantd to be a doctor, lawyer, engineer, a specialist. Or at the bottom of the scale, teacher if all else fails.

Even nowdays, consider this . You get a job as a bus driver. Yo got understanding parents who can put up with you, and you are considerate to them, and so you live at home raking in AUD50G a year. Do that for 3 years and you are ahead 150G ahead of a Uni grad. You put that saving on a house or a unit and keep on working, you sell the place for profit... repeat process..

While a fresh grad will make 40G for his first year, second year might be better, but it's going to take time to catch up with a bus driver who is quite a way ahead of you financially, and you might be paying your hecs fees if you haven't payed upfront with 20% discount. Is that still the way it works?

[Jynxx 4]

Get a trade if you are an Aussie. Australia is the place you can have a Rolls-Royce lifestyle for being a tradesman. You get to live on the beach, country, you choose and being your own boss and choosing your hours. Don't have to live in the city paying top dollars where there is work.

Nothing to do with intelligence. Isn't that obvious? You want to have lifestyle, you go for that. You want to make money, you think money.

 

Education does not always mean piece of paper. But academically, that is what it means.

[HelperElfMissy 42]

Originally Posted By: bobby12

I often think the worst thing you can do is play safe and be a model citizen.

Success = Risk + Luck.

Though lucky, I am naturally extremely risk averse, hence my lack of wealth.

Important part of the equation missing there bobby!!

Success = risk + luck + hard work.

My partner is very bright, and began an engineering degree amongst others - but he decided to drop each thing in turn because he could not see himself doing those things long term - unlike plenty of people who realise this after they have been working in the job for a decade! He ended up starting his own company without a degree - and while he is very very smart - he doesnt have bits of paper to prove it.

I like to finish things - so I have my bit of paper -even though I do not work in the field.

Education is worth what it is worth to YOU. What do you as a person take away? Plenty of people in that ADD, fidgetty, Indigo Child kinda catagory that do not do well in an institutional learning environment that make great successes of themselves in real life. And conversely there are a good deal of the 'peter perfect' book learners who cant function day to day in the big scary world....

Interesting to ponder.

[NoFakie 45]

There are millions of exceptions worldwide, but there is still massive correlation between education level and average income.

 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Household_income_in_the_United_States#Education_and_Gender

 

That's in the country with the so-called "American Dream".

 

Needless to say that there's a lot more to life than money.

[yamayamayama 2]

Education and upbringing probably lets you avoid stuff like this

 

http://www.snowjapanforums.com/ubbthreads.php/topics/303787/Happy_families_dad_13_mum_14.html

[thursday 1]

wow, naming the exceptional, though very well done, is only a small percentage.

 

Get a good foundation down in education if you plan to be lazy and just sit there all day earning a steady income.

[gerard 6]

[Go Native 70]

I enjoyed getting an education, especially my university years. Doing a science degree with subjects all in the earth sciences and a major in meteorology has meant I have a good basic understanding of the natural world around me. I like the sceptical, scientific way of thinking.

 

I had virtually no desire to ever be 'successful' in any sort of career though. Only ever wanted enough money to go do the things that make me happy and never really cared how I earned that money.

 

I realised a long time ago that I never look back on my life and think of my successes in terms of career. My successes have been the varied amazing experiences I have had, the mountains I've climbed and skied around the world. These are the things that make me happy and having the education I had has helped me to appreciate them even more.

[HelperElfMissy 42]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:United_States_Income_Distribution_1967-2003.svg

 

And the gap between rich and poor widens...

[Go Native 70]

Rampant capitalism pretty much ensures that happens MB.

[frannyo 2]

Education just gives you the best change as you become an adult (and beyond of course). Hurray, I say.

[bobby12 0]

Education also is good for its own sake (teaches you to think etc), not merely as a bit of paper to let you get a job/visa.

 

Plus it can be fun to be at university.

[BagOfCrisps 24]

Oh yes indeed. High school was fun too for me.

 

Education paved the way to my job. Not sure if that is actually all good, but there's no way I could have got it without.

[HelperElfMissy 42]

I also think there is a lot of 'education' to be had outside of the high school, university environment.

 

I learn something new every day - and love it.

Google has been a good friend in that aim ....whenever I get that 'hmmm...I wonder what...'moment I google it. It is incredible how much information you can access nowdays, where in the past you needed to go to a library or even worse a specialist library and search dozens of reference materials to get the answer.

 

An enquiring mind can absorb a lot of knowledge with very little effort these days.

[yamayamayama 2]

Many times I feel there is now too much information - at hand, too easily.

[HelperElfMissy 42]

Information is power YYY.

 

Never can get too much.

[Mantas 3]

I think the definition of 'intelligence' is being redefined all the time.

Just because you are good at absorbing information during class and then regurgitating it correctly at exam time, doesn't make you intelligent.

I've worked with a lot of people that were way more intelligent than me but they really struggled with the day to day demands in the work place.

[yamayamayama 2]

Quote:

Information is power YYY.

Never can get too much.

Yes you can.

Here's just one example.

One of my relatives has a form of cancer. The (mis)information that she initially found online concerning the cancer she has haunts her. There is no way she can delete it from her brain. Since then, she and her husband have decided to not seek out information. Partly because of the fact that there is no way to know what is relevant to them and what is not, what is correct and what is not. With these things it is very much 'case by case' and everyones situation is different. There is no control of the 'information' that is available and this will only increase.

The doctor advised her there were two ways of moving forward. Look up and try to learn as much as you can outside of the doctors advice or just live with the information he provides. Apart from the fact that lots of the information found online is actually incorrect, and not relevant to her particular circumstances, it will affect here emotionally - and not in a good way. They decided to just go with the doctor and leave out the research.

It's not all 'wow so much information is amazing'. I'm not saying having lots of information is bad. Of course it isn't.

But how much do we need (or even want)? Until our heads explode after spending 24 hours in front of a computer screen? How much richer than they our now will our lives become?

The problems with lots of 'information' now is that it is incorrect or misleading and it is often impossible to know which is which.

[HelperElfMissy 42]

I hear and understand your point YYY, but it is not knowledge that caused this - it was lack of knowledge.

 

Your relative searched and found something that was not correct, and believed it. Using the internet discerningly is very important. However if she had perhaps continued to search and question she might have found contrary information and been conversant with her doctor on the matter.

 

I would rather know and understand my illness inside and out - good and bad - than take the bare minimal information that my doctor chose to impart.

 

For example, in my quest for knowledge and understanding of my own condition I discovered that chocolate has an effect like a small dose of warfarin on the body - thinning the blood and making clotting less likely. As I have a condition that already has that effect on my body I have limited my chocolate intake, and completely cut it out before going on ski trips. It has reduced the amount of bruising I suffer for the love of snow sports. Did my haematologist tell me about it? NO. GP? NO. But they are both interested in the fact that there is a correlation and that it works for me. Viva l'information!