What are the benefits of education free essay sample

Education is a process of acquiring knowledge. We attain education to help us grow as a society and develop as people. Learning allows us to gain basic skills in life but at the same time allows us to know who we are and what we want to become. Education in the USA is broken down into four stages: preschool, primary school, secondary school and then college. Every stage of education is mandatory except for college, which people take if they want to further educate themselves. Going to school is not the only form of education; informal education and on the job training are two other categories. Informal education is education outside the standard school setting, such as parents teaching a child what is right and wrong and the alphabet. On the job training is what employers use to save money on new employees. Instead of taking an individual and sitting them down and teaching them what to do like a school teacher, the employer uses one-on-one training in which someone who knows how to do a task shows another how to perform it. We will write a custom essay sample on What are the benefits of education or any similar topic specifically for you Do Not WasteYour Time HIRE WRITER Only 13.90 / page This basic form of informal education helps people flow into the job sector easier. The benefit of education to an individual is that it improves their Human capital. Human Capital theory was invented by Economist Theodore Schultz, who â€Å"believed human capital was like any other type of capital; it could be invested in through education, training and enhanced benefits that will lead to an improvement in the quality and level of production† (â€Å"Investopedia†). Human capital is an individual investment made by a person. Gaining an education makes an individual smarter and more employable; this makes it easier for the individual to find a job. Gaining a basic K-12 education gives you the basic level of education needed for a fruitful job career. But gaining a degree can lead one to become highly employable in the future. Employers like to higher people with degrees because they feel they’re smarter and more capable of doing certain activities rather people with out degrees. Education plays a major role in terms of the economies-labor as a factor of production. Education makes us a more productive society, as â€Å"better-educated workers tend to be more productive than less educated ones† (â€Å"Radcliffe, Brent. †). This is true because â€Å"educated workers are able to more efficiently carry out tasks that require literacy and critical thinking† (â€Å"Radcliffe, Brent. Having educated workers creates a ripple effect on the economy – educated workers lead to more jobs, meaning more people are employed. These new works can contribute to society by paying taxes, which improves the economy. Paying taxes also means there is a growth in the government’s GDP, a big factor in a country’s economy. Education ultimately determines how well a country’s economy will do. Education on a global scale is a big factor to a countries factor of production. If we take the United States as an example, the US is one of the biggest economies in the world. Millions of people depend on there economy. The United States invested $638 billion in 2009-10 in their educational system because this country believes that a better-educated society is a better country for all. The main reason why the US does this is because â€Å"Globalization and international trade requires countries and their economies to compete with each other. Economically successful countries will hold competitive and comparative advantages over other economies, though a single country rarely specializes in a particular industry†(â€Å" Radcliffe, Brent. †). This is why the US invests so much money into education so they are able to compete with other nations in different industries like Agriculture, Technology, Finance etc. The social benefit of education is that as an individual you contribute back to society. Education is a positive externality to society the â€Å"existence justifies the government’s involvement in the promotion of education. † (30) There are two approaches, which economists take when looking at the social benefit of education. The first approach is that the externality that educated individuals raise wages for unskilled works this is macroeconomist approach. I agree with this view, I believe that highly educated individuals have raised the wages for unskilled workers because an educated person starts businesses and creates jobs for unskilled people doing this creates high earnings for individuals. The second approach, which economists look at, is the specific externalities, which help society. These specific externalities are citizenship, crime and health. An educated Citizen is â€Å"necessary for a functioning democracy† (30). This is true because the government expects us to be able to vote and fill out taxes these â€Å"require some basic cognitive functions† (30). Also an educated citizen is able to make more accurate decision of what they want their society to be like. Crime is reduced â€Å"due to higher education levels is de facto an externality of education. † (30) An educated citizen is less likely to commit a crime because they have gained knowledge and skills, which they can use to acquire in the working world. â€Å"Public education provides one of the best opportunities to reduce crime and its cost to society, by helping children to gain knowledge, skills and character. † (Mitra, Dana, Ph. D) This is true because giving people an education gives them more opportunities for a greater life. The correlation between education and health is a direct benefit to society. For example if people are educated about vaccination it would benefit the â€Å"individuals private return, but also lowers the incidence of the disease in the population†(31). Another benefit is that when people are informed about smoking and drink driving they are less likely to actually do these activities is they are warned about them. Education â€Å"builds and prepares us mentally and makes us think logically. † This helps us to become better people. Thinking logically allows us to â€Å"acquire a means of assessing and upgrading our ability to judge well. It enables us to go into virtually any situation and to figure out the logic of whatever is happening in that situation. It provides a way for us to learn from new experiences through the process of continual self-assessment. Critical thinking, then, enables us to form sound beliefs and judgments† (â€Å"Silver, Curtis†). This is what education does to us it builds up our mentality to think like this, thinking logically is one the most important things as humans we can do this helps to have a well run society and allows us to live respectful lives. What we accomplish with education. Education accomplishes the success of humanity. Over centuries we as human beings have become smarter over the years, this is through our curiosity with education and being able to achieve greatness from it. The accomplishment of education can be measured through the education production function. We can look at the inputs we put into education and what outputs we have achieved from it. Looking at our society in the USA we can see that we invest billions of dollars in education and our return on it is a successful nation and a hard working workforce.