what is higher education essay

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What’s the Value of Higher Education?

Have political and fiscal debates about higher education lost sight of the value of education for individuals and society? Dr. Johnnetta Cole discusses how universities can inform and inspire.

• Dr. Johnnetta Cole President Emerita, Smithsonian National Museum of African Art; President Emerita, Spelman College and Bennett College

This interview was conducted at the Yale Higher Education Leadership Summit , hosted by Yale SOM’s Chief Executive Leadership Institute on January 30, 2018.

The value of a college degree can be measured in a number of different ways: increased lifetime earnings potential, a network of classmates and fellow alumni, subject-matter expertise, a signal of stick-to-itiveness, potentially a marker of class or the capacity to move across classes. There are also less tangible benefits, like becoming a more well-rounded individual and part of a well-informed public.

Yale Insights recently talked with Dr. Johnnetta Cole about how she measures the value of higher education. Cole is the former president of Spelman College and Bennett College, the only two historically black colleges and universities that are exclusively women’s colleges. After retiring from academia, she served as the director of the Smithsonian’s National Museum of African Art. In addition, she served on the boards of a number of corporations, including Home Depot, Merck, and Coca-Cola. She was the first African-American chair of the board for the United Way of America.

Q: Why does higher education matter?

I would say that we could get widespread agreement on what I’m going to call the first purpose of higher education: through this amazingly powerful process of teaching and learning, students come to better understand the world.

There might be some disagreement on the second purpose. I’d say it is to inspire students to figure out how they can contribute to helping to make the world better. Certainly, higher education is about scholarship, but it’s also about service. It’s about creativity. It’s about matters of the mind, but it’s also, or at least it should be, about matters of the heart and the soul.

Q: Has the public perception of universities changed in recent years?

Throughout the history—and herstory—of higher education, there have been doubters, those who have critiqued it. But I have a concern, and some polls tell us, in this period in which we are living, many people believe that higher education is not contributing in a positive way to American life.

That’s something that we need to work on, those of us who are deeply engaged in and care about higher education, because I think when one looks with as much objectivity as possible, the truth is, and it’s always been, that higher education contributes substantially.

Q: You’ve led two historically black colleges for women. What is the role of special mission institutions?

In my view, we still need special mission institutions. Remember Brandeis, Notre Dame, and Brigham Young are special mission institutions.

With respect to historically black colleges and universities (HBCU), not every African American wants to or does go to an HBCU. The same is true of women and women’s colleges. But for those who wish that kind of education, and if the fit is right, it’s almost magical.

I think it is as basic as having an entire community believe that you can. On these campuses, we believe that black students can do whatever they set their minds to do. On the women’s campuses, we believe that women can reach heights that have not been imagined for women.

HBCUs are not totally free of racism. Women’s colleges are not utopias where there are no expressions of gender inequality or sexism. But they come far closer than at our predominately white and co-ed institutions.

Q: One of the big issues with higher education now is cost. How do we solve the affordability problem?

The affordability question is highly complex and serious. James Baldwin said, “Not everything that is faced can be changed, but nothing can be changed that is not faced.” I believe that this is a perfect example. Colleges and universities are not just raising tuitions so they can make big profits. Pell grants are no longer at least a reasonable response to the affordability question.

We’ve got to figure this out because, in a democracy, accessibility to education is fundamental. The idea that something as precious, as powerful, as a solid education is only accessible to some and not to others, is an assault upon democracy.

Q: You came out of retirement to lead the Smithsonian National Museum of African Art. Why was the draw so strong?

I’ve managed, systematically, to get a failing grade in retirement.

I grew up in the South, in the days of legalized segregation—you could also call it state-sponsored racism. I didn’t have access to symphony halls. I didn’t have access to art museums. I still remember the library that I went to in order to travel the world through books, was the A. L. Lewis Colored Public Library.

As a young girl, I fell in love with the visual arts, especially African and African-American art. I went off to Fisk University at age 15 and began to see the real works of art for which we only had reproductions in my home. From Fisk, I went to Oberlin, where the Allen Memorial Art Gallery was a special place of solace for me

The opportunity with the Smithsonian wasn’t something I sought; I was asked to apply. My doctorate is in anthropology, not art history, so I was reluctant, but they told me they were looking for a leader, not an art historian. It was one of the most extraordinary experiences of my life. The work was an almost indescribable joy.

Generally, our museums across America do not reflect who America is, nor do they reflect how our world looks. They need to be far more diverse in terms of their boards, staff, exhibitions, educational programs, and visitorship.

What the African art museum has is a unique opportunity because it can speak to something that binds us together. If one is human, just go back far enough, I mean way back, and we have all come from a single place. It is called Africa.

Here’s a museum that says to its visitors, “No matter who you are, by race, gender, sexual orientation, religion, age, ability or disability, or nationality, come to a place where the visual arts connect you to the very cradle of humanity.”

During those eight years when I had the joy of being the director of the National Museum of African Art, I would greet our visitors by saying “Welcome home! Welcome to a place that presents the diverse and dynamic, the exquisite arts of Africa, humanity’s original home.”

Q: Do you think that our education and cultural institutions are properly valued in our society?

I have to say no. Because if we did, we would take better care of them. If we did, we would make sure that not some but all of our educational institutions from kindergarten through post-secondary education, into graduate and professional schools, have the means to do what needs to be done.

If we really value all of our cultural expressions, whether it’s dance or music, visual arts, theater, when there is a budget shortfall, we wouldn’t say, “These are the first things to go.” We wouldn’t say, “Kids can do without music in their public school.” It’s one thing to say we love an institution; it’s another to care for and protect an institution. I think we can do far better.

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• Introduction

Systems of higher education in France and Germany

The system of higher education in great britain.

• The system of higher education in the United States
• The system of higher education in Russia
• Contemporary issues

higher education

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• Table Of Contents

higher education , any of various types of education given in postsecondary institutions of learning and usually affording, at the end of a course of study, a named degree , diploma, or certificate of higher studies . Higher-educational institutions include not only universities and colleges but also various professional schools that provide preparation in such fields as law , theology , medicine , business, music , and art . Higher education also includes teacher-training schools, junior colleges, and institutes of technology. The basic entrance requirement for most higher-educational institutions is the completion of secondary education , and the usual entrance age is about 18 years. ( See also college ; university .)

(Read Arne Duncan’s Britannica essay on “Education: The Great Equalizer.”)

The system of higher education had its origin in Europe in the Middle Ages, when the first universities were established. In modern times the nature of higher education around the world has been largely determined by the models established in influential countries such as France, Germany, Great Britain, and the United States .

Both France and Germany have systems of higher education that are basically administered by state agencies. Entrance requirements for students are also similar in both countries. In France an examination called the baccalauréat is given at the end of secondary education. Higher education in France is free and open to all students who have passed this examination. A passing mark admits students to a preparatory first year at a university, which terminates in another, more rigorous examination. Success in this examination allows students to attend universities for another three or four years until they have attained the first university degree, called a licence in France.

Basic differences, however, distinguish these two countries’ systems. French educational districts, called académies, are under the direction of a rector, an appointee of the national government who also is in charge of the university in each district. The uniformity in curriculum throughout the country leaves each university with little to distinguish itself. Hence, many students prefer to go to Paris, where there are better accommodations and more cultural amenities for students. Another difference is the existence in France of higher-educational institutions known as grandes écoles , which provide advanced professional and technical training. Most of these schools are not affiliated with the universities, although they too recruit their students by giving competitive examinations to candidates who possess a baccalauréat. The various grandes écoles provide a rigorous training in all branches of applied science and technology, and their diplomas have a somewhat higher standing than that of the ordinary licence .

In Germany, a country made up of what were once strong principalities, the regional universities have autonomy in determining their curriculum under the direction of rectors elected from within. Students in Germany change universities according to their interests and the strengths of each university. In fact, it is a custom for students to attend two, three, or even four different universities in the course of their undergraduate studies, and the majority of professors at a particular university may have taught in four or five others. This marked degree of mobility means that schemes of study and examination are marked by a freedom and individuality unknown in France.

Each of these countries has influenced higher education in other nations. The French, either through colonial influence or through the work of missionaries, introduced many aspects of their system in North and West Africa, the Caribbean, and the Far East. In the 1870s Japan’s growing university system was remodeled along French lines. France’s grandes écoles have been especially copied as models of technical schools. German influence has come about through philosophical concepts regarding the role of universities. The Germans were the first to stress the importance of universities as research facilities, and they also created a sense of them as emblems of a national mind. The doctoral degree, or Ph.D., invented in Germany, has gained popularity in systems around the world.

The autonomy of higher-educational institutions is strikingly pronounced in Great Britain. Its universities enjoy almost complete autonomy from national or local government in their administration and the determination of their curricula, despite the fact that the schools receive nearly all of their funding from the state. Entry requirements for British universities are rather complicated. A student must secure a General Certificate of Education (corresponding to the French baccalauréat ) by taking examinations in various subjects and receiving passing marks in them. The greater the number of “advanced level” passes, rather than General Certificate of Secondary Education (formerly “ordinary level”) passes, that a student acquires , the better his chances are of entering the university of his choice. (Britain has a centralized admissions bureau to which candidates for admission are able to give their choice of universities in an order of preference.) This selective admission to universities, combined with the close supervision of students through a tutorial system, makes it possible for most British undergraduates to complete a degree course in three years rather than the standard four years. Great Britain’s academic programs are more highly specialized than their European continental counterparts. Most undergraduates follow an “honours” course (leading to an honours degree) in one or, at the most, two subjects, while the remaining minority of students take “pass” courses that cover a variety of subjects. Great Britain’s model of higher education has been copied to varying degrees in Canada , Australia , India, South Africa , New Zealand , and other former British colonial territories in Africa, Southeast Asia , and the Pacific.

What Is the Purpose and Future of Higher Education?

A sociologist explores the history and future of higher education..

Posted February 18, 2019 | Reviewed by Jessica Schrader

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A recent story asked, “ Can small liberal arts colleges survive the next decade? ” This question is important as we see the closure of some small schools, mostly in areas away from big cities. Yet, as University of California Riverside sociology and public policy distinguished professor Steven G. Brint notes based on his new book Two Cheers for Higher Education , “There’s always been a small number of colleges that close every year—usually fewer than a dozen—and more are opened for the first time than closed.” This illustrates, among other things, why it is important to consider a historical perspective on higher education to place recent individual news stories in context. That’s exactly what his latest book does: It explores the rich history of higher education, leading him to argue that overall higher education appears to be doing quite well, but also that there remain important concerns for higher education on the horizon.

I asked Steven questions about the purpose of higher education, why he argues higher education is doing quite well, and what his concerns are for its future. Anyone interested in the rich history of higher education and how that informs the future of higher education should read this book. Going to college or university is increasingly a fixture and perhaps even an obsession for parents and students, and understanding the history of that industry is useful to help us think about why we encourage students to go to college in the first place.

What, in your view, is the purpose of higher education?

The aims of higher education change over time. In the United States, the original purposes were to prepare students for a few “learned professions,” especially the clergy, and to provide a strong, religiously tinged moral education. Many of the activities that we now associate with higher education—extra-curricular clubs, majoring in a defined specialization, faculty research, access for socioeconomically disadvantaged students—came later.

Today, we would have to start by recognizing the fundamental fact that the purposes of higher education are highly differentiated by the stratum in the system institutions occupy. The aims of community colleges are very different from those of research universities. I do not talk about community colleges in the book, though I did write a book on community colleges early in my career . The great majority of the 3,000 or so four-year colleges and universities are primarily devoted to teaching students, mainly in occupational fields that in theory equip graduates to obtain jobs. Students will receive a smattering of general education in lower-division and will have opportunities to participate in extra-curricular activities. The latter are more important for many students than classroom studies. Students hone interpersonal skills on campus, make contacts that can be useful for instrumental purposes as well as ends in themselves. For those who finish, their diplomas do provide a boost in the labor market, more for quantitative fields than for other fields.

Research universities are of course the most complex environments and the range of their activities is difficult to catalog in a short answer. In addition to providing instruction in hundreds of programs, they run hundreds of student clubs and organizations, contribute to the selection of high achieving students for graduate degrees, train and mentor graduate and professional students, produce thousands or tens of thousands of research papers annually, reach out to industrial partners, field semi-professional athletic teams, solve community problems, run tertiary care hospitals, patent new discoveries and attempt to create environments conducive to learning for a very wide variety of students. One could say that these activities, taken together, constitute the enacted purposes of research universities.

However, when you look at their activities from the perspective of public policy, the focus will tend to be on three main purposes: (1) human capital development (in other words, improving the cognitive and non-cognitive skills of students), (2) basic research and research in the national interest, and (3) the provision of access for students from lower-income and under-represented minority backgrounds. Implicitly, Two Cheers for Higher Education focuses more on these primary aims of public policy than on some of the ancillary activities of universities. Of course, some of the activities that could be considered ancillary—such as student clubs and the patenting of new discoveries—are clearly related to these public policy aims. For that reason, I do also discuss them at some length in the book.

At a time when we see stories of colleges closing, why is it that you argue that higher education is doing quite well?

We do see some colleges closing and more colleges merging. There’s always been a small number of colleges that close every year—usually fewer than a dozen—and more are opened for the first time than closed. We do hear a lot of talk about mergers in recent years, and some of the regional public universities in rural areas are definitely struggling. Where population is declining steadily, it becomes harder to make the case for the local college. But population is not declining in urban areas or in suburban areas around big cities. Here we see new colleges rising or existing colleges growing larger. Higher education is doing quite well in the parts of the country that are seeing growth in population and wealth. Sometimes higher education has been an important influence in attracting employers, new jobs, and new wealth. The state of Georgia is an interesting example. It now has the 10th largest economy of the 50 states, and the investments that state leaders and donors have made in Georgia Tech, Emory, the University of Georgia, and Georgia State University have played an important role in the state’s impressive development.

Though your book is largely positive about higher education, you note some concerns about the future of higher education. What are those?

According to public opinion surveys, the major concerns of Americans have to do with cost, the quality of undergraduate education, and liberal bias in the classroom. I address each of these issues in the book. One hopes that criminal justice reform may allow most of the 50 states to invest more heavily in higher education, reducing family’s burdens. I also advocate a universal, income-contingent loan repayment policy similar to the ones that already exist in England, Australia and several other countries. My research has led me to agree with the critics that the quality of undergraduate education is too low for too many. I show in the book how the lessons of the sciences of learning can be embedded without much more than forethought in even large lecture classes. The evidence on liberal bias is mixed. Clearly, minorities remain subject to many discriminatory and wounding acts on college campuses. At the same time, where we find a liberal orthodoxy there’s a risk that assumptions and commitments will substitute for evidence and reasoning. We do need more spaces on campus where contemporary social and political issues can be discussed and debated.

I also discuss what academic and political leaders can do about the threat to the physical campus represented by online competition , by the tremendous growth of campus administrative staff (compared to the slow growth of faculty), and the deplorable increase in poorly-paid and sometimes poorly-prepared adjunct instructors.

I hope that the evidence and recommendations that I provide will stimulate new thinking and action in each of these areas of concern. The U.S. is fortunate to have the strongest system of higher education in the world, but many problems arose during the period I cover. It will be important to address these problems before they undermine public support for institutions that are now central to the country’s future well-being.

Brint, S. G. (2018). Two cheers for higher education: Why American universities are stronger than ever--and how to meet the challenges they face . Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press.

Jonathan Wai, Ph.D. , is Assistant Professor of Education Policy and Psychology and the 21st Century Endowed Chair in Education Policy at the University of Arkansas.

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Your chance of acceptance, your chancing factors, extracurriculars, how can i effectively express my motivation for higher education in my college essay.

I need to start working on my college essay and I'm seriously pondering over how to convey my true motivation for wanting a college education. It’s more than just getting a degree for me. How do I put this passion into words without sounding cliché?

I completely understand your desire to express your genuine passion for higher education in a way that stands out. It's important to show the admissions committee what drives you, and how your experiences have shaped your decision to pursue college education. To avoid clichés, focus on specific experiences or moments in your life that ignited your enthusiasm for learning. For example, you could write about a project or subject that you explored on your own time and how that deepened your interest in a certain field.

Additionally, you could talk about mentors or role models who have influenced your academic journey, or how particular challenges have strengthened your commitment to further education. Remember to be reflective and introspective; focus on your personal growth and development. It's not about grand statements, but about showing how your unique story connects to your educational aspirations. Tie these experiences back to your motivation for seeking a higher education, highlighting how college is a necessary and meaningful next step for you. By doing so, you'll be able to craft an essay that is both compelling and personal, clearly demonstrating your passion to the admissions committee.

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CollegeVine’s Q&A seeks to offer informed perspectives on commonly asked admissions questions. Every answer is refined and validated by our team of admissions experts to ensure it resonates with trusted knowledge in the field.

Importance Of Higher Education In 21st Century Essay Example

In the 21st century, a college education is crucial for success. In fact, those with a bachelor’s degree or higher have consistently been found to be more successful than those without one. It is critical that all students understand this and make it their goal to pursue an education at any level they can manage. This sample will explore some of the benefits of why a college degree matters in today’s world as well as provide tips on how to plan for your future needs and goals.

Essay Example On Importance Of Higher Education In 21st Century In The USA

• Thesis Statement – Importance Of Higher Education Essay
• Introduction – Importance Of Higher Education Essay
• Benefits Of Higher Education
• Conclusion – Importance Of Higher Education Essay

Thesis Statement – Importance Of Higher Education Essay Higher education is extremely important in our modern-day world to succeed financially and socially. Introduction – Importance Of Higher Education Essay It’s no secret that the current state of the economy is not very promising for most people who are entering college. Many students worry about their future and do not know if it will be possible to find a job after they get out of college or even land an internship with any potential employers at all. Along with this high level of anxiety, students must also take into consideration the rising cost of tuition fees at institutions across the country which makes getting an education more expensive than ever before. A wise investment many individuals choose to make is acquiring a college degree, but there is much more to higher education than just finding employment upon graduating. It can actually benefit one in numerous ways such as improving health conditions and raising living standards among others. Consult Essay Writing Expert & Get Premium Essay Topics Order Now Main Body – Importance Of Higher Education Essay Benefits Of  Higher Education Before this, we discussed Higher education so let’s take a look at the benefits. Below you will get some important points of higher education after reading that you will get the importance of higher education. Make More Money When you will complete your higher education you will have a Master’s degree in your hand. The degree is the symbol that you have vast knowledge in your field. You will get a higher job position in top companies and you will experience that you are earning more money in comparison with your friends who have not completed higher education in the same field. Professionalism Employers always hire professionals. Everyone wants to become successful personally and professionally but Professionalism doesn’t come with a degree your behavior and other skills make you professional So pursue the related field for your higher education then You will become familiar with the working atmosphere of the industries related to your field. You Will Learn To Solve Problems Completing higher education is not a simple task. You have to face various problems during your studies and it will polish your skills and talent. It makes you able how to solve problems quickly? You will learn the analytical and critical learning approach here. Promotions People who have completed master’s degrees got promoted quickly in comparison with other employees without higher education. Advantage during interviews Employers welcome scholars having good knowledge and high degree. A Master’s degree is a symbol that a person has excellent knowledge; he/she will get an extra advantage during interviews over the people with a bachelor’s degree. Deep knowledge Higher education offers you complete knowledge. Professors and teachers will teach you all the basics related to your subjects. You will get both theoretical and practical knowledge. Lifestyle It will change your complete lifestyle. During higher education, you will get a chance to involve in different-different programs and functions. You will learn various things that will enhance your lifestyle. You will become more modern than before. Greater Skills You will gain more skills from college and universities. There are various tasks organized by the college during your studies including time management, intellectual programs, etc. You will get a chance to participate in various extracurricular programs related to sports, culture, etc. Open Atmosphere if you have taken admission in higher education then you will get a chance to meet new people belong to different cultures and communities. You will get the freedom to live your life as you wanted to live. Live your dreams The college will offer you a chance to live your dreams. You will get a chance to prove yourself in other activities like sports You can take a position in the college and university team and prove your talent at a great platform. It can be a turning point in your life; you can get a chance to be selected in the national team of your country or state based on your performance. If you are a good writer, the singer then also you can show your talent to others by participating in various university-level completions. One Time Investment If you are thinking about the tuition fee and another course fee then it’s a one-time investment. You can get loans from banks and other financial institutes for higher studies. Once you will complete your higher education you will definitely get a high salary and soon you will realize that you have paid your loans in a short period of time. Have fun Apart from your studies, you will get a chance to relax. New people and new groups will create a happy atmosphere. Various Options For Higher Education if you have no time to attend the classes, you have an option of distance learning or online learning. You can take admission in the online higher education program. More Opportunities Completing your higher education will open more doors. You can get a job in any sector related to your area of interest. Suppose you have completed your higher education in Information technology then you can get a job as a web designer, web developer, and software engineer and even you can apply for the post of testing engineer. But, a person who has completed a computer course in testing has no knowledge about the development process and will get limited job opportunities. Network  Higher education will also increase your network. You will make new friends and build new contacts. It’s a life and one can need help from anyone at any time. Hire an Essay Writer to Write your Complete Essay on Time Order Now Conclusion – Importance Of Higher Education Essay Higher education is important because it can have many benefits for all students. They improve individual’s physical health, give them access to better job opportunities and help countries gain international prominence. By having more college graduates in the workforce there are high chances of improving living conditions among other things. Overall, this shows why higher education is important in today’s society because it helps people in many different ways that will benefit them for years to come. Consult with USA Essay Writers to Write your College Essay Order Now

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The Value of Higher Education Essay

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Malcolm Forbes once said, “Education’s purpose is to replace an empty mind with an open one”

Education is undoubtedly the one factor that eventually decides the level of progress attained by a nation or a people; it is what separates the third world from the developed world and the poor from the rich. Although the process of formal education starts at the kindergarten level and goes on till a student graduates from high school, in today’s competitive world, this is not enough.

Basic education is a necessity and must be pursued by one and all, but it only suffices the basic needs of life. In order to meet the growing demands of the global job market and to be recognized professionally, higher education is not only a need but a necessity. Higher education acts as a stepping stone between college and the world of employment, it helps one to obtain a better salary by becoming a more attractive alternative for employers and also broadens one’s horizons in terms of knowledge and experience by allowing a person to specialize and excel in a particular field.

Although pursuing higher education is an expensive affair in most developed countries like the USA or UK, but the benefits are immense. On the last count, there were more than 53000 courses at 329 higher education institutions within the UCAS scheme in the UK. The benefits that graduates enjoyed included an approximate 17% higher earnings than those with just school leaving certificates, and the figure rises to approximately 25% for those who pursued courses in

engineering, law or medicine. In addition to this, only about 6% of the graduates remain unemployed six months after graduation.

Thus, to summarize, not only does higher education offer life benefits such as the experience of greater perspectives, increased confidence in one’s field of choice, and in-depth knowledge of how to deal with situations that may arise in your career but also increases one’s employability and assures a greater starting salary. The benefits of obtaining a higher education far outweigh its risks and make it a valuable asset in a person’s life and career.

• Malcolm Forbes. The Malcolm Forbes Quotations page.
• Vikki Pickering. The meaning of employability and its relationship with future earnings. The Value Of Higher Education. p4.
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Essay on Higher Education

Students are often asked to write an essay on Higher Education in their schools and colleges. And if you’re also looking for the same, we have created 100-word, 250-word, and 500-word essays on the topic.

Let’s take a look…

100 Words Essay on Higher Education

Understanding higher education.

Higher Education means learning after high school. It includes universities and colleges. People go to these places to study subjects in more depth. They can study things like science, arts, business, or technology. Higher education helps people get better jobs and earn more money.

Benefits of Higher Education

Challenges in higher education.

Higher education can be hard. It costs a lot of money. Some people may need to take loans to pay for it. It also takes a lot of time and hard work. But, the rewards can be worth it.

Importance of Higher Education

Higher education is very important. It can help you reach your goals. It can make you a better person. It can also help your country. Countries with more educated people usually do better. They have stronger economies and happier people.

250 Words Essay on Higher Education

What is higher education.

Higher education is the level of learning that happens after finishing high school. It takes place at colleges and universities. It’s where you study to become a doctor, teacher, engineer and many other professions.

Why is Higher Education Important?

Higher education is important for many reasons. It helps you get a good job and earn more money. It also helps you learn new things and grow as a person. Higher education can make your dreams come true.

The Benefits of Higher Education

There are many benefits of higher education. You can learn about subjects you love. You can also make friends with people from different places. Higher education helps you think in new ways and solve problems.

The Challenges of Higher Education

But, higher education can also be hard. It can be expensive. Sometimes, you might feel stressed from studying a lot. You might also feel lonely or homesick. But, there are ways to overcome these challenges.

Making the Most of Higher Education

To make the most of higher education, it’s important to stay focused and work hard. It’s also important to take care of your health and make time for fun. Remember, higher education is an investment in your future. It’s a chance to learn, grow, and achieve your goals.

500 Words Essay on Higher Education

Higher education means learning that happens after high school. This type of education often takes place at colleges or universities. It’s a time when you can study a subject you love in great detail.

The Importance of Higher Education

Higher education is very important for many reasons. First, it can help you get a good job. Many jobs today need a degree from a college or university. This is because these jobs need special skills or knowledge that you can gain from higher education.

The Types of Higher Education

A bachelor’s degree usually takes about four years to finish. It gives you a wide knowledge of a subject.

Higher education can also have challenges. One big challenge is the cost. Many people find it hard to pay for college or university. Luckily, there are scholarships and loans that can help.

Another challenge is the workload. Higher education can be very demanding. You might have to study a lot and do many assignments. But with good time management, you can handle this.

The Future of Higher Education

In conclusion, higher education is a big step in life. It can help you get a good job and grow as a person. It has many types and can be challenging. But the future of higher education looks bright. So, if you’re thinking about it, go for it! It’s a journey worth taking.

That’s it! I hope the essay helped you.

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Home  /  News  /  Why Is Education Important? The Power Of An Educated Society

Why Is Education Important? The Power Of An Educated Society

Looking for an answer to the question of why is education important? We address this query with a focus on how education can transform society through the way we interact with our environment. 

Whether you are a student, a parent, or someone who values educational attainment, you may be wondering how education can provide quality life to a society beyond the obvious answer of acquiring knowledge and economic growth. Continue reading as we discuss the importance of education not just for individuals but for society as a whole. 

Harness the power of education to build a more sustainable modern society with a degree from  Unity Environmental University .

How Education Is Power: The Importance Of Education In Society

Why is education so important? Nelson Mandela famously said, “Education is the most powerful weapon which you can use to change the world.” An educated society is better equipped to tackle the challenges that face modern America, including:

• Climate change
• Social justice
• Economic inequality

Education is not just about learning to read and do math operations. Of course, gaining knowledge and practical skills is part of it, but education is also about values and critical thinking. It’s about finding our place in society in a meaningful way. 

Environmental Stewardship

A  study from 2022 found that people who belong to an environmental stewardship organization, such as the Leave No Trace Center for Outdoor Ethics, are likely to have a higher education level than those who do not. This suggests that quality education can foster a sense of responsibility towards the environment.

With the effects of climate change becoming increasingly alarming, this particular importance of education is vital to the health, safety, and longevity of our society. Higher learning institutions can further encourage environmental stewardship by adopting a  framework of sustainability science .

The Economic Benefits Of Education

Higher education can lead to better job opportunities and higher income. On average, a  person with a bachelor’s degree will make $765,000 more  in their lifetime than someone with no degree. Even with the rising costs of tuition, investment in higher education pays off in the long run. In 2020, the return on investment (ROI) for a college degree was estimated to be  13.5% to 35.9% . 

Green jobs  like environmental science technicians and solar panel installers  have high demand projections for the next decade. Therefore, degrees that will prepare you for one of these careers will likely yield a high ROI. And, many of these jobs only require an  associate’s degree or certificate , which means lower overall education costs. 

Unity  helps students maximize their ROI with real-world experience in the field as an integral part of every degree program. 

10 Reasons Why School Is Important

Education is not just an individual pursuit but also a societal one.  In compiling these reasons, we focused on the question, “How does education benefit society?” Overall, higher education has the power to transform:

• Individuals’ sense of self
• Interpersonal relationships
• Social communities
• Professional communities

Cognitive Development

Neuroscience research  has proven that the brain is a muscle that can retain its neuroplasticity throughout life. However, like other muscles, it must receive continual exercise to remain strong. Higher education allows people of any age to improve their higher-level cognitive abilities like problem-solving and decision-making. This can make many parts of life feel more manageable and help society run smoothly. 

Emotional Intelligence

Emotional intelligence is key to workplace success.  Studies  show that people with emotional intelligence exhibit more:

• Self-awareness
• Willingness to try new things
• Innovative thinking
• Active listening
• Collaboration skills
• Problem-solving abilities

By attending higher education institutions that value these soft skills, students can improve their emotional intelligence as part of their career development in college.

Technological Literacy

Many careers in today’s job market use advanced technology. To prepare for these jobs, young people likely won’t have access to these technologies to practice on their own. That’s part of why so many STEM career paths require degrees. It’s essential to gain technical knowledge and skills through a certified program to safely use certain technologies. And, educated scientists are  more likely to make new technological discoveries .

Cultural Awareness

Education exposes individuals to different cultures and perspectives. Being around people who are different has the powerful ability to foster acceptance. Acceptance benefits society as a whole. It increases innovation and empathy. 

College also gives students an opportunity to practice feeling comfortable in situations where there are people of different races, genders, sexualities, and abilities. Students can gain an understanding of how to act respectfully among different types of people, which is an important skill for the workplace. This will only become more vital as our world continues to become more globalized.

Ethical and Moral Development

Another reason why school is important is that it promotes ethical and moral development. Many schools require students to take an ethics course in their general education curriculum. However, schools can also encourage character development throughout their programs by using effective pedagogical strategies including:

• Class debates and discussions
• Historical case studies
• Group projects

Unity’s distance learning programs  include an ethical decision-making class in our core curriculum. 

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Communication Skills

Effective written and verbal communication skills are key for personal and professional success. Higher education programs usually include at least one communication course in their general education requirements. Often the focus in these classes is on writing skills, but students can also use college as an opportunity to hone their presentation and public speaking skills. Courses such as  Multimedia Communication for Environmental Professionals  provide many opportunities for this. 

Civic Engagement

According to a  Gallup survey , people with higher education degrees are:

• More likely to participate in civic activities such as voting and volunteering
• Less likely to commit crimes
• More likely to get involved in their local communities

All these individual acts add up to make a big difference in society. An educated electorate is less likely to be swayed by unethical politicians and, instead, make choices that benefit themselves and their community. Because they are more involved, they are also more likely to hold elected officials accountable.

Financial Stability

The right degree can significantly expand your career opportunities and improve your long-term earning potential. Not all degrees provide the same level of financial stability, so it’s important to research expected salary offers after graduation and job demand outlook predictions for your desired field. Consider the return on investment for a degree from an affordable private school such as  Unity Environmental University .

Environmental Awareness

We have already discussed why education is important for environmental stewardship. Education can also lead to better environmental practices in the business world. By building empathy through character education and ethics courses, institutions can train future business leaders to emphasize human rights and sustainability over profits. All types and sizes of businesses can incorporate sustainable practices, but awareness of the issues and solutions is the first step.

Lifelong Learning

The reasons why education is important discussed so far focus on institutional education. However, education can happen anywhere. Attending a university that values all kinds of learning will set students up with the foundation to become lifelong learners.  Research  demonstrates that lifelong learners tend to be healthier and more fulfilled throughout their lives. When societies emphasize the importance of education, they can boost their overall prosperity.

The Role Of Unity Environmental University In Society

Environmentally conscious education is extremely valuable and should be accessible to all.   Unity Environmental University  offers tuition prices that are comparable to public universities, and financial aid is available to those who qualify. Courses last five weeks so that students can focus on only one class at a time. This ensures all learners are set up for academic success. 

Unity believes in supporting students holistically to maximize the power of education. This includes mental health services,  experiential learning opportunities , and  job placement assistance . Students in our  hybrid programs  can take classes at several field stations throughout Maine and enjoy the beautiful nature surrounding the campus for outdoor recreation.

Sustainable Initiatives

Some highlights from Unity Environmental University’s many sustainable initiatives:

• All programs include at least one sustainability learning outcome
• All research courses are focused on sustainability research
• Reduced building energy use by 25% across campus
• 100% of food waste is recycled into energy 
• Campus features a  net-zero LEED Platinum-certified classroom/office building

While many schools value sustainability, Unity stands out because  everything  we do is about sustainability. We also recognize our responsibility to model how a sustainable business can operate in a manner that’s fiscally viable and socially responsible.

Make An Impact At Unity Environmental University

While the phrase ‘education is power’ may sound cliche, it is also resoundingly true. Higher education has the power to transform individuals and societies. Unity Environmental University understands its power to make a positive impact on the world. That’s why we were the first university to divest from fossil fuels. 

This year, we celebrated our  largest incoming class ever , showing that students want an education system that aligns with their values. In addition to our commitment to sustainability, we offer flexibility to students with start dates all year round for our  online degree programs .

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Importance of Higher Education Essay for Students [500 Words]

January 4, 2021 by Sandeep

Essay on Importance of Higher Education: A person chooses higher education when he wishes to specialize in his study stream. A prosperous career, financial security and higher growth opportunities are some of the benefits of higher education. With higher education, a person becomes more employable with specialised skills and is likely to live a happier and stress-free life. Highly educated citizens tend to be more involved in community building activities and have a greater sense of discipline and accomplishment.

Essay on Importance of Higher Education

Below we have provided Importance of Higher Education Essay, suitable for class 6, 7, 8, 9 & 10.

Higher education provides a gateway to a number of opportunities in the future. It is like a door opening to miscellaneous pathways, and one can always raise his or her living standards by studying higher and higher in life. Higher education equips a man with the specialised skills required to earn higher efficiency levels at the workplace, gives an equal space in this competing world, improves skills and provides scope for better serving our community and working towards its development.

Purpose of Higher Education

The main goal of education is to provide a direction and purpose to one’s life. If you aim to go far in that chosen direction, you need to set the stage for achieving higher education for yourself. We can draw a simple analogy here. A person who knows to drive a motorcycle hits the road with ease, but only in his motorcycle.

Now if he is asked to drive a car that he doesn’t know to drive, he is sure to struggle on the road. Both vehicles ply on the road, but to drive a car it needs extra efforts by the same person, extra skills to manoeuvre the car, etc. So it’s like achieving the next level of learning. Similarly, let us now explore why higher education is important in one’s life:

1. Jumpstart Your Career

If you joined your organisation at the most basic level and you are ambitious to grow up the ladder, you need supportive skills. These extra skills are gained by putting in your time and energy in a course that gives you extra edge to soar higher in your career ladder.

2. Higher Skill Gain

To have confidence in emerging out from one’s familiar shell and taste unexplored waters, it needs lot of courage doubled with knowledge. We can get this only from higher education. All the skills and specializations derived from higher education help a person to explore unexplored territories and achieve higher excellence in life.

3. Intellectual Development

The more you study, the more you broaden your horizon and hence your perspective undergoes a serious transformation. A person who has completed higher education certainly has a better perspective and ideas to help in community and societal development and has the capability to build a citizen friendly nation. Ideas and innovations that are garnered from people who have sought higher education provide a global competing space for the nation as a whole.

4. Follow Your Passion

If we like to prepare a strawberry cake, we try to find out the recipe and try it at our kitchen. Probably, the next time we may try to add some more ingredients to make it more delicious. Another time, we may add a touch of experimentation to give it a better look. So, every time the cake gets a higher level of transformation than the previous one. In a similar way, a person pursues higher education out of passion too! If he loves to specialize in a subject, he would love to study more and gather more knowledge out of his previous degrees. That gives him a better edge than the rest pursuing similar interests.

Issues in Higher Education

Higher education is not all that easy as it seems. Right from financial constraints to lack of funds and scholarships at universities, problems are many. There are many universities and academic centers of excellence that support higher education facilities at their campuses. But, to provide the required infrastructure and research facilities for higher education, it needs an equal amount of investment in terms of time and money on the part of the college.

Hence, higher education costs are usually exorbitant and unreachable to the common masses. A scholarship facility or a provision to avail study loans will definitely help in this matter. Reservation for category and minority students is another issue in our country. The cream of the rank achieving lot gets absorbed by the premier institutes of the country. But the remaining large percentage runs helter skelter to find a good place for an opportunity in higher education.

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The Importance of Higher Education

Nayreth garcia.

• Career Planning , Non-Traditional Students

Content Writer At Gradehacker

• Updated on June, 2023

Higher education’s importance is huge since education is a lifelong pursuit that can significantly impact your present and future.

After all, investing in your level of education can change your life and provide better opportunities .

Here at Gradehacker, as the non-traditional student #1 resource, we’re happy to say that we have been an extra hand for many in their professional degree path and helped them to be aware of the importance of higher education.

Whether you seek economic stability through a well-paying job, personal growth, or better education status, higher education offers multiple positive effects that we look forward to sharing with you in this blog!

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Why Is Higher Education Important?

When mentioning higher education’s importance,  let’s first set clear that it is more than just an academic degree. 

You gain skills in:

• Critical thinking
• Communication
• Time management

The college experience teaches you how to adapt quickly to an ever-changing world by learning how to manage time and communicate effectively. 

Those with years spent in formal education become exposed to new ideas, learning the critical thinking skills and abilities they need to succeed and get job satisfaction.

College is the stepping stone to achieving a more diverse career. You learn how to create professional work and become more productive since, as a college student, you need to master time management within your schedule to meet deadlines.

You learn how to work in a team and communicate with others effectively. You also learn college-level writing skills to write better essays, articles, and other pieces while gaining new techniques to improve your basic skills, such as using APA or MLA format.

All educational institutions are also great places to improve your social skills and make connections with people around you.

By exchanging your beliefs with others, you can develop new ideas that might create a new project involving people with the same set of values.

The benefit of pursuing an academic degree is to become a great professional since your future depends on what you do with your life.

What's The Real Value of a Degree?

Before we start, let’s ensure you understand the value of a degree. This is something most college students take for granted but should if they want to achieve any educational attainment.

A college degree (like a four-year degree) is not a right. 

It is something that is given to you through higher education. You can’t earn a college degree by showing up to classes and not turning in the work, you have to take classes, do assignments, and complete them to see consistent effects. 

If you don’t put your part, then you won’t graduate. There are no shortcuts to getting a college degree.

College can be interpreted as a business, which means you have to put in the work one way or another.

If you work hard in college for your professional degree, you can do better on the job market after graduation, make more money, and make positive for a better quality of life than someone with a high school diploma. 

According to the National Center for Education Statistics , these are the average salaries of professionals with different degrees:

• Less than high school: $29,800
• High-school diploma: $36,600
• Associate degree: $44,100
• Bachelor’s degree: $59,600
• Master’s degree: $69,700

That is the true value of a college education degree.

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What Are The Benefits of Higher Education?

Education is often a major stepping stone to achieving any dream. Yes, it can help you find a career and create positive income effects by boosting it, but higher education can also teach you valuable life lessons and better insight into life.

Here are some of the most important advantages of going after a four-year degree:

• Learn more about yourself and your learning style
• Test your knowledge and find out what your strengths are
• Gain more knowledge on the specific fields that interest you

With a college education, you can become a more disciplined person as it impacts your behavior.

It’s beneficial for any future college graduate to earn more self-esteem and self-confidence or even improve their communication skills . During college, you’ll have to work in groups, participate in group discussions, and present projects in front of other students.

During those moments, confidence is key!

If you come from a low-income family and are the first to get a degree, you will not only feel successful and proud of your hard work, but you will also see it as a possibility to improve your loved ones’ life .

Pursuing postsecondary education can also be reflected in society.

If there’s an increase in individuals with a high level of education, it can often relate to the economic growth of a country. This will create the presence of people with defined specialized skills that can be helpful to different industries.

According to the OECD Organization , adults with a tertiary degree earn, on average, 54% more than adults with upper secondary education , creating positive economic effects and a more equitable society.  

They also mention that people with higher levels of education are more likely to find employment, remain employed, learn new skills on the job, and earn more over their working life relative to those with lower levels of education.

Benefits of a College Degree

If you come from a low-income family and you are the first one in the family to get a degree, you will not only feel successful and proud of your hard work, but you will also see it as a possibility to make your loved ones’ life better.

The benefits of pursuing higher education can also be reflected in society. If there’s an increase of individuals with a high level of education, it can often relate to the economic growth of a country. This will create the presence of people with defined specialized skills that can be helpful to different industries.

What Can You Do with a College Degree?

As we showed you above, there is a clear difference between a person’s income without higher education and college graduates. And, while shorter, the same happens within different college majors.

For example, according to Glassdoor, a graduate in History major can earn between $35,000 and $81,000 per year, depending on the position. That’s quite a gap!

Whether you want to prioritize pursuing your dream career or earning more money is entirely up to you. So, don’t focus on the job you want but instead choose a college major that will make you a better fit for that job you are looking for.

Still, you can pursue further knowledge in a particular area and increase your chances of earning more money than the average with a degree.

For example, if you finished your Bachelor of Science in Nursing but want to take a step into an administrative and managing position, you can pursue a Master of Science in Nursing and open a door with many job opportunities .

According to a report made by The Association of Public and Land-grant Universities (APLU), those with higher education degrees are:

• Half as likely to be unemployed
• Make 84% higher on average
• Make $1.2 million more over their lifetime

This is compared to those who only have a high school degree, and we can see that there are clearly noticeable differences favoring those with a degree.

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How to Prepare for Your Future

If you have set your mind on becoming successful and achieving your dreams, then there are two things you need to do right now:

First, you need to spend as much time planning what career path you want to follow.

Knowing what field and major you’ll pursue can help you create a solid and well-organized plan for your upcoming college years. If you are not sure how to choose your major , here are a few tips to help you!

After you are clear on your choice, you can start selecting the college you want to attend and prepare the requirements . Here you can read our list of common requirements that colleges look for in students!

You can also find many different courses on the internet , which will help you develop your career and keep up with what’s happening.

But the most important thing is to keep in mind that college, or higher education, is important. It’s one of the most prominent pillars of modern society, as it makes you independent.

After all, your path to getting a proper job can become more challenging without it.

Don't Stop Pursuing Your Dreams of a Better Education

Higher education provides an avenue for future college graduates . These students can apply their knowledge in a real-world setting with professors and advisors.

The benefits of higher education are undeniable. The world of tomorrow will be vastly different from the one we know today, and it is becoming more and more imperative for everyone to get an education.

We hope this article will teach you why college is so important and how crucial it is to get a degree in something you truly like.

If you want to earn your degree faster or feel that your college experience is keeping you away from the things that are really important in your life, here at Gradehacker we can help you! From your entire college classes to your degree program , book a call with our team and see how we can walk this path with you!

And If you want to continue learning related topics, here are a few articles that may interest you:

7 Best Websites to Find Free College Textbooks in 2024

Best iPads For College Students

Degrees That Will Help You Get Remote Jobs

What You Need to Know Before Taking Classes Online

The 10 Best Colleges for Non-Traditional Students

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Home — Essay Samples — Education — Why Is College Important — Why You Should Go To College

Why You Should Go to College

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Published: Aug 1, 2024

Words: 730 | Pages: 2 | 4 min read

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Expanding knowledge and critical thinking skills, enhancing career opportunities, earning potential, personal growth and development.

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Want to write a college essay that sets you apart? Three tips to give you a head start

1. Keep it real. It’s normal to want to make a good impression on the school of your choice, but it’s also important to show who you really are. So just be yourself! Compelling stories might not be perfectly linear or have a happy ending, and that’s OK. It’s best to be authentic instead of telling schools what you think they want to hear.

2. Be reflective . Think about how you’ve changed during high school. How have you grown and improved? What makes you feel ready for college, and how do you hope to contribute to the campus community and society at large?

3. Look to the future. Consider your reasons for attending college. What do you hope to gain from your education? What about college excites you the most, and what would you like to do after you graduate? Answering these questions will not only give colleges insight into the kind of student you’ll be, but it will also give you the personal insight you’ll need to choose the school that’s right for you.

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Why Is This a Good Time to Pursue Higher Education in the United States?

Each year, individuals from all over the world travel to the United States to earn academic credentials, attain degrees, and graduate from renowned universities. Some people are attracted to the campus culture of American schools, while others are interested in the cachet of attending specific programs that are globally respected in their prospective career field. 

However, it can be difficult to research a high-quality higher education in a competitive and shifting landscape. The past few years have introduced unprecedented changes to that landscape, especially for international candidates interested in studying abroad in the U.S. 

Yet thousands of international students decided that those changes created the opportunity for them to move forward with their goal of attending a college or university in the U.S. Maybe that is also true for you.

In this post, learn why this might be a good time to pursue higher education in the U.S. Then, you can make a decision about whether ordering a credential evaluation and applying to schools is the right choice for you.

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Renowned Institutions

The United States is one of the best countries to pursue higher education, hosting about 50% of the world’s top universities, according to US News . 

Those institutions are known for their rigorous curriculums, a diverse student body, small class sizes, state-of-the-art equipment, and knowledgeable professors. Students are afforded hands-on learning, the chance to gain real-world experience (through options like internships or practicums), and research opportunities. 

Plus, academic curiosity is a key pillar of higher education in America. Many students enjoy the freedom of choosing their course structure, pacing, and unique subject areas while studying in the U.S.

Career Advantage

Even if you don’t plan to pursue a career in the United States, your experience as an international student will impact your future job prospects. Excelling in an unfamiliar, challenging setting is impressive enough on its own, but earning a degree from a country that is known for its higher education will reflect highly on you as well. Employers will see you as someone with an international mindset. Plus, people who can quickly adapt to new environments and get along with diverse groups are always in demand. 

As we increasingly shift to an online, linked, global business mindset–spurred by the pandemic to escalate at a rapid pace–this might become more advantageous than ever before.

Work Experience

International students are given the opportunity to work while they attend university in the U.S. This can be a valuable way to gain professional experience, earn a little spending money, and network .

International STEM students can also stay in the country after their program concludes and continue to build on that valuable experience. Qualifying F-1 visa holders can apply for Optional Practical Training (OPT) , which enables them to stay in the U.S. for two years after graduation as long as they secure a relevant job. Recent policies have extended flexibility with applying for OPT , making it easier than it has been in years to make the most of your learning and training opportunities when you pursue higher education in the United States.

Getting work experience in America is highly valuable and will serve you well in your career. Many international students find they have better career opportunities and higher pay after gaining work experience in the U.S.

Diverse Programs

Popular fields of study for international students include technology, math, science, engineering, and business. But to remain competitive, schools continue to create new, interesting, and diverse courses of study that address contemporary issues and emergent trends.

With so many reputable programs and schools to choose from, you might have majors available to you in the United States that are not commonly available in other countries. What’s more, students often have more control over their courses and what they want to study in the U.S. Undergraduates can typically try courses at the start of their enrollment before deciding which concentration they want to focus on. 

Afterward, their program might offer a flexible structure where the student has some input about which courses they take in order to fulfill requirements. They might also be able to take a minimum or maximum number of credits at one time, spreading their semesters out or compacting their time spent completing a program, so that the pace of their program best suits their learning style and gives them the best chance to succeed. This is often a topic of conversation that can be raised with academic advisors, career counselors, and professors.

It is advisable to consider which topics you’re interested in, or which programs will best complement the career you hope to pursue, and then research which schools are recognized for those programs. You can reach out to alumni of those programs to get a real sense of participating in those programs and attending that school. You might also inquire about the international student accommodations both at the school and in the surrounding community. A school’s location and surrounding environment can play a big part in how a student acclimates and succeeds both during and after their enrollment.

Groundbreaking Research

The U.S. has one of the largest economies in the world for a reason: It is a leader in many areas of technology and research. As the United States strives to maintain its position, it seeks to recruit and retain bright minds from around the world. The demand for intelligent international students, with fresh global outlooks, has perhaps never been higher, making this a great time to consider offering your own contributions by joining a research graduate program in the U.S.

Schools in the U.S. benefit from funding and support for their graduate programs in these areas, and students therefore have access to the best professors, technology, resources, and opportunities. 

Research programs are innovative by nature. Students may be able to initiate their own research projects or choose which ongoing projects to assist. Their work is often published and can lead to patents or important collaborations in their field. 

If research is important to you, some of these factors should be among your top criteria when deciding which school you want to attend.

Campus Culture

U.S. university campuses are their own compact communities. But they can offer international students an introduction to the American way of life. The environment encourages students to be social and make friends. Most campuses offer plenty of extracurricular activities , from hobby-based meetups and sports teams to study groups and activism committees. 

It is a good idea for international students to take advantage of the robust social opportunities available to them on college campuses, in addition to academic offerings. Learning how to communicate, network, and socialize with their American peers is a large part of the study abroad and professional advantage when pursuing higher education in the U.S. 

Related Reading How to Visit a U.S. Campus Remotely

Support System

In addition to amazing academics, work experience, and opportunities to engage with campus culture, another great benefit is that you will have access to a complete set of support and wellness resources. At most colleges and universities, these are free to students. 

The inclusion of these services has long been a staple of top-tier universities in the United States, but over time it has become a staple of any competitive or mainstream college or university. This is one of the reasons that this is a great time to pursue higher education in the U.S.

They include career counseling services, which can help you decide on your career path. That might involve planning practical next steps after graduation. But it can also involve conducting mock interviews, helping you prepare your resume, and more. Sometimes, these insights are invaluable for international students, whose understanding of job searches and the labor market is very different from how it is conducted in the U.S.

They might also include financial planning resources, which can point you toward scholarships. Or housing resources that can pair you with a roommate whose lifestyle and interests best complement yours. You might be able to sign up for a tutoring program if you stumble with a particular subject (including English). And professors host open office hours to meet with students one-on-one if you need extra help with a particular class. 

Lastly, there is almost always a fitness center, a medical center, and a mental health counselor. So your physical and mental health can always be taken care of, without judgment, and without worrying about health insurance or the high cost of private healthcare in the United States (which is often a big concern for travelers and immigrants). Nutrition advisors can even help you navigate unfamiliar foods and menus in the cafeteria. Your campus will make sure that you’re safe and have options for wellness.

In particular, dedicated international student offices will help you get settled in your environment and overcome common roadblocks. These departments also typically organize fun events for international students such as dinners, day trips, and the chance to hear notable speakers. 

In short, you are never on your own—there are always plenty of resources available to help you succeed.

In Conclusion

We hope this article helps you make a more informed decision about pursuing higher education in the U.S. Next, be sure to find out if a credential evaluation is necessary to achieve your goals.

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Essay on Education for School Students and Children

500+ words essay on education.

Education is an important tool which is very useful in everybody’s life. Education is what differentiates us from other living beings on earth. It makes man the smartest creature on earth. It empowers humans and gets them ready to face challenges of life efficiently. With that being said, education still remains a luxury and not a necessity in our country. Educational awareness needs to be spread through the country to make education accessible. But, this remains incomplete without first analyzing the importance of education. Only when the people realize what significance it holds, can they consider it a necessity for a good life. In this essay on Education, we will see the importance of education and how it is a doorway to success.

Importance of Education

Education is the most significant tool in eliminating poverty and unemployment . Moreover, it enhances the commercial scenario and benefits the country overall. So, the higher the level of education in a country, the better the chances of development are.

In addition, this education also benefits an individual in various ways. It helps a person take a better and informed decision with the use of their knowledge. This increases the success rate of a person in life.

Subsequently, education is also responsible for providing with an enhanced lifestyle. It gives you career opportunities that can increase your quality of life.

Similarly, education also helps in making a person independent. When one is educated enough, they won’t have to depend on anyone else for their livelihood. They will be self-sufficient to earn for themselves and lead a good life.

Above all, education also enhances the self-confidence of a person and makes them certain of things in life. When we talk from the countries viewpoint, even then education plays a significant role. Educated people vote for the better candidate of the country. This ensures the development and growth of a nation.

Get the huge list of more than 500 Essay Topics and Ideas

Doorway to Success

To say that education is your doorway to success would be an understatement. It serves as the key which will unlock numerous doors that will lead to success. This will, in turn, help you build a better life for yourself.

An educated person has a lot of job opportunities waiting for them on the other side of the door. They can choose from a variety of options and not be obligated to do something they dislike. Most importantly, education impacts our perception positively. It helps us choose the right path and look at things from various viewpoints rather than just one.

With education, you can enhance your productivity and complete a task better in comparison to an uneducated person. However, one must always ensure that education solely does not ensure success.

It is a doorway to success which requires hard work, dedication and more after which can you open it successfully. All of these things together will make you successful in life.

In conclusion, education makes you a better person and teaches you various skills. It enhances your intellect and the ability to make rational decisions. It enhances the individual growth of a person.

Education also improves the economic growth of a country . Above all, it aids in building a better society for the citizens of a country. It helps to destroy the darkness of ignorance and bring light to the world.

FAQs on Education

Q.1 Why is Education Important?

A.1 Education is important because it is responsible for the overall development of a person. It helps you acquire skills which are necessary for becoming successful in life.

Q.2 How does Education serve as a Doorway to Success?

A.2 Education is a doorway to success because it offers you job opportunities. Furthermore, it changes our perception of life and makes it better.

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More From Forbes

What we never say out loud in higher education.

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In recent years, a national conversation in the United States about the value of higher education has intensified, with growing and legitimate concerns over whether institutions are providing sufficient value or return on investment. Critics point to a misalignment between the curriculum offered and the evolving demands of the job market , alongside soaring tuition fees that seem to have no ceiling. Compounding this issue, the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES) has revealed that only about 41% of students graduate with a four-year degree within four years , highlighting a stark inefficiency within the system. Moreover, higher education purports to be rooted in scientific analysis and academic freedom, yet, when confronted with such inefficiencies, the tendency is to run, hide, and obfuscate rather than address with the intellectual prowess warranted.

The necessity for an open dialogue about the state of higher education is clear, yet such discussions are seldom conducted with the transparency and honesty needed. The challenges facing higher education are not insurmountable, but they require a willingness to confront systemic and historical issues head-on and to implement meaningful reforms that can rebuild trust and fulfill the educational promise to students.

To initiate change, it is crucial to understand the barriers that hinder student progress. The origins of higher education , rooted in the post-Enlightenment period, were designed to cater to a select, elite segment of society ( almost exclusively wealthy white men ) with a focus on generating knowledge. This historical backdrop explains why many institutions today sometimes prioritize research (loosely defined) over teaching, often at the expense of student-centric approaches. This disconnect suggests a deep-seated structural issue within higher education, where the emphasis on creating knowledge does not always align with the needs and aspirations of a diverse student body.

With that history and focus in mind, it is easier to understand why many of the industry's challenges stem from the very roots of higher education. Historically, education was not about the student; it was about the knowledge. That set the stage for the traditional college or university experience to be centered around the faculty and their role in the advancement of knowledge. Unfortunately, this has created a flawed framework that is not sustainable.

Why is it that the primary workforce in universities and colleges – the faculty – is not trained to do an essential job, that is, teach? You would be hard-pressed to identify another nonprofit or for-profit business that takes this approach toward hiring. The majority of university and college instructors are selected for their advanced degrees and specialized content knowledge, rather than their teaching abilities. Unlike K-12 educators, who undergo extensive training in pedagogy, higher education instructors lack formal preparation in teaching methods and curriculum design, yet “own” the curriculum within most institutions, deciding what to teach in class and how. This discrepancy contributes to a range of issues, including lower student success rates, prolonged degree completion times, outdated or irrelevant curricula, and increased student debt. Although some institutions are making incremental strides in addressing these issues, the lack of teaching preparedness remains a systemic flaw that requires urgent attention.

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Faculty education is not the only challenge. Higher education is in the midst of a staffing crisis . The structural and support systems within higher education institutions frequently fall short of meeting the modern needs of students. Beyond not having the support framework to address individual student needs, students today face a myriad of obstacles that impede their academic and personal development , in part due to the inadequate governance models that stifle innovation at the institutional level and adaptation to a lack of financial support and planning.

Additionally, the broken financial models governing many colleges and universities are exacerbating the affordability crisis , limiting access to education and contributing to the ballooning student debt problem. Who made the decision that colleges needed more rock-climbing walls over more pressing needs such as mental health?

To move forward, higher education must engage in the productive dialogue that drives real change so the industry can undergo a profound transformation that involves rethinking its foundational priorities and practices. This includes a shift towards putting the student at the center of every part of the experience and teaching excellence and curriculum relevance are paramount in a meaningful rather than cursory fashion. Institutions need to develop robust support systems that address the holistic needs of students, ensuring that everyone, regardless of their background, has the opportunity to succeed. Moreover, governance structures and financial models must be reevaluated to promote agility and responsiveness to changing educational landscapes.

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What Is Teaching Excellence?

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College and university faculty are expected to be excellent teachers. In public, college leaders emphasize to potential students and their parents that at their institution, teaching matters above all else. Colleges seem to unabashedly promote that the teaching done by their faculty is markedly better than at peer institutions -- or that the opportunities for close working relationships between students and faculty are unique to their campus.  

Many small colleges rest their laurels on the value they place on teaching excellence. From day one faculty members know that they will primarily be evaluated for tenure and promotion based on their role as teachers. Colleges and universities have Centers for Teaching Excellence to further demonstrate that they value teaching and provide support to faculty. Promotion and tenure committees scrutinize faculty dossiers -- syllabuses, assignments, exams and ubiquitous teaching evaluations -- looking for evidence that faculty members are indeed excellent teachers. Faculty attend workshops and conferences about teaching. Most academic disciplines have professional societies committed to improving the teaching and learning process; some even publish peer-reviewed pedagogical journals where scholars report on the effectiveness of teaching methods and assessment as well as sharing innovative ideas for classroom demonstrations and assignments.

There is no shortage of lip service from various academic ranks on the value of teaching excellence. Faculty and administrators alike -- particularly at small liberal arts colleges and comprehensive universities -- make concerted efforts through programming and institutional investments with the aim of improving teaching.

But what exactly is teaching excellence? Institutional commitments, workshops, conferences and journals, all sharing the intent of improving teaching and content delivery, do not necessarily translate to a universal agreement on exactly what it is we are improving.

I suspect that, at most colleges and universities, teaching excellence is primarily defined by how a subject is taught. Notwithstanding the fact that the value and weight placed on teaching vary across institutional type, for promotion and tenure most faculty likely collate the same sorts of artifacts -- collections of materials such as students’ course evaluations, teaching philosophies, syllabuses, assignments, exams, letters detailing classroom observations and so on. These items along with a faculty member’s own narrative often are the primary metrics promotion and tenure committees use to gauge a candidate’s competency as a teacher.

But all these measures share a common focus on the delivery of a course’s content. A heavy burden is placed upon the faculty member at promotion time to document that he or she effectively communicates the information to students, that students appreciate a faculty member’s enthusiasm for the subject matter, that students enjoy how a course is structured, that the faculty member participates in professional development related to teaching and implements innovative pedagogy, and that faculty members provide evidence of growth and improvement during the pretenure years, most often targeting content delivery.

What I see as a fundamental problem in defining teaching excellence within the academy today is a flawed assumption that evaluating course materials (assignments, exams, etc.) and instructor habits (shows up on time, seems prepared for class, effectively uses technology, etc.) automatically translates into an evaluation of what students truly receive from instructors. Much emphasis is placed on what the instructor does but very little is placed on asking students what they actually learn -- very rarely are students pointedly asked about their growth and intellectual maturation over the semester, as opposed to whether they enjoyed the experience.

I find it absurd that decisions about teaching excellence in promotion and tenure cases can come down to generic questions that ask students to rate the quality of the instructor (excellent good, fair, etc.) and possibly the quality of the course. How can students decide what is excellent when no operational definition of excellence is ever given to them?

But this essay is not so much about lamenting the shortcomings of course evaluations as it is about challenging colleges and their faculty to recalibrate how they think about teaching excellence. Is there really any measurable difference between teaching at deep-pocketed prestigious colleges like those found near the top of U.S. News & World Report rankings and the many second- and third-tier colleges and universities? Sure, colleges with more resources and expendable revenue can offer students more than cash-strapped, tuition-dependent institutions. More financially stable institutions can ratchet up the quality of teaching facilities, laboratories and libraries; they can offer higher salaries and start-up packages, which could do more to recruit and retain faculty; and they can do more to provide in-house funding to both faculty and students for undergraduate research. But do these factors that seemingly advantage the wealthier and often more selective institutions really matter?

Some scholars cluster elements of excellent teaching into one of three categories: teaching, communication and attitudes toward students. Probably most would agree that being a good teacher requires having expertise in the subject matter as well as a willingness to actively involve students in the learning process. And faculty should not only effectively communicate information in the classroom but also provide consistent and timely feedback to students on assignments. Respecting students as adults and having a good rapport with them fosters an environment conducive to learning, which in turn helps students to become effective problem solvers and to take ownership over their own learning. Regardless of institutional setting, one will find faculty members who excel on these very attributes. Note that not one of these is tied to metrics of an institution’s wealth, retention rate or selectivity.  

Possibly most important of the three categories is the last: faculty attitudes toward students. Being an excellent teacher means more than designing and delivering an effective lecture or being able to foster thought-provoking classroom discussions. Effective teaching extends beyond the classroom; faculty should take a sincere interest in their students and make an effort to get to know them on a personal level. Students really want to get to know their professors, too, and when they develop meaningful relationships with us, it can have a positive effect on their work ethic and increase confidence in their ability. I think students who enjoy being around their professors are more likely to go to class, are more active in class and are generally more apt to seek help from faculty outside of class.

Colleges promote these very ideals by attempting to sway parents and potential students with their student-faculty ratios, their small class sizes, their sense of community and their approachable faculty -- all of which are meant to nurture students’ intellectual growth and provide them the quintessential college experience. And these are all qualities that may foster a culture of excellent teaching, but they do not guarantee one. As faculty members, we should be interested in and concerned about the student as a whole individual. No matter the institutional type, when faculty show a sincere interest in their students both on personal and academic levels, it can have transformative results in their habits, their success in our classes, their growth as students and most importantly, their social and emotional development as young adults. 

Despite the diversity of institutional missions, surely all colleges and universities purport that their students leave with the knowledge and skills needed to be active and engaged citizens who will make a difference in the places they live, work and serve. Most would agree that faculty members -- and in particular professors in their role as teachers -- exert tremendous influence on their students' maturation during the college years. Maybe discussions about what is or what is not excellent teaching need to be rethought to actually capture the impact faculty have on their students’ lives. This is not to discount the summative and formative value of teaching evaluations -- faculty must be competent teachers and while current metrics likely do little to discriminate excellent from merely good teachers, they reliably identify dismal ones.

Yet it seems that colleges continue to define teaching excellence primarily based on what students say on course evaluations. But the extent of our influence upon students goes beyond how we may inform, inspire, motivate or challenge them in a course. How we connect with particular students, the mentorship we may provide them in a variety of contexts, our role as their advisers and generally the myriad of other ways we positively affect them -- these all contribute to excellent teaching. Though documenting these activities is challenging and impossible to quantify, their exposition would nicely augment the formal metrics so common to the academy.

In short, course evaluations are so entrenched in the fabric of the modern university that their use is certain to continue. Maybe colleges and universities could encourage and enact more flexible ways to define teaching excellence, so that when collated with student evaluations and other evidence, they would provide a much richer and more exhaustive characterization of the impact faculty truly have on their students.

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How the Diploma Divide Is Remaking American Politics

Education is at the heart of this country’s many divisions..

Blue America is an increasingly wealthy and well-educated place.

Throughout the second half of the 20th century, Americans without college degrees were more likely than university graduates to vote Democratic. But that gap began narrowing in the late 1960s before finally flipping in 2004 .

John F. Kennedy lost college-educated voters by a two-to-one margin yet won the presidency thanks to overwhelming support among white voters without a degree. Sixty years later, our second Catholic president charted a much different path to the White House, losing non-college-educated whites by a two-to-one margin while securing 60 percent of the college-educated vote. The latest New York Times /Siena poll of the 2022 midterms showed this pattern holding firm, with Democrats winning 55 percent of voters with bachelor’s degrees but only 39 percent of those without.

A more educated Democratic coalition is, naturally, a more affluent one. In every presidential election from 1948 to 2012, white voters in the top 5 percent of America’s income distribution were more Republican than those in the bottom 95 percent. Now, the opposite is true: Among America’s white majority, the rich voted to the left of the middle class and the poor in 2016 and 2020, while the poor voted to the right of the middle class and the rich.

In political-science parlance, the collapse of the New Deal–era alignment — in which voters’ income levels strongly predicted their partisan preference — is often referred to as “class dealignment.” The increasing tendency for politics to divide voters along educational lines, meanwhile, is known as “education polarization.”

There are worse things for a political coalition to be than affluent or educated. Professionals vote and donate at higher rates than blue-collar workers. But college graduates also comprise a minority of the electorate — and an underrepresented minority at that. America’s electoral institutions all give disproportionate influence to parts of the country with low levels of educational attainment. And this is especially true of the Senate . Therefore, if the coalitional trends of the past half-century continue unabated — and Democrats keep gaining college-educated votes at the expense of working-class ones — the party will find itself locked out of federal power. Put differently, such a development would put an increasingly authoritarian GOP on the glide path to political dominance.

And unless education polarization is substantially reversed , progressives are likely to continue seeing their reform ambitions pared back sharply by Congress’s upper chamber, even when Democrats manage to control it.

These realities have generated a lively intra-Democratic debate over the causes and implications of class dealignment. To some pundits , consultants, and data journalists , the phenomenon’s fundamental cause is the cultural divide between educated professionals and the working class. In their telling, college graduates in general — and Democratic college graduates in particular — tend to have different social values, cultural sensibilities, and issue priorities than the median non-college-educated voter. As the New York Times ’s Nate Cohn puts the point, college graduates tend to be more cosmopolitan and culturally liberal, report higher levels of social trust, and are more likely to “attribute racial inequality, crime, and poverty to complex structural and systemic problems” rather than “individualist and parochial explanations.”

What’s more, since blue America’s journalists, politicians, and activists are overwhelmingly college graduates, highly educated liberals exert disproportionate influence over their party’s actions and identity. Therefore, as the Democrats’ well-credentialed wing has swelled, the party’s image and ideological positioning have grown more reflective of the professional class’s distinct tastes — and thus less appealing to the electorate’s working-class majority.

This theory does not sit well with all Democratic journalists, politicians, and activists. Some deny the existence of a diploma divide on cultural values, while others insist on its limited political salience. Many progressives attribute class dealignment to America’s pathological racial politics and/or the Democrats’ failures of economic governance . In this account, the New Deal coalition was unmade by a combination of a backlash to Black Americans’ growing prominence in Democratic politics and the Democratic Party’s failures to prevent its former working-class base from suffering decades of stagnant living standards and declining life expectancy .

An appreciation of these developments is surely indispensable for understanding class dealignment in the United States. But they don’t tell the whole story. Education polarization is not merely an American phenomenon; it is a defining feature of contemporary politics in nearly every western democracy . It is therefore unlikely that our nation’s white-supremacist history can fully explain the development. And though center-left parties throughout the West have shared some common failings, these inadequacies cannot tell us why many working-class voters have not merely dropped out of politics but rather begun voting for parties even more indifferent to their material interests.

In my view, education polarization cannot be understood without a recognition of the values divide between educated professionals and working people in the aggregate. That divide is rooted in each class’s disparate ways of life, economic imperatives, socialization experiences, and levels of material security. By itself, the emergence of this gap might not have been sufficient to trigger class dealignment, but its adverse political implications have been greatly exacerbated by the past half-century of inequitable growth, civic decline, and media fragmentation.

The college-educated population has distinct ideological tendencies and psychological sensibilities.

Educated professionals tend to be more socially liberal than the general public. In fact, the correlation between high levels of educational attainment and social liberalism is among the most robust in political science. As early as the 1950s, researchers documented the tendency of college graduates to espouse more progressive views than the general public on civil liberties and gender roles. In the decades since, as the political scientist Elizabeth Simon writes , this correlation has held up with “remarkable geographical and temporal consistency.” Across national boundaries and generations, voters with college degrees have been more likely than those without to support legal abortion, LGBTQ+ causes, the rights of racial minorities, and expansive immigration. They are also more likely to hold “post-material” policy priorities — which is to say, to prioritize issues concerning individual autonomy, cultural values, and big-picture social goals above those concerning one’s immediate material and physical security. This penchant is perhaps best illustrated by the highly educated’s distinctively strong support for environmental causes, even in cases when ecological preservation comes at a cost to economic growth.

Underlying these disparate policy preferences are distinct psychological profiles. The college educated are more likely to espouse moral values and attitudes associated with the personality trait “ openness to experience .” High “openness” individuals are attracted to novelty, skeptical of traditional authority, and prize personal freedom and cultural diversity. “Closed” individuals, by contrast, have an aversion to the unfamiliar and are therefore attracted to moral principles that promote certainty, order, and security. Virtually all human beings fall somewhere between these two ideal types. But the college educated as a whole are closer to the “open” end of the continuum than the general public is.

All of these distinctions between more- and less-educated voters are probabilistic, not absolute. There are Catholic theocrats with Harvard Ph.D.’s and anarchists who dropped out of high school. A nation the size of the U.S. is surely home to many millions of working-class social liberals and well-educated reactionaries. Political attitudes do not proceed automatically from any demographic characteristic, class position, or psychological trait. At the individual level, ideology is shaped by myriad historical inheritances and social experiences.

And yet, if people can come by socially liberal, “high openness” politics from any walk of life, they are much more likely to do so if that walk cuts across a college campus. (And, of course, they are even more likely to harbor this distinct psychological and ideological profile if they graduate from college and then choose to become professionally involved in Democratic politics.)

The path to the professional class veers left.

There are a few theoretical explanations for this. One holds that spending your late adolescence on a college campus tends to socialize you into cultural liberalism: Through some combination of increased exposure to people from a variety of geographic backgrounds, or the iconoclastic ethos of a liberal-arts education, or the predominantly left-of-center university faculty , or the substantive content of curricula, people tend to leave college with a more cosmopolitan and “open” worldview than they had upon entering.

Proving this theory is difficult since doing so requires controlling for selection effects. Who goes to college is not determined by random chance. The subset of young people who have the interests, aptitudes, and opportunities necessary for pursuing higher education have distinct characteristics long before they show up on campus. Some social scientists contend that such “selection effects” entirely explain the distinct political tendencies of college graduates. After all, the “high openness” personality trait is associated with higher IQs and more interest in academics. So perhaps attending college doesn’t lead people to develop culturally liberal sensibilities so much as developing culturally liberal sensibilities leads people to go to college.

Some research has tried to account for this possibility. Political scientists in the United Kingdom have managed to control for the preadult views and backgrounds of college graduates by exploiting surveys that tracked the same respondents through adolescence and into adulthood. Two recent analyses of such data have found that the college experience does seem to directly increase a person’s likelihood of becoming more socially liberal in their 20s than they were in their teens.

A separate study from the U.S. sought to control for the effects of familial background and childhood experiences by examining the disparate “sociopolitical” attitudes of sibling pairs in which one went to college while the other did not. It found that attending college was associated with greater “support for civil liberties and egalitarian gender-role beliefs.”

Other recent research , however, suggests that even these study designs may fail to control for all of the background factors that bias college attendees toward liberal views before they arrive on campus. So we have some good evidence that attending college directly makes people more culturally liberal, but that evidence is not entirely conclusive.

Yet if one posits that higher education does not produce social liberals but merely attracts them, a big theoretical problem remains: Why has the population of social liberals increased in tandem with that of college graduates?

The proportion of millennials who endorse left-wing views on issues of race, gender, immigration , and the environment is higher than the proportion of boomers who do so. And such views are more prevalent within the baby-boom generation than they were among the Silent Generation. This cannot be explained merely as a consequence of America’s burgeoning racial diversity, since similar generational patterns have been observed in European nations with lower rates of ethnic change. But the trend is consistent with another component of demographic drift: Each successive generation has had a higher proportion of college graduates than its predecessor. Between 1950 and 2019, the percentage of U.S. adults with bachelor’s degrees increased from 4 percent to 33 percent.  

Perhaps rising college attendance did not directly cause the “high-openness,” post-material, culturally progressive proportion of the population to swell. But then, what did?

One possibility is that, even if mass college attendance does not directly promote the development of “high openness” values, the mass white-collar economy does. If socially liberal values are well suited to the demands and lifeways inherent to professional employment in a globally integrated economy, then, as such employment expands, we would expect a larger share of the population to adopt socially liberal values. And there is indeed reason to think the professional vocation lends itself to social liberalism.

Entering the professional class often requires not only a four-year degree, but also, a stint in graduate school or a protracted period of overwork and undercompensation at the lowest ranks of one’s field. This gives the class’s aspirants a greater incentive to postpone procreation until later in life than the median worker. That in turn may give them a heightened incentive to favor abortion rights and liberal sexual mores.

The demands of the professional career may influence value formation in other ways. As a team of political scientists from Harvard and the University of Bonn argued in a 2020 paper , underlying the ideological divide between social liberals and conservatives may be a divergence in degrees of “moral universalism,” i.e., “the extent to which people’s altruism and trust remain constant as social distance increases.” Conservatives tend to feel stronger obligations than liberals to their own kin and neighbors and their religious, ethnic, and racial groups. Liberals, by contrast, tend to spread their altruism and trust thinner across a wider sphere of humanity; they are less compelled by the particularist obligations of inherited group loyalties and more apt to espouse a universalist ethos in which all individuals are of equal moral concern, irrespective of their group attachments.

Given that pursuing a professional career often requires leaving one’s native community and entering meritocratic institutions that are ideologically and legally committed to the principle that group identities matter less than individual aptitudes, the professional vocation may favor the development of a morally universalistic outlook — and thus more progressive views on questions of anti-discrimination and weaker identification with inherited group identities.

Further, in a globalized era, white-collar workers will often need to work with colleagues on other continents and contemplate social and economic developments in far-flung places. This may encourage both existing and aspiring professionals to develop more cosmopolitan outlooks.

Critically, parents who are themselves professionals — or who aspire for their children to secure a place in the educated, white-collar labor force — may seek to inculcate these values in their kids from a young age. For example, my own parents sent me to a magnet elementary school where students were taught Japanese starting in kindergarten. This curriculum was designed to appeal to parents concerned with their children’s capacity to thrive in the increasingly interconnected (and, in the early 1990s American imagination, increasingly Japanese-dominated) economy of tomorrow.

In this way, the expansion of the white-collar sector may increase the prevalence of “high-openness” cosmopolitan traits and values among rising generations long before they arrive on campus.

More material security, more social liberalism.

Ronald Inglehart’s theory of “ cultural evolution ” provides a third, complementary explanation for both the growing prevalence of social liberalism over the past half-century and for that ideology’s disproportionate popularity among the college educated.

In Inglehart’s account, people who experience material security in youth tend to develop distinctive values and preferences from those who do not: If childhood teaches you to take your basic material needs for granted, you’re more likely to develop culturally progressive values and post-material policy priorities.

Inglehart first formulated this theory in 1971 to explain the emerging cultural gap between the baby boomers and their parents. He noted that among western generations born before World War II, very large percentages had known hunger at some point in their formative years. The Silent Generation, for its part, had come of age in an era of economic depression and world wars. Inglehart argued that such pervasive material and physical insecurity was unfavorable soil for social liberalism: Under conditions of scarcity, human beings have a strong inclination to defer to established authority and tradition, to distrust out-groups, and to prize order and material security above self-expression and individual autonomy.

But westerners born into the postwar boom encountered a very different world from the Depression-wracked, war-torn one of their parents, let alone the cruel and unforgiving one encountered by common agriculturalists since time immemorial. Their world was one of rapid and widespread income growth. And these unprecedentedly prosperous conditions engendered a shift in the postwar generation’s values: When the boomers reached maturity, an exceptionally large share of the cohort evinced post-material priorities and espoused tolerance for out-groups, support for gender equality, concern for the environment, and antipathy for social hierarchies.

Since this transformation in values wasn’t rooted merely in the passage of time — but rather in the experience of abundance — it did not impact all social classes equally. Educated professionals are disproportionately likely to have had stable, middle-class childhoods. Thus, across the West, the post-material minority was disproportionately composed of college graduates in general and elite ones in particular. As Inglehart reported in 1981 , “among those less than 35 years old with jobs that lead to top management and top civil-service posts, Post-Materialists outnumber Materialists decisively: their numerical preponderance here is even greater than it is among students.”  

As with most big-picture models of political development, Inglehart’s theory is reductive and vulnerable to myriad objections. But his core premise — that, all else being equal, material abundance favors social liberalism while scarcity favors the opposite — has much to recommend it. As the World Values Survey has demonstrated, a nation’s degree of social liberalism (a.k.a. “self-expression values”) tightly correlates with its per-capita income. Meanwhile, as nations become wealthier, each successive generation tends to become more socially liberal than the previous one.

Critically, the World Values Survey data does not show an ineluctable movement toward ever-greater levels of social liberalism. Rather, when nations backslide economically, their populations’ progressivism declines. In the West, recessions have tended to reduce the prevalence of post-material values and increase support for xenophobic parties. But the relationship between material security and cultural liberalism is demonstrated most starkly by the experience of ex-communist states, many of which suffered a devastating collapse in living standards following the Soviet Union’s fall. In Russia and much of Eastern Europe, popular support for culturally progressive values plummeted around 1990 and has remained depressed ever since.

Inglehart’s theory offers real insights. As an account of education polarization, however, it presents a bit of a puzzle: If material security is the key driver of social liberalism, why have culture wars bifurcated electorates along lines of education instead of income? Put differently: Despite the material security provided by a high salary, when one controls for educational attainment, having a high income remains strongly associated with voting for conservatives.

One way to resolve this tension is to stipulate that the first two theories of education polarization we examined are also right: While material security is conducive to social liberalism, the college experience and demands of professional-class vocations are perhaps even more so. Thus, high-income voters who did not go to college will tend to be less socially liberal than those who did.

Separately, earning a high income is strongly associated with holding conservative views on fiscal policy. Therefore, even if the experience of material security biases high-income voters toward left-of-center views on cultural issues, their interest in low taxes may nevertheless compel them to vote for right-wing parties.

Voters with high levels of education but low incomes, meanwhile, are very often children of the middle class who made dumb career choices like, say, going into journalism. Such voters’ class backgrounds would theoretically bias them toward a socially liberal orientation, while their meager earnings would give them little reason to value conservative fiscal policy. Perhaps for this reason, “ high-education low-income voters ” are among the most reliably left-wing throughout the western world.

In any case, whatever qualifications and revisions we would wish to make to Inglehart’s theory, one can’t deny its prescience. In 1971, Inglehart forecast that intergenerational value change would redraw the lines of political conflict throughout the West. In his telling, the emergence of a novel value orientation that was disproportionately popular with influential elites would naturally shift the terrain of political conflict. And it would do so in a manner that undermined materialist, class-based voting: If conventional debates over income distribution pulled at the affluent right and the working-class left, the emerging cultural disputes pulled each in the opposite direction.

This proved to be, in the words of Gabriel Almond, “one of the few examples of successful prediction in political science.”

When the culture wars moved to the center of politics, the college educated moved left.

Whether we attribute the social liberalism of college graduates to their experiences on campus, their class’s incentive structures, their relative material security, or a combination of all three, a common set of predictions about western political development follows.

First, we would expect to see the political salience of cultural conflicts start to increase in the 1960s and ’70s as educated professionals became a mass force in western politics. Second, relatedly, we would expect that the historic correlation between having a college degree and voting for the right would start gradually eroding around the same time, owing to the heightened prominence of social issues.

Finally, we would expect education polarization to be most pronounced in countries where (1) economic development is most advanced (and thus the professional sector is most expansive) and (2) left-wing and right-wing parties are most sharply divided on cultural questions.

In their paper “Changing Political Cleavages in 21 Western Democracies, 1948–2020,” Amory Gethin, Clara Martínez-Toledano, and Thomas Piketty confirm all of these expectations.

The paper analyzes nearly every manifesto (a.k.a. “platform”) put forward by left-wing and right-wing parties in the past 300 elections. As anticipated by Inglehart, the researchers found that right-wing and left-wing parties began to develop distinct positions on “sociocultural” issues in the 1970s and that these distinctions grew steadily more profound over the ensuing 50 years. Thus, the salience of cultural issues did indeed increase just as college graduates became an electorally significant demographic.

As cultural conflict became more prominent, educated professionals became more left-wing. Controlling for other variables, in the mid-20th century, having a college diploma made one more likely to vote for parties of the right. By 2020, in virtually all of the western democracies, this relationship had inverted.

Some popular narratives attribute this realignment to discrete historical events, such as the Cold War’s end, China’s entry into the WTO, or the 2008 crash. But the data show no sudden reversal in education’s political significance. Instead, the authors write, the West saw “a very progressive, continuous reversal of educational divides, which unfolded decades before any of these events took place and has carried on uninterruptedly until today.” This finding is consistent with the notion that class dealignment is driven by gradual changes in western societies’ demographic and economic characteristics, such as the steady expansion of the professional class.

The paper provides further support for the notion that education polarization is a by-product of economic development: The three democracies where college-educated voters have not moved sharply to the left in recent decades — Ireland, Portugal, and Spain — are all relative latecomers to industrialization.

Finally, and perhaps most important, the authors established a strong correlation between “sociocultural polarization” — the degree to which right-wing and left-wing parties emphasize sharply divergent cultural positions — and education polarization. In other words: Countries where parties are highly polarized on social issues tend to have electorates that are highly polarized along educational lines.

It seems reasonable then to conclude (1) that there really is a cultural divide between educated professionals and the working class in the aggregate and (2) that this gap has been a key driver of class dealignment. Indeed, if we accept the reality of the diploma divide, then an increase of education-based voting over the past 50 years would seem almost inevitable: If you have two social groups with distinct cultural values and one group goes from being 4 percent of the electorate to 35 percent of it, debates about those values will probably become more politically prominent.

And of course, mass higher education wasn’t the only force increasing the salience of social conflict in the West over the past half-century. If economic development increased the popularity of “post-material” values, it also made it easier for marginalized groups to contest traditional hierarchies. As job opportunities for women expanded, they became less dependent on the patriarchal family for material security and thus were more liable to challenge it. As racial minorities secured a foothold in the middle class, they had more resources with which to fight discrimination.

And yet, if an increase in sociocultural polarization — and thus in education polarization — is a foregone conclusion, the magnitude of these shifts can’t be attributed to the existence of cultural divides alone.

Rather, transformations in the economic, civic, and media landscapes of western society since the 1970s have increased the salience and severity of the diploma divide.

When the postwar bargain collapsed, the center-left failed to secure workers a new deal.

To polarize an electorate around cultural conflicts rooted in education, you don’t just need to increase the salience of social issues. You also need to reduce the salience of material disputes rooted in class. Alas, the economic developments of the past 50 years managed to do both.

The class-based alignment that defined western politics in the mid-20th century emerged from a particular set of economic conditions. In the early stages of industrialization, various factors had heightened the class consciousness of wage laborers. Such workers frequently lived in densely settled, class-segregated neighborhoods in the immediate vicinity of large labor-intensive plants. This close proximity cultivated solidarity, as divisions between the laborer’s working and social worlds were few. And the vast scale of industrial enterprises abetted organizing drives, as trade unions could rapidly gain scale by winning over a single shop.

By encouraging their members to view politics through the lens of class and forcing political elites to reckon with workers’ demands, strong trade unions helped to keep questions of income distribution and workers’ rights at the center of political debate and the forefront of voters’ minds. In so doing, they also helped to win western workers in general — and white male ones in particular — unprecedented shares of national income.

But this bargain between business and labor had always been contingent on robust growth. In the postwar era of rising productivity, it was possible for profits and wages to increase in tandem. But in the 1970s, western economies came under stress. Rising energy costs and global competition thinned profit margins, rendering business owners more hostile to labor’s demands both within the shop and in politics. Stagflation — the simultaneous appearance of high unemployment and high inflation — gave an opening to right-wing critics of the postwar order, who argued that the welfare state and pro-labor macroeconomic policies had sapped productivity.

Meanwhile, various long-term economic trends began undermining industrial unionism. Automation inevitably reduced the labor intensity of factories in the West. The advent of the shipping container eased the logistical burdens of globalizing production, while the industrialization of low-wage developing countries increased the incentives for doing so. Separately, as western consumers grew more affluent, they began spending less of their income on durable goods and more on services like health care (one needs only so many toasters, but the human desire for greater longevity and physical well-being is nigh-insatiable). These developments reduced both the economic leverage and the political weight of industrial workers. And since western service sectors had lower rates of unionization, deindustrialization weakened organized labor.

All this presented center-left parties with a difficult challenge. In the face of deindustrialization, an increasingly anti-labor corporate sector, an increasingly conservative economic discourse, an embattled union movement, and a globalizing economy, such parties needed to formulate new models for achieving shared prosperity. And they had to do so while managing rising cultural tensions within their coalitions.

They largely failed.

Countering the postindustrial economy’s tendencies toward inequality would have required radical reforms. Absent policies promoting the unionization of the service sector, deindustrialization inevitably weakened labor. Absent drastic changes in the allocation of posttax income, automation and globalization redistributed economic gains away from “low skill” workers and toward the most productive — or well-situated — professionals, executives, and entrepreneurs.

The United States had more power than any western nation to standardize such reforms and establish a relatively egalitarian postindustrial model. Yet the Democratic Party could muster neither the political will nor the imagination to do so. Instead, under Jimmy Carter, it acquiesced to various policies that reinforced the postindustrial economy’s tendencies toward inequality, while outsourcing key questions of economic management to financial markets and the Federal Reserve. The Reagan administration took this inegalitarian and depoliticized model of economic governance to new extremes. And to highly varying degrees, its inequitable and market-fundamentalist creed influenced the policies of future U.S. administrations and other western governments.

As a result, the past five decades witnessed a great divergence in the economic fortunes of workers with and without college diplomas, while the western working class (a.k.a. the “lower middle class”) became the primary “losers” of globalization .

The center-left parties’ failures to avert a decline in the economic security and status of ordinary workers discredited them with much of their traditional base. And their failure to reinvigorate organized labor undermined the primary institutions that politicize workers into a progressive worldview. These shortcomings, combined with the market’s increasingly dominant role in economic management, reduced the political salience of left-right divides on economic policy. This in turn gave socially conservative working-class voters fewer reasons to vote for center-left parties and gave affluent social liberals fewer reasons to oppose them. In western nations where organized labor remains relatively strong (such as Norway, Sweden, and Finland), education polarization has been relatively mild, while in those countries where it is exceptionally weak (such as the United States), the phenomenon has been especially pronounced.

Finally, the divergent economic fortunes of workers and professionals might have abetted education polarization in one other way: Given that experiencing abundance encourages social liberalism — while experiencing scarcity discourages it — the past half-century of inequitable growth might have deepened cultural divisions between workers with degrees and those without.

The professionalization of civil society estranged the left from its working-class base.

While the evolution of western economies increased the class distance between college graduates and other workers, the evolution of western civil societies increased the social distance between each group.

Back in the mid-20th century, the college educated still constituted a tiny minority of western populations, while mass-membership institutions — from trade unions to fraternal organizations to political parties — still dominated civic life. In that context, an educated professional who wished to exercise political influence often needed to join a local chapter of a cross-class civic association or political party and win election to a leadership position within that organization by securing the confidence of its membership.

That changed once educated professionals became a mass constituency in their own right. As the college-educated population ballooned and concentrated itself within urban centers, it became easier for interest groups to swing elections and pressure lawmakers without securing working-class support. At the same time, the proliferation of “knowledge workers” set off an arms race between interest and advocacy groups looking to influence national legislation and election outcomes. Job opportunities for civic-minded professionals in think tanks, nonprofits, and foundations proliferated. And thanks to growing pools of philanthropic money and the advent of direct-mail fundraising, these organizations could sustain themselves without recruiting an active mass membership.

Thus, the professional’s path to political influence dramatically changed. Instead of working one’s way up through close-knit local groups — and bending them toward one’s political goals through persuasion — professionals could join (or donate to) nationally oriented advocacy groups already aligned with their preferences, which could then advance their policy aims by providing legislators with expert guidance and influencing public opinion through media debates.

As the political scientist Theda Skocpol demonstrates in her book Diminished Democracy , college graduates began defecting from mass-membership civic organizations in the 1970s, in an exodus that helped precipitate their broader decline.

Combined with the descent of organized labor, the collapse of mass participation in civic groups and political parties untethered the broad left from working-class constituencies. As foundation-funded NGOs displaced trade unions in the progressive firmament, left-wing parties became less directly accountable to their less-educated supporters. This made such parties more liable to embrace the preferences and priorities of educated professionals over those of the median working-class voter.

Meanwhile, in the absence of a thriving civic culture, voters became increasingly reliant on the mass media for their political information.

Today’s media landscape is fertile terrain for right-wing populism.

The dominant media technology of the mid-20th century — broadcast television — favored oligopoly. Given the exorbitant costs of mounting a national television network in that era, the medium was dominated by a small number of networks, each with an incentive to appeal to a broad audience. This discouraged news networks from cultivating cultural controversy while empowering them to establish a broadly shared information environment.

Cable and the internet have molded a radically different media landscape. Today, news outlets compete in a hypersaturated attentional market that encourages both audience specialization and sensationalism. In a world where consumers have abundant infotainment options, voters who read at a graduate-school level and those who read at an eighth-grade level are unlikely to favor the same content. And the same is true of voters with liberal and conservative sensibilities — especially since the collapse of a common media ecosystem leads ideologues to occupy disparate factual universes. The extraordinary nature of today’s media ecology is well illustrated by this chart from Martin Gurri’s book, The Revolt of the Public :

This information explosion abets education polarization for straightforward reasons: Since the college educated and non-college educated have distinct tastes in media, in a highly competitive attentional market, they will patronize different outlets and accept divergent facts.

Further, in the specific economic and social context we’ve been examining, the modern media environment is fertile terrain for reactionary entrepreneurs who wish to cultivate grievance against the professional elite. After all, as we’ve seen, that elite (1) subscribes to some values that most working-class people reject, (2) commandeers a wildly disproportionate share of national income and economic status, and (3) dominates the leadership of major political parties and civic groups to an unprecedented degree.

The political efficacy of such right-wing “populist” programming has been repeatedly demonstrated. Studies have found that exposure to Fox News increases Republican vote share and that the expansion of broadband internet into rural areas leads to higher levels of partisan hostility and lower levels of ticket splitting (i.e., more ideologically consistent voting) as culturally conservative voters gain access to more ideologically oriented national news reporting, commentary, and forums.

What is to be done?

The idea that education polarization arises from deep structural tendencies in western society may inspire a sense of powerlessness. And the notion that it emerges in part from a cultural divide between professionals and working people may invite ideological discomfort, at least among well-educated liberals.

But the fact that some center-left parties have managed to retain more working-class support than others suggests that the Democrats have the capacity to broaden (or narrow) their coalition. Separately, the fact that college-educated liberals have distinct social values does not require us to forfeit them.

The commentators most keen to acknowledge the class dimensions of the culture wars typically aim to discredit the left by doing so. Right-wing polemicists often suggest that progressives’ supposedly compassionate social preferences are mere alibis for advancing the professional class’s material interests. But such arguments are almost invariably weak. Progressive social views may be consonant with professional-class interests, but they typically represent attempts to universalize widely held ideals of freedom and equality. The college educated’s cosmopolitan inclinations are also adaptive for a world that is unprecedentedly interconnected and interdependent and in which population asymmetries between the rich and developing worlds create opportunities for mutual gain through migration , if only xenophobia can be overcome. And of course, in an era of climate change, the professional class’s strong concern for the environment is more than justified.

Nevertheless, professional-class progressives must recognize that our social values are not entirely unrelated to our class position. They are not an automatic by-product of affluence and erudition, nor the exclusive property of the privileged. But humans living in rich, industrialized nations are considerably more likely to harbor these values than those in poor, agrarian ones. And Americans who had the privilege of spending their late adolescence at institutions of higher learning are more likely to embrace social liberalism than those who did not.

The practical implications of this insight are debatable. It is plausible that Democrats may be able to gain working-class vote share by moderating on some social issues. But the precise electoral payoff of any single concession to popular opinion is deeply uncertain. Voters’ conceptions of each party’s ideological positioning are often informed less by policy details than by partisan stereotypes. And the substantive costs of moderation — both for the welfare of vulnerable constituencies and the long-term health of the progressive project — can be profound. At various points in the past half-century, it might have been tactically wise for Democrats to distance themselves from the demands of organized labor. But strategically, sacrificing the health of a key partisan institution to the exigencies of a single election cycle is deeply unwise. Meanwhile, in the U.S. context, the “mainstream” right has staked out some cultural positions that are profoundly unpopular with all social classes . In 2022, it is very much in the Democratic Party’s interest to increase the political salience of abortion rights.

In any case, exactly how Democrats should balance the necessity of keeping the GOP out of power with the imperative to advocate for progressive issue positions is something on which earnest liberals can disagree.

The case for progressives to be more cognizant of the diploma divide when formulating our messaging and policy priorities, however, seems clearer.

Education polarization can be self-reinforcing. As left-wing civic life has drifted away from mass-membership institutions and toward the ideologically self-selecting circles of academia, nonprofits, and the media, the left’s sensitivity to the imperatives of majoritarian politics has dulled. In some respects, the incentives for gaining status and esteem within left-wing subcultures are diametrically opposed to the requirements of coalition building. In the realm of social media, it can be advantageous to make one’s policy ideas sound more radical and/or threatening to popular values than they actually are. Thus, proposals for drastically reforming flawed yet popular institutions are marketed as plans for their “abolition,” while some advocates for reproductive rights insist that they are not merely “pro-choice” but “ pro-abortion ” (as though their objective were not to maximize bodily autonomy but rather the incidence of abortion itself, a cause that would seemingly require limiting access to contraception).

Meanwhile, the rhetoric necessary for cogently theorizing social problems within academia — and that fit for effectively selling policy reforms to a mass audience — is quite different. Political-science research indicates that theoretical abstractions tend to leave most voters cold. Even an abstraction as accessible as “inequality” resonates less with ordinary people than simply saying that the rich have too much money . Yet Democratic politicians have nevertheless taken to peppering their speeches with abstract academic terms such as structural racism .

Relatedly, in the world of nonprofits, policy wonks are often encouraged to foreground the racial implications of race-neutral redistributive policies that disproportionately benefit nonwhite constituencies. Although it is important for policy design to account for any latent racial biases in universal programs, there is reason to believe that, in a democracy with a 70 percent white electorate and widespread racial resentment, it is unwise for Democratic politicians to suggest that broadly beneficial programs primarily aid minority groups.

On the level of priority setting, it seems important for college-educated liberals to be conscious of the fact that “post-material” concerns resonate more with us than with the general public. This is especially relevant for climate strategy. Poll results and election outcomes both indicate that working-class voters are far more sensitive to the threat of rising energy prices than to that of climate change. Given that reality, the most politically viable approach to reducing emissions is likely to expedite the development and deployment of clean-energy technologies rather than deterring energy consumption through higher prices. In practice, this means prioritizing the build-out of green infrastructure over the obstruction of fossil-fuel extraction.

Of course, narrowing the social distance between college-educated liberals and working people would be even better than merely finessing it. The burgeoning unionization of white-collar professions and the growing prominence of downwardly mobile college graduates in working-class labor struggles are both encouraging developments on this front. Whatever Democrats can do to facilitate labor organizing and increase access to higher education will simultaneously advance social justice and improve the party’s long-term electoral prospects.

Finally, the correlation between material security and social liberalism underscores the urgency of progressive economic reform. Shared prosperity can be restored only by increasing the social wage of ordinary workers through some combination of unionization, sectoral bargaining, wage subsidies, and social-welfare expansion. To some extent, this represents a chicken-and-egg problem: Radical economic reforms may be a necessary precondition for the emergence of a broad progressive majority, yet a broad progressive majority is itself a precondition for radical reform.

Nevertheless, in wealthy, deep-blue states such as New York and California, Democrats have the majorities necessary for establishing a progressive economic model. At the moment, artificial constraints on the housing supply , clean-energy production, and other forms of development are sapping blue states’ economic potential . If such constraints could be overcome, the resulting economic gains would simultaneously increase working people’s living standards and render state-level social-welfare programs easier to finance. Perhaps the starting point for such a political revolution is for more-affluent social liberals to recognize that their affinity for exclusionary housing policies and aversion to taxation undermines their cultural values.

Our understanding of education polarization remains provisional. And all proposals for addressing it remain open to debate. The laws of political science are more conjectural than those of physics, and even perfect insight into political reality cannot settle disputes rooted in ideology.

But effective political engagement requires unblinkered vision. The Democratic Party’s declining support among working-class voters is a serious problem. If Democrats consider only ideologically convenient explanations for that problem, our intellectual comfort may come at the price of political power.

• political science
• higher education
• the democratic party
• the big picture

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• DOI: 10.1016/j.tsc.2024.101621
• Corpus ID: 271819160

Design-Based Learning in Higher Education: Its Effects on Students’ Motivation, Creativity and Design Skills

• Tun Zaw Oo , Timur Kadyirov , +1 author Kristian Józsa
• Published in Thinking Skills and… 1 August 2024
• Education, Psychology, Engineering

79 References

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