Education = + $$

Sometimes a picture really is worth a thousand words...

This graphic might seem a little confusing in that it's trying to show two things at once:

1. The relationship between education level (the middle section) and the rate of unemployment, and
2. The relationship between education level and salary.

Regardless of which "relationship" you're looking at, there is only one very obvious conclusion:

Education is the best investment you will ever make!

Furthermore, a college degree is (fairly or not) a universally accepted standard of knowledge and ability. By itself, it conveys a certain degree of aptitude and perseverance to employers. That's not to say that those without degrees don't have aptitude and perseverance; a degree merely indicates a high likelihood of those traits being present in the prospective employee.

Still not convinced? Visit Education Pays 2010 to read a wide variety of statistics on the advantages of having a college degree.

The above image is available as a printable poster on the Classroom Materials page.

Beyond the Dollars and Cents

But first, a definition from Merriam-Webster...

Intrinsic - belonging to the essential nature or constitution of a thing.

If there's anything in this world with intrinsic value, it's education. Why? Because through education, one gains a greater understanding of the world and of oneself.

So now you may be asking, "But I've got Google and Wikipedia; why do I need to go to an expensive college to learn about stuff?" The answer: because you don't know what you don't know.

Educational institutions exist to provide a comprehensive level of knowledge across an incredibly wide range of subjects - all taught by subject matter experts.

Simply put, without an education (and even with the help of Google), you might never be exposed to humanity's greatest ideas, inventions, and works of art. Examples (in our opinion) of these all-time greats include:

• The Analects of Confucius - a 2,500 year old (yet still influential) compendium of the "sayings of Confucius";
• The transistor - a simple invention used in virtually all electronic devices; and
• Mozart's tragically beautiful Requiem - an unfinished "Mass for the dead" written when Mozart himself was very near death.

There are those who dismiss this type of knowledge as a waste of time ("I'll never use that junk!"), and realistically, reading and understanding Plato's The Allegory of the Cave will probably not lead directly to fame and fortune. However, this knowledge will definitely enrich your life, perhaps in ways that are far more important than simply having an impressive bank account.