19 replies to this topic

[Greg]

Exactly what the title says. Is education really necessary to lead a successful life or are there other factors involved? Perhaps you think education can be thrown out of the window and it could still be possible to have a good future?

Discuss here!

[Kittyhawk]

Education is extremely necessary to be successful in life. I think really what you are asking is do we believe FORMAL education is necessary.

My answer would be no. I believe you can learn everything you ever need to know completely on your own if you truly have the desire to succeed and understand what it is you need to know.

[lil foxie elf]

If it is, my life wont go so well then.. JK

Honestly, it is important to have some education, but not necessarily a really good one. Most stuff in life you need to know, you learn from living life, not from going to school. You can learn a lot from school, just not really things you will need to know.

[Sheep01]

If it is, my life wont go so well then.. JK

Honestly, it is important to have some education, but not necessarily a really good one. Most stuff in life you need to know, you learn from living life, not from going to school. You can learn a lot from school, just not really things you will need to know.

Education is much more then recalling facts and figured from a book. That is memory, not education. A formal higher education changes the way you think, and I believe is is necessary to be a contributing member of society in the times we live in. Critical thinking is something that comes along with all this and something we as a society need a whole lot more of.

[lil foxie elf]

Education is much more then recalling facts and figured from a book. That is memory, not education. A formal higher education changes the way you think, and I believe is is necessary to be a contributing member of society in the times we live in. Critical thinking is something that comes along with all this and something we as a society need a whole lot more of.

I agree with that, its more of a mindset than anything. But I also disagree, in a way. What I am today has nothing to do with school, nor anything it has really taught me. It really depends on what you mean by education, if you mean attending school, then no, that wont really get you anywhere, all it really does is say "I can live through school, I can live through anything."

[itsMrFantastic]

I agree with all of the above statements. But I would like to point out one thing. In today's society its not WHAT you know, its WHO you know. Case and point. You can be as educated as you want and try to apply for a job, but there maybe some other person applying for the same job but they know the owner. Who do you think will get the job?

Know I realize you were talking about education in the sense of overall knowledge and the changing of how a person thinks and acts based on what they have learned. As a college student I could not agree more. I pay attention to some of the other students that I see roaming around the University. The students that pay attention to the professors and give the attention needed to the courses, act differently, a more social and knowledgeable in various amounts of subjects. Now I am not saying that people who have not attended a University or College, are not smart and knowledgeable, I am simply stating and agreeing that people who have a higher education tend to succeed more because of the greater overall understanding and knowledge. Thats my 2 cents

[Ladylee06]

Education is important, no question about it.

However it doesn't guarantee success.

Having the right attitude is what makes someone successful in my opinion.

Sure a degree will make your resume more attractive to potential employers, but unless you have the right attitude, you won't go very far.

Just my two cents.

[Spartan]

In my opinion, education is only vital to success until you know how to speak, read, write and do intermediate math. By the time you get in high school the information you need to succeed (obviously dependent on your career choice) has been repeated to you for years, therefore you don't need high school to succeed. The push for all these kids to go to college to be successful only ends with them being in 35-100+ thousand in debt with a piece of paper and no guarantee to success.

How successful you are is more dependent on how driven you are, how bad you want it. If you don't want it bad enough, you'll create a million different scenarios as to why you won't get it, and in the end you won't. Just take a look at some of the richest people in our times, and not just Bill Gates and Steve Jobs who were geniuses in their own way.

What I am today has nothing to do with school

I totally agree with that statement (from my own experience). On the topic of education, if I would have learned through the channels provide at school I would have outdated information anywhere from 4 to 8 years.

[Arilu]

Yes. Plain and simple its very vital to a successful life. Its only vital if you wanna be successful if you wanna live in some dumpster behind Wal-mart with no food be my guest and take that route but please don't come asking for drug money because I will say no.

[Spartan]

Yes. Plain and simple its very vital to a successful life. Its only vital if you wanna be successful if you wanna live in some dumpster behind Wal-mart with no food be my guest and take that route but please don't come asking for drug money because I will say no.

http://www.youngentr...college-degree/

Those 100 (and the tens (hundreds?) of thousands that aren't famous) would probably disagree , and I'm sure all of us would love to hang out with any of them behind Walmart. Some of them are geniuses in terms of the technology field, but there are also the people who didn't do anything 'genius' just hard work and dedication.

I guess I would redefine my thoughts on this topic as, if you want to be an entrepreneur then college isn't a necessity, if you want to climb another person's company ladder then college degree would help, but still a lot of debt for no guarantee.

Another thing to consider is what is successful? Being filthy rich? Being married and having a great family you get to see everyday? Being married AND filthy rich? Living off a boat on the coast of Mexico, broke but happy?

[Symbolic]

I found it quite interesting the topic of debt is brought up following a college education. In our Sunday paper this morning, there was an article about an art student who accumulated almost $100,000 in student loans. Of course, there isn't a very high demand of jobs with something that requires that particular degree. This reminded of an article I read in the Washington Post that was published by earlier this year:

A college education is not an investment in your future if you are taking out loans just for the college experience. It’s not an investment if you’re not coupling your education with training. It’s not an investment if you aren’t researching which fields are creating good-paying jobs now and 30 years from now.

I wouldn’t want to discourage people from pursuing a career they love, even if the pay isn’t very high. However, that choice should be made with the understanding of which job opportunities might be available and weighing what you can expect to earn annually against the cost of taking on debt to finance your education.

Edd, myself, along with some other RuneHQ community members had a discussion in IRC a few nights ago about "dry majors" or majors that didn't really offer any benefits after graduating. Pop in late at night and see what topics we are diving into.

[Alfawarlord]

It depends on what you think a successful life is. If you feel that you need a well-payed job, big house etc to be successful then yes. I personally think it's not needed. I've know people who didn't have much eduction yet they have a job, rent a small place, and happy family. That sounds successful to me too.

[CapuDie]

I want to say yes, because I believe proper education is very important. However there are certain people who didn't finish their education and turned out to be either very succesful, or so I think I've heard, but I've spend a few minutes looking up a few people and can't seem to find them...

grtz

[Snuff]

Depends what you want out of life, i will use myself as an example and compare myself to a theoretical character of the name "Dave"...

i want to take computer science at university and then go into full time employment in a job that involves greatly using computers, if i don't achieve this i wouldn't consider myself successful

HOWEVER

Dave may want to only go to college and may have his sights set on a lower end job that is fun to him... he achieves this and in his eyes he is successful

[Kate]

I think that education is not needed, but learning is. You do not need a formal education to succeed in life. There have been plenty of people who have less than a High-School diploma, but have made it. However, if you do not know how to learn, to think, then I feel as if you would have an extremely difficult time in life. Whether you learn street smarts, or do out of the box thinking to succeed...I believe you need at least one, if not both, of those.

[kilvehk]

i belive that in order to be successful financially a formal higher education is only necessary for the general public because society says it is. i dropped out of collage not because i couldnt do it but because i felt like i was being ripped off i was paying to be taught and i was learning nothing.i feel its wrong to require everyone to take classes that are meant for dumbasses that cant retain information from highschool to collage. there are much better systems that could be in place

[Doc]

Good education isn't necessarily vital for a successful life. However, a good education facilitates the road to a successful life. Sure, there are those who can pull off a Steve Jobs and become really successful even when they drop out of college, but the odds of that happening are very slim.

[MrStormy]

The question really is HOW Much education and What type of Education. You have kids that are Home schooled and others that dropped out of school in the 6th grade and are millionaires. Education I feel is important up to a point. College to me is a waste of money for 95% of the masses. If you don't know enough from 12 years of education then another 4 years is not going to help, however with that being said there are prefessions that I see college as vital, Doctors Lawyers, etc.

I have no college education and I am in the Iformation Technology field making high 5 figures(65k+). I taught myself everything I know almost when it comes to computers. I have had some classes yes nut most of what I do today has nothing to do with the classes I attended.

I believe like others have said, its more about attitude and drive than education. I agree also it depends on your definition for success. There are people working at McDonalds that have a spouse and kids and are the happiest people I know. they don't have much but they also don't want a lot of fancy things. Whats important to them is family and not posessions.

I also believe that some education is necessary to be successful. I cannot see someone with absolutely no education being able to be succeed. There will always be exceptions to the rule, but if you can't read and write, making a living and being successful would be next to impossible.

[IvyfpopMC]

I believe so, education is vital to any form of success that actually requires work.

[Geoparamore]

Education is extremely necessary to be successful in life. I think really what you are asking is do we believe FORMAL education is necessary.

My answer would be no. I believe you can learn everything you ever need to know completely on your own if you truly have the desire to succeed and understand what it is you need to know.

 

this was my answer down to the core. personally I think I learnt more off people around me than any schooling I ever did.