Students spend much effort and several years of their lives to get diplomas and become certified specialists. Not all of them receive scholarships, grants or other financial aid, while tuition fee is rather high. Some people take loans in banks to get a degree. Others juggle work and education, overload themselves, have no time for rest, hobbies and communication with close people.
Even if having a scholarship, a person should constantly prove that one deserves a place in a class, receive excellent marks, participate in conferences and competitions, contribute to the social life of one’s educational institution. In a word, it is far from easy to maintain a good academic reputation.
It is better to think twice before sending admission essays to colleges and universities. Experts from Pro-Papers.com have analyzed the pros and cons of higher education to help you make a well-informed decision.
Advantages of higher education
1. Comprehensive knowledge
Of course, there are many free electronic textbooks, educational videos, online encyclopedias and forums where you can communicate with prominent researchers and gain knowledge on a desired major. But it is challenging to become a good specialist on your own.
Experienced university professors have time-tested approaches, curricula with all topics you should know, access to the best information sources, equipment necessary to conduct lab experiments. They know in which sequence assignments should be performed, how much time should be allotted for each task to make learning efficient, can explain how to solve problems you may face at a workplace.
2. Career prospects
Most employees do not invite candidates to an interview if there is no information about higher education in a resume. Even though practical skills are formed in the process of work, a university is a school of life providing valuable experience. A degree is the sign of person’s diligence, responsibility, ability to work hard, process large information, adapt to new circumstances and find ways out of challenging situations.
Graduates have a good theoretical base. Recruiters understand that it will not be necessary to explain elementary things to them. New employees just should find out their labor responsibilities and be introduced to the practical side of a profession.
Even if people start their careers without a degree, it should be obtained to occupy managerial positions and receive higher wages. Therefore, higher education is a great investment in your future.
3. Friendship and useful ties
You will get into a peer environment, meet many interesting persons and make friends with some of them. Your gang will learn, eat, play, discuss topics of interest and have fun together. Joint research activities, conversations in a university garden and dorm parties will forever remain in your memory.
There are a few opportunities to enjoy such experience in adult life. Office colleagues are unlikely to ask about your emotions and dreams. Even if they would like to, there is always little time for non-professional communication, and everyone hurries to go home in the evening. That is why online friendship and dating websites are so popular today.
Pleasant pastime and live communication are not the only benefits of a university friendship. After graduation, you will have many useful numbers in your phone book. The majority of classmates will work in your industry. You may sign profitable contracts with them, hire people you can trust or count on a well-paid position in a dorm roommate’s company.
Disadvantages of higher education
1. High cost
Statistics showed that tuition fees have a steady growth tendency. Young people do not want to expose their parents to financial difficulties and at the same time, find it challenging to collect the necessary sum on their own. Some of them enroll in educational institutions but abandon studies after a year or two due to the inability to pay a student debt. Even if learners juggle work and study, it is a pity for them to spend all salary on education, and they decide to earn money instead of wasting it.
2. Increase in debt
If a person takes a student loan but fails to pay it off on time, an additional commission is added to the initial sum. Growing expenses may become a reason for stress, force a student to deny oneself such life pleasures as good food, clothing, rest and entertainment.
3. Authoritarianism
The academic world is rather authoritarian and bureaucratic. It has strict rules which freedom-loving, creative people may not like. Long and boring lectures, a never-ending flow of assignments, not always objective knowledge evaluation criteria may have a rather depressing effect. Students’ wishes and original ideas are often discarded. Educators need young people to be humble, follow a standard curriculum and not go beyond traditional norms of education.
4. Obsolete approaches
Many professors do not want to improve their qualifications and use the same approaches for decades. Learners do not receive the knowledge, education and skills necessary to succeed in the modern world and spend their money and time to receive a diploma.
Outdated course materials cannot expand horizons and sharpen mind. By studying them, young people get accustomed to obeying the system, performing senseless orders and have zero chances to become leaders.
Therefore, a degree is not always a prerequisite for future success. Much depends on person’s enthusiasm and zeal, passion for excelling in a chosen professional area, ability to turn knowledge into a powerful career-building tool, readiness to constantly develop IQ, critical thinking and ingenuity.