What to do after Secondary School

One of the hardest choices a youthful grown-up should make in life is choosing what to do after secondary school. Teachers as well as individuals all around will start to ask what your subsequent stage in life is? The choice to go off for college or join the workforce comes down to the inquiry: will you profit with or without a professional education? School gives people a foundation that ensures they have all the essential learning and abilities to get by in any place of work. Hence, going off for college will give one a superior result in the workforce. Having fundamental abilities and confirmation of information will send one’s application to the front of a stack on a business's work area. The principle reason individuals attend a university is to get a degree, which is a confirmation of consummation, and demonstrates that they have taken certain classes to ace certain parts of their degree plan for their activity.

Any sort of advanced education demonstrates to a business that a person can focus on something and he/she has obtained the knowledge of his/her studies. It also demonstrates that he/she went well beyond to facilitate his/her insight for an occupation. Having a degree consequently puts individual in front of everybody that does not have one or any other skills. For instance, on the off chance that one is viewing for a spot at a vocation against somebody and both have similar abilities, whoever has the best measure of training will emerge further.“Imagine you are in a line for a job in your town, where all job candidates are ordered from most qualified to least qualified; if you gain more education, you will probably move forward in the line and are more likely to land the job. Imagine you are in a line for a job in your town, where all job candidates are ordered from most qualified to least qualified; if you gain more education, you will probably move forward in the line and are more likely to land the job” (Horowitz 771). With the degree, one is expected to have the basic knowledge that was taught to him/her from an institution. A degree might be just a piece of paper, but the meaning of it makes it very valuable. If one goes into a job without a degree, one will have to sell him/herself a lot more on why he/she is right for the job. Being able to obtain a degree shows that one can commit to something and achieve it. Also, it gives proof that one has the right knowledge to do the job, showing that he/she has passed and completed the necessary requirements needed in a certain field. With the knowledge, he/she need to be able to gather the fundamentals of business.

People with these skills and knowledge make more money than the ones that do not have the skills or knowledge. “In 2007, the U.S. Census Bureau reported that college graduates earned about $55,000, on average, compared with less than $30,000 for individuals who had only a high school diploma” Brand, J. E., & Xie, Y. (2010). Who Benefits Most from College?: Evidence for Negative Selection in Heterogeneous Economic Returns to Higher Education. American Sociological Review, (273–302). People that benefit the most from college degrees are the ones that will end up making more money than they spend, once they graduate. Going to college provides face-to-face learning. Before entering the workforce and making mistakes, college gives you the opportunity to make them. After finishing your basics, you will get hands on training in the field. Hands-on training is one major benefit of going to college. Learning by doing, and engaging will increase how effective we learn. Also, you will gain wisdom in college by listening to other people's past experiences. According to Erkut, Sumru, and Janice R. Mokros authors of “Professors as Models and Mentors for College Students.” American Educational Research Journal, vol. 21, no. 2, “A return rate of 66% was achieved, yielding 723 subjects, all of whom were able to identify a professor who had demonstrated the kinds of qualities and skills they considered important for themselves”, (pp. 399–417). There will be people around constantly teaching, and trying to help you.

The lessons that you learn in college will roll over into action when you have a job. You will see some of the same scenarios from college experiences on the job. This time you will know exactly how to handle them. College is also a great place to build on the skills that you already have. Coming out of high school, you should already be familiar with certain subjects. In college, professors will help you build on the skills previously learned in high school. For example, you learned how to properly write a paper in high school, but in college, you will learn how to write specific papers for specific genres. You will learn a variety of sentence structures and learn how to articulate your thoughts better. These skills are needed in a workplace for communication. “Through exercising students’ abilities in interpreting cultural artifacts; gathering and analyzing evidence; communicating; reasoning logically, historically, and morally; and so on, liberal education promises an intellectual fitness that exceeds the learnings that are unexercised” Brand, J. E., & Xie, Y. (2010). Who Benefits Most from College?: Evidence for Negative Selection in Heterogeneous Economic Returns to Higher Education. American Sociological Review, (273–302). Building on simple skills will help to better communicate with your boss and other employees, therefore showing that you are a well-rounded employee. College also opens up doors for you to meet new people. It is a great place for networking. Sometimes it’s not about what you know, but it’s about whom you know. By joining organizations you are opening yourself up to meet all kinds of new people. A member of your organization could one day be your boss at your new job. Just because they know you and have interacted with you they might put you on a pedestal. They will work with you and engage you in jobs because of mutual benefits. You would be gaining a job, but employers believe that they are gaining something by hiring you.

You end up having job security by knowing people higher than you at your job. Job security is something that every successful person wants. By networking you gain different resources that other people might not have. The more resources you have, the better chances you have at getting a job. Keeping in touch with previous colleagues can be very helpful in the future. You need friends, and friends of friends to stay successful. Also, networking helps you exchange advice and ideas. It helps you gain a new perspective on topics that you might need to be aware of. It gives you access to new opportunities. Networking can also help workers be very collaborative. Not only do you have to network to get a job, but you have to network to keep it. Being able to work with team members shows managers that you are a team player. To be a team player you don’t have to go to college. In fact, some skills people are born with and don’t need to go to college to learn. Going right to work after high school can give you longevity over someone who goes to college first. You have a long period of time to get on the job training. You get to experience being on the job faster, and you are actually able to put more years into the same job.

“The positive news about education has largely displaced older concerns that the expansion of college education might not run parallel with an increased demand for skilled labor, leading to an erosion of the competitive advantage conferred by a college degree” Horowitz, Jonathan. “Relative Education and the Advantage of a College Degree.” American Sociological Review, vol. 83, no. 4, Aug. 2018,( pp. 771–801). This helps once the value of a degree goes down. The number of people earning a college degree is starting to increase, therefore they are becoming less valuable. “The expansion of higher education has a number of effects on the labor market. From the human capital perspective, college education increases an individual’s skills, but mass education increases the number of skilled individuals, making it harder for each degree-holder to stand out ( Horowitz pp. 771–801). “Ultimately, the value of a college degree is not absolute but is relative to the amount of education held by one’s peers. The value of a degree depreciates as it becomes more common in the labor market, unless skilled jobs increase at a similar or greater rate.” (Smith pp.689–701). This evidence is explaining that a college degree is only useful if the people you are competing with do not have a degree if the same value. If everyone has the same level of degree, then the next area the employer looks at is who has the most experience. This could really help the person that started working straight out of high school.

The amount of the degree was not worth the requirements for the job. For a degree to be beneficial the amount of money made after it is obtained has to be more than the money spent on the degree. For example, if you are going into a low-skilled profession that does not make as much money the job may not be worth getting a college degree. Also, getting a college degree doesn’t mean anything if you can’t get a job. “When college degrees are more common, there may not be enough skilled jobs to go around—some college-educated workers may lose out to others and be pushed into low-skilled jobs instead” (Smith pp.689–701). This is explaining how you can be a very well educated person and be working at McDonald’s. This is because, in the field of work you are trying to go into might be overpopulated, or highly competitive. The decision to go get a college degree has to be weighed based off of each individual. The good of getting a college degree outweighs the good of not getting one. It’s always great have some type of higher education, even if it is just a trade. Getting an education signals to employers that a job-seeker is desirable. (Spence 689 –701). For a specific job, you might not need as high of an education, then as another job. Get whatever amount of education that suits what you want to do. Not only is getting an education going to help you get a job, but it’s going to sharpen your intellectual skills. This is skills that are needed in the everyday world, not just at a job. You can only help yourself by wanting to better yourself.

Cite this page