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EDS 126

Professor Jones

1/27/2018

Education and Economic Success

First of all, I interviewed my roommate about his opinion of success and the role of education played in it. In his opinion, education is the most important factors that influence someone’s economic success. Compared to the people with low educational background, those who are highly educated are more likely to get a better job and earn more money. So far as he is concerned, family provide opportunities for us to gain more knowledge through economic support in the first step, which laid an important cornerstone for our future success. Without families’ support , it is so difficult for children to go to school and acquire knowledge when they are young. What he said remind me of the lecture, “There is a correlation between the economic background of the family and the ability of the child. It follows that children from high income families will have high ability and vice versa for low-income children” (lecture notes). Compared to the children from low income families, the children from high income families are more likely have enough money to guarantee them to get more knowledge.

Secondly, the person who I interviewed is my friend who is also studying in UCSD. He believes that education is the most important factor that influence someone’s economic success. The most important thing in today's society is talent because it is the motive force to promote social development. Only by mastering enough knowledge can we become a talented person and becoming a useful person to the society. And the acquisition of knowledge are most through education. Knowledge can enlighten your wisdom, open your mind, and broaden your vision. Knowledge is the wealth of mankind. An individual who has high degree of education will be easier to get a better job. Furthermore, an individual who is rich in knowledge will be able to seek opportunities when they are coming. Only by learning can we have the power to get closer to the economic success. After hearing what he said, I just remembered what I saw on the lecture notes, “A human being is not attaining his full heights until he is educated” (Horace Mann, lecture). When a person is educated, he is more likely to be well prepared when opportunities come, which make him more likely to be successful.

Lastly, I asked my father the questions about success, and the relationship between family and economic success. He considered that hard working, the ability to rebound after failure and setback, and self-control are the most important factors that influence someone’s economic success. Almost everyone wants to get more money, but there are a lot of people who just want to get it without any cost. The ability of hard working is the most important ability to move towards the goal. In fact, achieving success is the process of constantly accumulating small achievements by hard working, then finally the ultimate achievement can be achieved. Once we have a goal, we need to put it into action. The great reason why the student of famous universities in the world cannot all become outstanding talents is that they are lack of perseverance. Instead, they are more likely to produce depression, depression and other symptoms. For those who pursue success, it is particularly important to persist in the struggle to achieve the goal. My father thought that family play an important role in influencing someone’s economic success because parents are the first teachers we meet in our lives. Parents’ behavior will directly exert a far-reaching influence on children in terms of character, or deal with problems even if the children grow up, which will affect whether they can achieve economic success or not in the future.

As for me, in the early stage, the difference of education directly determines a person’s own personality, character, the degree of potential development. Early education also may set the tone of the person’s life. The education of individual in middle and late stage is a means of enriching knowledge, accumulating experience and deepening the cognition of the world. I was born in a low income family and grew up in China, and both of my parents were graduated from elementary school. My parents did not know how to educate me when I was little because of the shortage of knowledge. But one of my father’s words deeply impressed me and made me remember it all the time, “No matter what you do, you cannot do the illegal things for the sake of earning money”. Even though my parents did not provide me a good living and learning condition in the early stage because of the shortage of knowledge and money, all of their words and deeds gave me a direction to deal with problems whatever I met and to be a good man, which correctly helps me to approach success.

To be honest, inequality exists in society. Those who with high education or have proficiency in a particular line will be easier to get a job or start a business. The benefits of education we get no matter in the early stage, middle stage or late stage will enable us to gain more options and opportunities to achieve economic success. In a word, education plays a vital role in the individual’s personal growth and plays an important and positive role in influencing an individual’s economic success.

However, many examples prove that the few who are well educated are not likely to be able to achieve more success. On the contrary, education can also prevent success if you just memorize knowledge in order to get a good score or go to a good university, or you can do nothing but study. When I was in China, I often heard some news that some geniuses were admitted to good universities in their teens. But when they went to universities, their parents rented an apartment near to the universities so as to take care of their children. Those geniuses were completely unable to take care of themselves in life, which makes me feel that even though they study very well, when they come out to work in society, they cannot deal well with the relationship between people and the problem they will meet in the future. As far as I am concerned, there is a chance that it is difficult for them to achieve economic success in the future. The purpose of education is to open up our mind and let us learn how to master the method of learning and apply it to other places instead of remembering the knowledge. Education can lead you to success but can also destroy you, depending on whether you can get a good and correct education. Education is one of the factor that influence someone’s economic success, but it is not a sufficient condition for a person to succeed.

There is a relationship between education and economic success, but it is not a direct relationship. With high level of education, you may get more opportunity to achieve economic success than those who do not. Education can provide you more opportunity to success and it will make you go further on the road to success, but it does not the only factor to achieve economic success.