The importance of finishing high school
So last night I received my coveted high school diploma. Woo... 12 years of government sanctioned slavery all rolled up in a leather bound document. I'm sure you detect that little bit of sarcasm there, but in all seriousness, getting a high school diploma is now more important than ever. This little website I found is brief, but I'll give you some highlights.
The importance of earning a high school diploma is underscored by statistics from both the United States Department of Labor and the Census Bureau. The average high school dropout can expect to earn $325,000 less in his or her lifetime than a high school graduate. High school dropouts have forty-two percent less buying power than they did fifteen years ago, and yet, each year of schooling beyond high school can increase their earnings by eight percent. In 1993, a male with more than four years of college earned an average of eighty-nine percent more than a male with a high school education. This gap in earnings has nearly doubled over the past fifteen years.
...in today’s global market...sixty-five percent of all jobs require skilled labor. Only fifteen percent of today’s jobs are for the unskilled, and even then, a high school graduate is preferred to a dropout.
These statistics don't lie. And this is why I cringe everytime I hear the word "high school dropout." The standard is set higher and higher as each generation goes by. At one point, earning a high school diploma was about the best most people could do. But these days, in many fields, even getting a bachelor's degree from a respectable college just doesn't cut it. A master's degree or even a doctorate has now become the key to long-term success in a career. It may seem a bit frightening, but it couldn't be closer to the truth.
So although getting a high school diploma is indeed commendable, I still can't help but say, in the face of these statistics, "Woo... now I get to do it all over again."
The importance of earning a high school diploma is underscored by statistics from both the United States Department of Labor and the Census Bureau. The average high school dropout can expect to earn $325,000 less in his or her lifetime than a high school graduate. High school dropouts have forty-two percent less buying power than they did fifteen years ago, and yet, each year of schooling beyond high school can increase their earnings by eight percent. In 1993, a male with more than four years of college earned an average of eighty-nine percent more than a male with a high school education. This gap in earnings has nearly doubled over the past fifteen years.
...in today’s global market...sixty-five percent of all jobs require skilled labor. Only fifteen percent of today’s jobs are for the unskilled, and even then, a high school graduate is preferred to a dropout.
These statistics don't lie. And this is why I cringe everytime I hear the word "high school dropout." The standard is set higher and higher as each generation goes by. At one point, earning a high school diploma was about the best most people could do. But these days, in many fields, even getting a bachelor's degree from a respectable college just doesn't cut it. A master's degree or even a doctorate has now become the key to long-term success in a career. It may seem a bit frightening, but it couldn't be closer to the truth.
So although getting a high school diploma is indeed commendable, I still can't help but say, in the face of these statistics, "Woo... now I get to do it all over again."
posted by Remz Pokorny @ 12:36 PM
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