Is Education Better than Money, and Why?

There are a lot of successful people in this world. Some came up with great ideas and were born geniuses. Others needed the education to get them to where they are today. Lastly, some are thousands of dollars into student loan debt while others are born into a life of wealth and luxury. All of these scenarios beg the question, is education better than money?

Yes, education is better than money. Education brings opportunities, fosters new ideas, and develops problem-solving skills. Education gives us a fully stocked toolbox to a successful life. At the end of the day, education is essential to success.

Why Is Education Important?

With an education in your chosen field, the sky is truly the limit. You can become part of any company, or even become a business owner with confidence in your understanding. Education brings the career needed to lay the foundation for self-dependency and financial stability.

Without an education options become limited. Experience alone may get you by in some fields but oftentimes, working off of experience alone does not get people to the level of success they wish to achieve. Experience can also be seen as an education. Thus experience alone does not mean someone does not have an education. With experience, someone learns the aspects of their specific role, and they even learn some behind-the-scenes aspects of the industry where their experience comes from.

At the same time in many fields, you cannot gain experience without some sort of education. A lot of fields nowadays require at least a trade school or undergraduate degree just to begin.

Education gives you more than just success. It comes with a certain freedom that is not acquired without it; doors to opportunities are opened for the success you want in your life when you have some sort of education.

Do You Need Money to Get Your Education?

Having some money can be helpful when getting your education; however, it is not required. There are hundreds of ways to get an education when you do not have money. Sure you can go with student loans and sometimes that is the best choice; but, there are so many more ways to gain funding for your education.

Aid is available in a multitude of forms. You can apply for government aid through your FAFSA. The sooner you send in your FAFSA the higher chance you have of getting a good chunk of aid. Colleges, universities and even some trade schools offer in house scholarships.

Having extracurricular activities on your resume or transcript can help with these a lot. If you were a great player for four years in high school on a sports team you may qualify for an athletic scholarship. If you often volunteered and kept good grades an academic scholarship could be in your future as well.

Essay scholarships are a great resource when trying to get money for school. Write about your biggest struggle, or a letter to your younger self. Anything you write about, there is bound to be an essay scholarship prompt that fits.

Start early when trying to get scholarships and grants. If you have four years stacked full with extracurricular activities and good grades a scholarship is definitely in your future.

Can Education Bring More Money or Success?

Jobs requiring some sort of education do tend to pay more. This is because these jobs typically have more responsibility and a bigger workload. These jobs also tend to pay more simply because the more knowledge you have the more they are willing to pay you. Not only that but many fields need some sort of education or training, so finding a well-paying stable job with no education or training can be next to impossible.

There are obviously some exceptions to this. Big media companies like Facebook and YouTube are starting to drop college requirements. This is great for those who choose to not go to college. But, these jobs require experience or knowledge of certain software, some of which you have probably never heard of.

The upside to this is, with the internet being as expansive as it is, you are able to find crash courses on certain software for low prices and possibly even free. Microsoft has certification classes where you only pay for the exam and Google does something similar. Even if you have never heard of the software for these jobs, there are ways to learn about them and so much more.

Success is subjective. Some people believe having wealth is a success. Others believe having children means they have been successful in life. Money does not apply to all definitions of success. However, Education does.

In every definition of success, education can help you get to where you want to be. Having knowledge of the field or lifestyle you desire in order to feel successful gets you to where you want to be in life efficiently.

Why Do Some People Believe Money Is Better Than Education?

The main argument is that money is needed for survival. Without money, you have no food, stability, or housing. The counter to this is, do you want to just survive? Or do you want to build a successful life and live feeling fulfilled? If you choose the second option, education is better than money.

If you just want to pay your bills and make a few big purchases here and there you can definitely do that without an education. Many young people still trying to get their education are able to make big purchases from time to time and pay their bills, so obviously it can be done.

On the other hand, if you want freedom, peace of mind, and stability; education will get you that and so much more. Money cannot give you some freedoms an education can. An education gives intellectual freedom; freedom money can never buy.

Education gives the ability to create new ideas, have a well-rounded understanding and think for yourself to form your own opinions. With education someone can learn what they need to live a successful life; however, money does not teach you what you need in life. Education also teaches you how to contribute to society.

If you have money that is great! If you have no idea how to contribute to society or even be a part of society at all, money cannot get you very far.

What Can Happen to Someone Without an Education?

Not having an education comes with consequences, just like anything in life. Some of these consequences are more severe than others. The least severe being that, a person ends up working in a low paying job and lives their life paycheck to paycheck, hoping one day to have more responsibility and a higher pay as their experience grows. This person is not able to save up for the unexpected circumstances life can throw, like a trip to the hospital.

However, more severe consequences can happen and even become dangerous. An individual can become unemployed and, as a result, end up homeless. Some of these individuals end up resorting to crime in order to make the money they need to survive. They feel they have no other option since they are uneducated.

Uneducated individuals are also at risk of being a victim to a “poverty trap”. A poverty trap is when someone lacks an education and has a lack of resources. These people are not able to get out of poverty simply because they do not know how to.

The most severe form of a consequence to lacking an education is exploitation. Individuals who live in countries that are less developed tend to fall victim to exploitation. Examples of exploitation are slavery and human trafficking. In some countries women are not given an education or resources; these women do not understand that they should be treated differently and with human decency.

Conclusion

Education does not have to mean four years of undergraduate school and four years of graduate school. Education can be a two-year degree, or a trade school or a vocational program. All of these options give you access to jobs and fields looking for people with the exact education you acquired.

Money gives us the power to have financial stability in our lives. If someone with money has no education they have no idea how to save that money and spend it wisely. However, education gives someone the power to earn that money and the intellectual maturity to keep themselves stable for their entire lives.

At the end of the day, without an education you do not have the opportunities to make the money you want to make; and you lack the ability to form your own identity. So, even though money is incredibly important, you cannot make the kind of money the average person desires without some sort of education; you also become someone who is incredibly susceptible to suggestion because you do not know any better than the information the person in front of you is providing.