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Thread: Is academic qualification ensuring success in life?

  1. #1

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    Is academic qualification ensuring success in life?

    Why? Why not? Remember rule 4 of the debate zone : "REPLIES must be a minimum of 3-5 sentences (Revised 12/27/11) Your replies must still be thoughtful and respectful on the pertained subject."

    If we talk about lifestyle in developed and rich countries, finishing high school and studying in a more specialized field can bring more advantagess and can greatly help to find a job paying more. More money sometimes means less financial worries, but that does not solve everything. Problems in life can happen anywhere, they can come from money or not.

    But if we talk about poorer countries, education is not necessarily bringing more advantages. I went in Honduras in a small village where kids had complete high school studies, but it wasn't giving more jobs. There, most of the people are living from agriculture, livestock, fruits picking, etc. The others are trying to get a lame job in the capital or to cross illegally Mexico/United States borders.

    But "success in life" can be different for everyone. I myself don't think I would be happy to stop studies and work for McDonald's for the rest of my life. I could be wrong.

  2. #2
    Foxer's Avatar
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    Not at all. All an academic qualification gives you is the opportunity to be in skilled employment. It gives you a step up in life, for sure, but there are other ways to get that step up. A lot of employers value experience over qualification, and normal university doesn't give you experience. *shrugs* It's well worth getting a degree or some other tertiary training unless you want to go into a specific trade, but it's not the be-all and end-all.

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    Sci_Girl's Avatar
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    Depends on the location you are in. In developed nations I believe that higher education will lead to greater success. Success is the key word, not happiness, you said success. Success is more along the lines of income, a nice home, a nice lifestyle, opportunity for more jobs etc. You cannot buy the nice house without a lot of money, and you can only make that money from a good job, in order to have that job you may need a degree or several. One cannot be a successful doctor without attending medical school. One cannot be a successful lawyer without attending law school. One cannot have the opportunity to have a job interview unless they have met the initial requirement of the education level that the company is asking for. In previous years the requirements of jobs were less. Talk to your parents, not all of them have gone to college but they may be making an 80k/yr salary because at the time they did not need much education to get the job. Currently though if you do not go to college you are basically screwed to have that same 80k/yr job, companies look for that diploma or degree in their applicants. Having a higher education greatly increases your odds of having that successful career. However, around here you can be a high school grad (and sometimes drop out) and work on the Ft. McMurray oil sands projects and clear $200k/yr. Some cannot spell well or even add, but they can pull a wrench hard enough to close off a valve to a high pressure oil spout and they make a ton of money for doing so. In those cases they are manual labor with a ton of financial success making more per year than most degree holders. However that type of success is not at all guaranteed if you go to another oil project in another country, and on the opposite side of that you could go to the middle east and make double or triple that amount of money. No degree necessarily required for some things but the money is absolutely insane, and that money can define success. It all depends on location, type of job, and the requirements set by the one employing.

    In less developed nations, should they choose to remain there even after going to school, there is significantly less opportunity simply due to less development which is why they will often move away from that location. However the success of a farmer in a rural countryside does not depend on how much academic experience he has, it depends on his developed knowledge over the years of first hand experience. He could very well provide greatly for his family and have great success in that sense but never attend a higher education beyond mandatory k-12.

  4. #4

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    I totally agree with you, @(you need an account to see links). But wouldn't happiness be included in success? I personally wouldn't consider my life as a success if I wasn't happy.

  5. #5
    Sci_Girl's Avatar
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    But wouldn't happiness be included in success? I personally wouldn't consider my life as a success if I wasn't happy.
    It can certainly play a role, I know I will be happy to know when I hold a degree and that degree will deliver my future success in life. I mean if you have a nice job, nice house, nice bank account odds are you are happy. Those factors do not automatically mean happiness but based on the success of having those things in the first place the odds are there that you will be happy. But your main question was academics and success, and that alone and strictly that alone I believe goes hand in hand. Being happy is an entirely subjective experience, one can be a very wealthy and successful doctor but maybe they are not happy. Another wealthy and successful doctor may be more than happy. Happiness is derived from other things.

  6. #6
    Solgaleo's Avatar
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    From what I can say (personal experience), it will not guarantee you any success in life. High school will def. get you farther than dropping out/not getting a GED. College is what is really up in the air. Certain majors will get you amazing jobs & certain majors are just rubbish. For example, I have a degree in business, but because of the failing economy in the US right now, I'm stuck at a dead end job. Long story short (the TL;DR answer) is that there is no clear answer because it depends on way too many variables.

  7. #7
    tofusquares's Avatar
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    No I don't believe so. School is often so close-minded and emphasizes memorization and subjects that do not relate to a specific student's interests. So many other forms of intelligence can be found in other fields that school does not cultivate such as music and art.

  8. #8
    Khelddar's Avatar
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    No

    (you need an account to see links)

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    Peter Jackson
    Billy Joel
    Catherine Zeta-Jones
    Jay-Z
    Simon Cowell
    Richard Branson
    Bill Gates
    Steve Jobs
    Tony Robbins
    Mark Zuckerburg

    Success in life comes down to the choice we make, a University student who coasts by will find it harder than a self taught pretty much anything who works harder and smarter.

    Yes people who have an education are more likely to get a job out of university because they have a piece of paper, however the person who never gives up and doesn't have the academic qualification may just be the person hiring them.

    "I failed in some subjects in exam, but my friend passed in all. Now he is an engineer in Microsoft and I am the owner of Microsoft." - Bill Gates

    persistant and the willingness to learn from failure is the key to having a successful life no matter what country you are from.

  9. #9
    Demonic's Avatar
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    I dont believe its a necessity but definitely would help you along the way.
    I would love to be a qualified vet but the job im in at the moment is only retail managing but pays better which is quite saddening.

  10. #10

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    Quote Originally Posted by Khelddar View Post
    No

    (you need an account to see links)

    (you need an account to see links)

    Peter Jackson
    Billy Joel
    Catherine Zeta-Jones
    Jay-Z
    Simon Cowell
    Richard Branson
    Bill Gates
    Steve Jobs
    Tony Robbins
    Mark Zuckerburg

    Success in life comes down to the choice we make, a University student who coasts by will find it harder than a self taught pretty much anything who works harder and smarter.

    Yes people who have an education are more likely to get a job out of university because they have a piece of paper, however the person who never gives up and doesn't have the academic qualification may just be the person hiring them.

    "I failed in some subjects in exam, but my friend passed in all. Now he is an engineer in Microsoft and I am the owner of Microsoft." - Bill Gates

    persistant and the willingness to learn from failure is the key to having a successful life no matter what country you are from.

    just putting it out there, bill gates might be a dropout, but he dropped out of Harvard. He had quite a solid education for what he was planning to do before he dropped out.

    ---------- Post added at 02:13 AM ---------- Previous post was at 01:36 AM ----------

    Also, i think the topic is getting flipped a bit. There are examples of people who have made it very far in life without a good academic foundation, but if a person has a good academic foundation are they guaranteed success?
    [9/3/12 11:11:58 PM] Joanna: sigh
    [9/3/12 11:12:14 PM] Joanna: john
    [9/3/12 11:12:16 PM] Joanna: is
    [9/3/12 11:12:17 PM] Joanna: perfect

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