Why is Education the Key to Success

Everyone of us is a bundle of unique gifts and talents. Our relative success in life depends on how much we believe in ourselves, trust our own private genius, nurture it and let it grow freely. What education does is that it provides us with the opportunity to unravel and realize our inborn talents, while providing us with the skills of thinking and solving problems on our own. Both education and success are relative concepts in the sense that there is a wide difference of opinion regarding what is real education and what is real success.

What is Real Education?

Real education is the one which enables you to think for yourself and apply what you have learned. Purely knowing facts and being able to effectively remember and recall them isn't being educated. To be educated is being able to make your own decisions and form your own opinions about things. It is the imparting of skills that enable you to succeed in any field of human endeavor and make your original contribution. What good education requires is a one-to-one interaction between a good teacher and student.

There are two factors of education which must mold two different aspects of the human psyche - one is analytical intelligence and the other is emotional intelligence. The former deals with the ability to solve technical problems while the latter deals with the ability to empathize, communicate, connect with our fellow human beings. A wholesome education system must educate both these facets of the human psyche to mold a character with all the abilities required to live a happy and successful life.

Why is Education the Key to Success

Man is what his thoughts make him. Education provides direction to these thoughts. Success is more than just accumulation of material wealth. I believe that success is not a destination but a never ending journey in self exploration. It is unlocking your true potential to make your life itself a work of art. Success has more than one dimensions to it. Acquiring material wealth is not the only one. To what degree have you conquered your self and achieved liberation from wanting and needing things is another indicator of success. Education plays a large role in determining our potential for achieving this success. Here are some of the prime arguments supporting the idea of education as the veritable key to success.

High Educational Qualifications Provide Better Job Opportunities
Specialized knowledge gained through higher education opens opportunities in the form of well paying jobs, with a challenging work profile. While higher education may not guarantee success, it certainly puts you in a position to work with the best in the field and gain valuable experience, which helps you in the long term pursuit of professional success. So graduation through college and working hard to get through graduate school has its benefits.

Provides the Requisite Skill Set to Succeed
Education that enables individuals to succeed is not just the formal kind. The direct education that one gains through hands-on experience and working with the masters in a field, that goes beyond purely bookish knowledge, prepares you for success. Real education begins when you start applying what you learned through formal education to solve real world problems. The discipline, perseverance and ability to apply oneself pave the path to success.

Provides Access to the Vast Store of Human Knowledge
Just being able to read and write, provides you access to the vast store of human knowledge in the form of books, which is the combined wisdom of ages. A man benefits from the path shown by the great masters of any field by accessing this knowledge store. Distilling knowledge to gain wisdom is the ultimate aim of education. Great minds like Newton have acknowledged the contributions of their predecessors which contributed to their success. Standing on the shoulders of the great giants of men who made magnanimous contributions to human knowledge, we can see further than they did.

Education Through Experience Provides the Real Edge
A college degree or any kind of formal education can provide you with the knowledge required to succeed in your field. It does not ensure success unless you learn to apply what you learned and apply it effectively to find innovative solutions. Education provides you with the means, but the application required to succeed must come from within you. The edge that winners gain over their competitors is through experience and out of the box thinking.

Ultimately Success Is All About Self Belief
No institution can provide better education than life itself. Besides conventional education, the lessons we learn through our day-to-day life, our ability to adapt and self introspect, adoption of a strong value system and most importantly, self belief are the keys to success. The importance of education lies in its ability to forge a man of character.

The real key to success is self belief, which can unlock your inner potential. Education which puts you on the path of self discovery, leading to self belief, adds meaning to your life and provides you with the means to achieve lasting success in life. As rightly put by W.B.Yeats, education lights the inner fire and provides us with the ability to think independently, making success only a matter of time.
By Omkar Phatak
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