The Benefits Of Post-Secondary Education

The ubiquitous nature of public schools in modern America can make it hard to fathom that it took over a hundred years from our nation’s founding for the federal government to understand the importance of funding an adequate system for public education. Currently, in the United States, a portion of the taxes collected by federal and local governments is allocated to the free education every child between the ages of five and eighteen. The current laws that only require education to be free to students until the end of secondary (high) school, were written based on outdated standards. Decades ago, when most federal laws regarding the funding of public education were written, the average adult only needed a high school diploma in order to have …show more content…
Even with loans, millions of Americans who have the mental ability and desire to achieve higher education, cannot afford to do so. Of the students who do fund their post-secondary education with loans, the vast majority are saddled with such an enormous amount of debt the financial benefits of receiving additional education are deferred by decades, if they are seen at all. An alternative to the increasingly more expensive cost of post-secondary education to individual citizens, is to have publically-funded education extended to include trade schools and college. Countries that have already seen benefits from extending their publicly funded education in this matter include; France, Germany, Norway and Finland. Despite realistic concerns regarding the feasibility of such an expensive undertaking, it’s in the United States’ best interest to publicly fund post-secondary education as this would enable the United States to; boost our economy, reinvigorate our technological centers and reduce many of our pressing societal …show more content…
People who have attained education beyond high school are less likely to commit crimes (Riggs). The money spent on education will reduce crime rates, prison populations and reduce the multitude of cost associated with high crime. In the case of women, well-educated women typically have fewer children, and this means they are less likely to live below the poverty line and their children are more likely to attain higher education. Higher education, beyond secondary school is important to learning, not only for the information taught, but for how it shapes individuals. Higher education can help increase a person’s ability to think critically and solve challenges, even those that aren’t academic in nature. It also adds to a person’s ability to work in a team, teaches responsibility and helps in the development of work