Sample Response with a Score of 6Wherever there are successful entrepreneurs, there will be individuals who argue
that education is not a necessary component of financial success. It is certainly
true that there are cases of individuals who succeeded in the business world and
became quite wealthy without the benefit of an extensive education. Heavyweight
boxer George Foreman is one such individual, who went on to have great financial
success despite dropping out of high school. Hairstylist Vidal Sassoon and media
mogul Walt Disney also dropped out of high school, going on to earn fortunes in
their respective fields. And steel magnate Andrew Carnegie gained his enormous
financial success without even finishing elementary school!
Admittedly, these individuals were all able to build large businesses and earn
great financial rewards without the benefit of an extended formal education,
so clearly education is not necessary for a financially-rewarding career. Yet, the
Bureau of Labor Statistics records show a distinct positive correlation between
educational attainment levels and annual earnings, so it is safe to say that for
most people who are not blessed with a stroke of entrepreneurial genius, a good
education will result in a better paying job.
One purpose of education is to earn more money, to be sure, but this is not the
only goal. Education brings so many more benefits than simply monetary ones.
One of its purposes, simply put, is to help us become more fulfilled and live happier
lives. On a strictly materialistic level, an educated person with a better paying job
is likely to be more satisfied with her standard of living and lifestyle. Education is
also critical for helping individuals develop the skills to do work they truly enjoy,
which further increases happiness.
Along with helping us lead happier lives, education helps us to develop
relationship skills and the emotional maturity to handle life’s setbacks. Individuals
who play on school sports teams have to learn to deal with other players as they
bask in the glory of victory or suffer the agony of defeat. Physical education classes
include as part of a curriculum teach students the value of teamwork and how to
manage conflicts with other players. Teacher-student interactions can also reveal
valuable lessons about how to deal with authority, lessons different from those a
student might learn at home. Finally, the friendships inevitably forged as part of
the school community’s social structure help students to deal with relationships in
ways that prepare them for what is to come later in life.
Another important purpose of education is to help students become better
problem solvers. This skill may be developed in math courses, where numbers
are used to work out problems. It may also be taught in science courses like
engineering, where structural queries are posed and students must find ways to
work out solutions. Students in the social sciences learn to problem-solve from
investigating historical and present-day situations involving human interactions.
Even in literature and other humanities courses, problem-solving techniques can
be modeled through the messages some literary works convey.
In addition to improving problem-solving, education further serves to build
self-confidence. A student who must research data for a school science project will
become more adept at navigating through the maze of available information to find
concrete facts that address a scientific question. The student who must give an oralCHAPTER 2 ■ GRE DIAGNOSTIC TEST 5101-GRE-Test-2018_001-106.indd 51 12/05/17 11:38 am