College is overrated
As a stereotypical high school senior, I have spent the past six months stressing over colleges. The great importance of a college education has been hammered into my head so many times that I have often felt like my life would be a complete failure if I don’t continue on to receive a college degree. But what exactly is it about college that makes it so extremely important? One of the primary driving forces in most people’s life is the pursuit of happiness, so it can be assumed that the importance of college is somehow related to pursuing lifelong happiness, which leaves the question; does a college education really cause people to live any happier? There is no denying that a college education has many remarkably valuable benefits. The most obvious and acknowledged of these benefits is the increased income associated with a college education. This strong correlation between an individual’s level of education and their income has been shown by numerous studies. A recent report by the US Census Bureau found that “over an adult’s working life, high school graduates can expect, on average, to earn $1.2 million; those with a bachelor’s degree, $2.1 million; and people with a master’s degree, $2.5 million” (Longley). Another benefit of a college education is improved occupational and social status (Argyle 1999). Depending on where a person is located and what career they are pursuing, it is possible that a college education can open doors of opportunity that otherwise wouldn’t be available to them. Additionally, studies have linked a college education with improved health, by decreasing unhealthy factors such as smoking, obesity, lack of exercise, and even diabetes (Baum and Payea 7).
So it is clear that a college education can be very beneficial to some people in some ways. However, this does not mean a college education will provide the same benefits to everybody, nor does it mean that a college education will help a person live a happier life. Everybody has heard the hackneyed old saying, “money doesn’t buy happiness.” Nevertheless, money is one of the greatest external motivators in today’s capitalist America. So what exactly is it about money that is so motivating to people? Indeed, there are times and places where people need money. This was clear during the Great Depression, as well as today in Third World Countries, where people lack money to fulfill there basic physiological needs for food and shelter. However, in today’s America, people want money – they don’t need money like the poor starving African kids seen in Oxfam pictures, who can hardly move because their body is eating whatever remains of their living muscle tissue. America is home of welfare, social security, food stamps, and numerous other programs designed to provide all citizens with their basic needs. Once these needs are satisfied, additional materialistic desires have been shown to have little or no impact on happiness. One study examining this relationship states that “more money may enhance [happiness] when it means avoiding poverty and living in a developed nation, but income appears to increase [happiness] little over the long-term when more of it is gained by well-off individuals whose material desires rise with their incomes (Diener 1).”
Similarly, the correlation of social status with happiness has become weak in today’s American society. In some cultures, there are strictly defined levels of social status, such as in the Indian caste system, which contrasts strongly with our US society that focuses on social equality. As the Declaration of Independence so eloquently states, “all men are created equal” and entitled to the same “unalienable rights.” If there are any defining factors of social status in the US, they would be occupational status and income, due to the competitive capitalist economic system. Income has already been shown to have very little correlation with happiness in the US, which leaves the possibility that perhaps occupational status may increase happiness in the US. It is reasonable to assume that a college education can increase happiness by allowing someone to pursue a career beyond flipping hamburgers at McDonalds. Surprisingly, more recent studies have shown that this is not always the case in the modern US. Back in 1967, a study by Veroff, Douvan, and Kulka (1981) found that 46 percent of professional-class Americans were very happy, compared with only 28 percent of unskilled labors. Nine years later, this difference had already almost disappeared (Argyle 355).
Besides income and social status, it is important to take into consideration the positive correlation college education has with personal health, which, in turn, has a positive impact on happiness. Indeed, a strong correlation remains today between level of education and many positive health factors, including decreased rates of smoking, obesity, lack of exercise and diabetes (Baum and Payea 7). However, this doesn’t mean that going to college causes a person to be healthy. It is only a correlation, so it is possible that it works the other way around – healthy people tend to go to college. A college education is certainly not needed for people to know that smoking, obesity, and not exercising are unhealthy – any elementary school student who has taken a health class already knows this. So while good health can contribute to happiness, a college education isn’t needed for a person to maintain good health.
Of all of these positive factors that correlate with a college education, none have been shown to cause a person to live a happier life in the US. For some people, the benefits of a college education may translate into a much happier life, while others may be just as well off with only a high school diploma. The point is that simply going to college is not the key to living a happy life in America, and for the average 21st century US citizen, a college education has almost no positive impact on happiness. The decreasing effect of college education on happiness has been shown by many studies. In 1951, a study found that 44% of college graduates said they were very happy, while only 23% of those with no high school could say the same. In 1978, this same study was repeated, to find that only 33% of college graduates claimed to be very happy, compared to 28% of those with no high school (Campbell). This variance in happiness between those with an education and those without has continued to decrease overtime, to the point that a college education has even been shown to have possible negative effects on happiness. This is because, when an individual attends college, they are likely to have higher expectations of personal income and occupational status. If these expectations are not met, as is very possible in today’s highly competitive and global job market, their happiness may decrease due to their goal-achievement gap (Argyle 355).
However, it is important to remember that these studies only represent the US population as a whole, and the impacts of a college education are different for each individual. For those people who are satisfied in a simple job that doesn’t require a formal education, a college education may not be necessary, while for other people, who enjoy more complex labor, a college education may indeed have a strong positive impact on their happiness. It is likely that the decreasing correlation between college and happiness in the US reflects the possibility that more students are choosing to go to college either because they’ve been pressured into it by parents and other mentors, or because they want the higher income that is associated with a college education. This influence of other people and money are both extrinsic motivators, which can’t provide the same level of happiness that satisfying intrinsic motivators does. While a career can be chosen based on extrinsic factors, a life calling can only be discovered by finding what is intrinsically satisfying to an individual. When Albert Einstein was five, he was intrigued by how something in empty space acted on a compass needle, causing it to spin (Bellis). When Lance Armstrong was a child, he enjoyed spending his Saturdays riding his bike from his home in Texas, across the border into Oklahoma (”Childhood”). These two individuals are obviously intrinsically motivated by two very different things. For Albert Einstein, a formal education was likely very helpful in his pursuit to satisfy intrinsic motivators, while for Lance Armstrong, a college education was not necessary.
College is to happiness as butter is to bread, as chocolate sauce is to ice cream, as syrup is to pancakes, and as flies are to poop – they’re all commonly assumed to compliment each other, but that doesn’t mean you can’t have one without the other. For some people a college education is an essential ingredient in their pursuit of happiness, but other people can pursue happiness just as successfully without it. While this statement may seem obvious, it is often overshadowed by pressures from parents and teachers, who have attended college and are bias in their assumption that college is a key to a happy life. This assumption may have been true once upon a time, but there are now too many factors negatively impacting the correlation between college and happiness for it to be a guaranteed route to happiness. So for anyone who has been convinced of the importance of college by the widespread positive testimonials, celebrity endorsements, and statistical studies, remember to read the fine print: results may vary.
Works Cited
Argyle, Michael. “Causes and Correlates of Happiness.” Well-being. By Daniel Kahneman, et al. Illustrated ed. Russell Sage Foundation, 2003. 355-359. 2 May 2009 <http://books.google.com/books?id=3toRUh4L12EC>.
Baum, Sandy, and Kathleen Payea. Education Pays: The Benefits of Higher Education for Individuals and Society. 2004. College Board. 2005. 1 May 2009 <http://www.collegeboard.com/prod_downloads/press/cost04/EducationPays2004.pdf>.
Bellis, Mary. “Albert Einstein – Biography.” About.com. 4 May 2009 <http://inventors.about.com/library/inventors/bleinstein.htm>.
“Childhood.” American Heroes. Eastern Illinois University. 4 May 2009 <http://www.eiu.edu/~amheroes/lachildhood.html>.
Diener, Ed, and Robert Biswas-Diener. “Abstract.” Will Money Increase Subjective Well-Being? Springer Netherlands, 2002. 1. Springerlink.com. 4 May 2009 <http://www.springerlink.com/content/cp8pqf28nmnv3brj/>.
Hartog, Joop, and Hessel Oosterbeek. “Summary of Earlier Research.” Health, Wealth, and Happiness: Why Pursue a Higher Education? 2-5. Tinbergen Institute. Jan. 1997. 2 May 2009 <http://ftp.tinbergen.nl/discussionpapers/97034.pdf>.
Longley, Robert. “Lifetime Earnings Soar with Education.” About.com. 13 May 2009 <http://usgovinfo.about.com/library/weekly/aa072602a.htm>.
Filed by efsw18 at May 5th, 2009 under Essays
