Higher_Education,_Is_It_Beneficial_for_Starting_a_Career_

Running head: HIGHER EDUCATION, IS IT BENEFICIAL FOR STARTING A CAREER' Higher Education, Is It Beneficial For Starting A Career' John Doe University of Phoenix Higher Education, Is It Beneficial For Starting A Career' Higher education is centuries old, the philosophy of starting a new career or advancing a current career has developed into a formalized practice of obtaining higher education first, and I have experienced such practices, such as pursing a Bachelors Degree at the University of Phoenix. Behind each student’s education process, regardless of formality, I have learned that higher education plays different reasons for learning, and student’s readiness to pursue certain career fields such as office manager or accountant. In order to start a new career in today’s job market, all college students should consider and purse Master’s Degrees to increase their odds of obtaining a good career, benefits, and salary compensation. To Master or Not to Master, That is the Question' In the last few years, a number of college educated people outside of the mainstream high school education have become more visible, even more desired by employers seeking well qualified candidates to fill job positions. These include college credited Certificates, Associate Degrees, and Bachelor's Degrees. As one would expect, institutions such as Heald College have aimed it services to portray these life styles of success in order to help individuals obtain a job. However, in today’s weakened economy, and the ever increasing layoffs, the job market has become much more difficult to obtain or qualify to fill job positions with or without a college degree. To shed some light on these hard times, Universities such as National University and University of Phoenix are putting their efforts into helping students become more desirable by offering advanced degrees with a wide range of skills such as business or finance which will help graduates stand out among the crowd. Baum and Ma (2007) stated, “Students who attend institutions of higher education obtain a wide range of personal, financial, and other lifelong benefits; likewise, taxpayers and society as a whole derive a multitude of direct and indirect benefits when citizens have access to postsecondary education” (p.2). Education Pays In my pursue of an advanced degree (Master of Business Administration) to help start a new career, I have evaluated the individual and societal benefits of higher education, as well as assessing my personality type for the degree I am pursuing. Benefits to Individuals In personal benefits of obtaining a Master’s Degree, according to Baum and Ma (2007), college graduates earn over 60 % more than a typical high school graduate and those with Master’s Degree can ear two to three times as much as high school graduates. Besides compensation, college graduates with more education enjoy employer-provided health, pension benefits, and less likely to be unemployed living in poverty. As seen in figure 1-1, college graduates have about a 2% unemployment rate where as high school graduates will have 8% unemployment rate. Societal Benefits In social benefits of obtaining a Master’s Degree, society as a whole enjoys a financial return on my investment in higher education. Baum and Ma (2007) stated, “In addition to widespread productivity increases, the higher earnings of educated workers generate higher tax payments at the local, state, and federal levels” (p. 8) (as seen in figure 1-2) and with consistent employment, college graduates reduce the dependences on public income-transfer programs such as welfare, which in turn benefits all education levels to earn more in the labor force. Personality Type Benefits A side of both individual and social benefits, students like me should consider are personality types when pursuing an advanced degree. For example, when deciding to become an office manager or psychologist, the individual would assess his or her desire to get into the field of choice by evaluating their thinking, and judgment. For me, with the help of the Jungian Personality Assessment software developed by Pearson Prentice Hall to help classify people’s personality type among 16 possible types, I have determined that my personality type and Master of Business Administration Degree are a match. According to the analysis and interpretation of the Jungian Personality Assessment report (see Appendix A on page 7), I have a personality of ISTJ which means the possible career fields I could best focus on are office manager, business manager, tax agent, or public servant. Though this software is only a tool to help, it can help determine a person’s personality type and help in the process of determining what advanced degree will better benefit a person both personally and socially as a hole. Conclusion Higher education’s purpose is to help people explore and express ideas in the pursuit of starting a new career or advancing a current one. Advanced degrees are intended to help people personally, financially, and deem other lifelong benefits while society as a whole derive a multitude of direct and indirect benefits. However, individual outcomes affect the well-being of others, it’s not possible to completely separate the benefits to individuals from those shared by society as a whole. All in all, higher education brings communities together. Advanced degrees educate and bring opportunities to people who would otherwise have fewer chances to pursue desired jobs, and salaries. Restricting opportunities to college graduates to obtain and use their advanced degrees would have devastating effects on the growth of the community and society. References Baum, S., & Ma, J. (2007). Trends in higher education series 2007. College Board: Connect to College Success. Baum, S., & Ma, J. (2007). Unemployment rates chart. College Board: Connect to College Success. Baum, S., & Ma, J. (2007). Education, earnings, and tax payments chart. College Board: Connect to College Success. Heald College. (2009). Programs. Retrieved February 2, 2009, from http://www.heald.edu/ National University. (2009). Our programs. Retrieved February 2, 2009, from http://www.nu.edu/ University of Phoenix. (2009). Online & campus programs. Retrieved February 2, 2009, from http://www.phoenix.edu/ University of Phoenix. (2009). I.A.2. What’s my jungian 16 type personality [Computer Software]. Retrieved February 2, 2009, from University of Phoenix, rEsource, Jungian Personality Assessment, MGT521—Management Web site. Appendix A: Jungian Personality Assessment Report ----------------------- Figure 1-1 Figure 1-1 Figure 1-2