30 Day Blog Challenge - Day 20

Education.  Without it you can't get anywhere in life, and even with it, it isn't a guarantee you'll succeed.

I graduated from college in 2005 with a diploma in Office Administration.  I found my first "real" job in September 2008 so it took me approximately 3 years to find a job after graduating.  Then in 2009 I had a baby.

I haven't worked since 2009.  Was my education a waste of money?

The topic for this blog post is "How Important You think Education is."

You might think this is the point in my blog post that I'm going to argue that my education was a waste of time and money.  No, I'm not going to do that.

I actually started out my college education in a different program, Hotel and Resort Operations.  I didn't graduate from that but I did learn a lot.  I learned about mixing drinks in Bartending classes, how to pair wine with food in Wine Appreciation, I got my Smart Serve and I learned to make lots of fancy meals and use expensive knives in my cooking classes.

Then I took Art Appreciation - Design and Visual with a minor in Interior Design.  Yeah, I spent a lot of time in College finding myself.

When I finally took Office Administration - Legal I was able to use things that I had learned from the other programs to my advantage.  For instance, one of the tasks we were assigned was to design an office for our boss.  I knew how to do the proper layout for an interior design mock-up and I was familiar with drafting which helped a tonne when it came to getting high marks.

So, do I think education is important?  Yes.  I think learning is beneficial to everyone and it's essential to learn to read and write.  Is college or university important?  That's debatable.  I know without my education I couldn't get anywhere but with it still took a long time to get a job and even then it wasn't a very high paying job.  I was paid $10.50/hr to start with a maximum potential of $12/hr.  To compare that, in the call centre I worked at I made $17/hr and not everyone there had a college/ university education.

I am currently still paying off what was a $10,000 OSAP loan (1 year of education as I paid the rest out of pocket).  So, was it a waste of money to go to school? Despite everything, I don't think so. 

Will I encourage my daughter to go on to post-secondary education? Yes.  If not for the formal education or the possible wage increase, it's a great opportunity for self discovery, learning and having new life experiences.