Why Formal Education is Important but not Necessary to Succeed Essay Example

plays a major role in the development of a person’s knowledge and skills. President Obama is right: We are now in the Information Age where knowledge can most likely be achieved in places where there is Internet. However, engineers or highly educated people do not always turn out as successful individuals in the field that they have chosen to pursue. Formal education is not always the key to success. There are many successful people today who did not even finish high school.

Many famous and successful actors and actresses in Hollywood such as Humphrey Bogart, Cher, Whoopi Goldberg, and Sean Connery were high school dropouts because there was a time in their lives when they chose to exchange their education for something they wanted badly. Jack London (writer), Isaac Singer (owner of Singer company), and Anton van Leeuwenhoek (first microbiologist) are also discovered to have been dropouts. Had they continued their studies, would they now be the same experts that they are well-known for?

What these people significantly have in common is their determination and perseverance to achieve their goals in life. A person can be highly educated, but if he or she is lazy and impatient, this person is unlikely to reach his or her goals. It has been said a number of times, but it is important to reiterate it once again with regard to addressing the issue on formal education’s effect in one’s success: Hard work is still the key ingredient in one’s personal success.

An engineer, a pilot, a doctor, or any other profession that require advanced education does not determine if a person is successful or not.

Success is a personal and subjective concept. It is not to be determined by some high-class leader or personality who sees him- or herself as the greatest. A farmer with an abundant harvest can feel like the most successful person in the world. A formal education can be a factor in one’s success but not necessarily. It is a choice that people make and not a compulsory element of one’s life.