Education and Employment in the U.S.

Education is vital to a nation which holds the reins of economy over the world, so is it to an individual who strives for better livelihood in a highly competitive society like America.

In the United States, primary schools and high schools offer a broad education to provide a sound foundation in English, mathematics, art and physical and social sciences. Subordinate to the broad education, both college preparatory and vocational courses are taught under one roof in the comprehensive high schools. Academic, business and technical courses are taught in the 2-year community and junior colleges. Many of their graduates decide they need more schooling and go on to regular colleges and universities. Skill centers in many large cities provide training and retraining for youngsters who leave high school and want to qualify for skilled occupations in industries or sub-professional and technical jobs in science fields. Vocational high schools provide "marketable skills" to young men and women who will never go to colleges. Also, there are technical institutes under federal sponsorship and a vast range of in-school and on-the-job training programs financed by labor departments and industries.

In the United States, education serves a single purpose: employment. To the employee, higher education means more job opportunities, higher earnings, better adaptability to professional and technical changes and more chances of promotion. On the contrary, for those without education, the outlook is simply hopeless. The school-drop-out will be the left-out in tomorrow's labor market. On the other hand, more education means greater investment. In the eyes of American students, the money they pay for their education is a sum of investment that must be paid back with their wages in certain years after they graduate. This is nothing new but a nation of business.