10 College Essay Topics on the Importance of Education

Education has been termed a basic human right due to its impact on society and its ability to provide anyone regardless of race, location or social status, the knowledge to becoming successful in today’s modern world. Its importance spans across various aspects of our lives including its ability to inspire development and break the chains of poverty experienced in the most vulnerable environments where humans reside.

Societies understanding of the importance of education have led to the creation of numerous governmental and non-governmental programs designed to provide everyone with the basic educational requirements needed to function positively in any community. Also, in educational circles its importance is understood and this is why financial aid is usually made available for gifted students from less-privileged backgrounds to help their intellectual growth.

Now, for college students who have been saddled with the enviable opportunity to discuss the importance of education through essays, this is for you. Here, you will find some accurate and timely facts on education which will be accompanied by two other articles providing you with topics on today’s subject matter, a sample essay and some direction on how you should proceed when writing your own. Here are useful Facts on the Importance of Education:

Education helps reduce hunger. The expansion of the means to receive an education by impoverished nations—in Africa and Asia—has had a positive effect in reducing poverty ratings and malnutrition in these continents. A study by the International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI) between 1970 and 1995, covering 63 countries showed that education accounted for 55% of the decline in malnutrition achieved within that period. Female education also played its part and accounted for 45% of the decline in malnutrition between the same periods.
Education plays an important role in improving maternal health and child survival rate. Statistics show that children born to an educated mother are twice more likely to survive to age five than kids born to an uneducated mother. This can be attributed to the fact that educated mothers are 50% more likely to seek all the necessary immunizations for their kids than their uneducated counterparts. This goes to show the important role female education plays in maternal and child care.
Education paves the way for economic growth. Education has been outlined as one of the most important factors that determine the economic status of a population as these stats shows. Statistics show that no country without a minimum of 40% of its adult population having the ability to read or write has achieved continuous economic growth.
An individual’s earning potential increases by approximately 10% for each year of schooling received and this in turn increases the GDP of nations that offer quality education opportunities to its citizens. Lastly, the education of girls leads to high return rates when compared to other forms of investment thereby making education for the girl-child a prerequisite for development.
Education encourages peace. Education plays an important role in developing the building blocks that ensure peace reigns within local communities which in turn ensures the peaceful conduct of a nation’s entire society. It is a fact that every year a male-child spends in school decreases his propensity for violence by 20%.
Education empowers women and the girls. One very important role education plays in today’s society is providing women with the resources to be independent as well as make good choices as regards their health and finances. Educating women has drastically reduced the impact of HIV/Aids and child mortality rates while also alleviating poverty in many communities.
A household with an educated wife also increases its earning potential by approximately 50% and this makes for better living of the family unit and society as a whole.
Education affects the Environment. Educating the world on the need to be more aware of its environment has been identified by UNICEF as one of the important subject matters of the 21^st The UNICEF includes the need for protecting the ecosystem from pollution in its Sustainable Development Goals and Environmental Education (EE) has begun to bear fruits.
Research showed that students with attention-deficit disorder (ADD) have benefited from exposure to nature and this drastically increases their motor-skills and ability to learn. While education at the adult level makes individuals more sensitive to nature thereby increasing recycling and creating sustainable cities.
Education affects globalization. Education has led to better communication among individuals from every nation and culture in the world. Thereby leading to more collaboration and understanding of fellow culture.
Research shows that student who are taught about the global issues facing the world and about other cultures are twice more likely to take social action than their colleagues who have no knowledge about the world.
Global education has made it possible for professionals to be found in every nook and cranny of the world. Statistics show that the number of multinational corporations worldwide rose from 7,000 in the 1990’s to 65,000 in 2013 and this promotes development across every facet of the world.
Education and educated individuals make good citizens. Education is viewed as a prerequisite to good citizenship for it provides individuals with the ability to make good decisions and understand the need for civility in all their dealings. Statistics show that educated citizens are 8% more likely to file complaints on misconduct or report incidents than uneducated individuals. This ensures that government institutions operate at a high level of accountability.
Education affects equality. Education creates an environment that fosters equality between minority populations and the west which makes it important for global economic growth. Statistics show that providing quality education for students from all backgrounds—low income and high income—reduces the achievement gap among students from diverse backgrounds.
In some European countries such as—Germany, Ireland and Switzerland—the literacy rate is approximately 92% due to the provision of affordable quality education.
Education affects extremism. Education has also been hailed as a solution to religious extremism and according to Former US Ambassador—Bill Richardson—supporting public education in the Muslim world will drastically reduce terrorism by making the populace less easy to exploit by extremist leaders.

The 9/11 commission report also stresses the importance of education in promoting life over death and why the Arab world should be educated. It states that the increase in economic growth and intellectual knowledge across the Muslim population will drastically reduce extremism.

Note that these are 10 accurate facts on the importance of education you can use when writing a college essay on this subject matter. As stated earlier, this is simply part one of three pieces that include our guide on how to write about the importance of education for college students and the 20 topics covering the importance of education.

References:
Lawrence, S. (2009). Investing in all the People: Educating Women in Developing Countries
http://www.campaignforeducation.org/docs/reports/IMF%20paper2_low%20res.pdf
Littledyke, M. & Eames, C. (2009). Education for Sustainability in the Primary Curriculum 43-47.
Barbara, H & Gene, S. (2004). What Works in Girl Education
http://www.cfr.org/publication/6947/what_works_in_girls_education.html
The Equity and Excellence Commission. (2013). A Strategy for Education, Equity and Excellence for Each and Every Child
http://www2.ed.gov/about/bdscomm/list/eec/equity-excellence-commission-report.pdf
Brian, F. & Peter, N. (2012). Educational Equality for Gypsy, Roma and Traveller Children and Young People in the UK.
http://www.equalrightstrust.org/ertdocumentbank/ERR8_Brian_Foster_and_Peter_Norton.pdf
Newman, F. & Scurry, J. (2004). The Future of Higher Education 35-40.