Due to the police killings of unarmed African-Americans across the country, three Black females started the civil rights movement called Black Lives Matter. Now that there has been an uprising of police killings, police have challenged that not only Black lives matter, but that all lives matter. In this state of unrest that our country is facing, some additional questions to be asked are: Does education matter? Why is an education critical to the success of any individual?

According to research, U.S. citizens with a college degree earned more wages than high school graduates. Those with a college degree tend to have better job opportunities and thus their pay increases exponentially with the level of education attained. Another startling statistic is that those with a college degree tend to lead a much healthier life style and they live longer. This healthier life style results from knowing better, doing better and getting better access to medical services according to the Center for Disease Control. With these statistics, it is imperative that our students understand that education matters in order for them to prepare themselves for a competitive workforce, as well as address appropriately some of the civic, social and community problems.

Considering many people learn by reading about the experiences of other people, Ronald Holmes’ book on “Professional Career Paths” provides examples of why education matters. This book specifically provides an excerpt of 57 professionals in different careers (teacher, lawyer, interior designer, etc.) who shared their perspectives on how they chose their career paths, and how their educational background and professional training were essential to their professions. This book also discusses how these professionals developed a passion for working in their chosen careers although each of them took a different career path and gained different levels of training.

For example, one of the teachers talked about how he did not intend to become a teacher until he started tutoring students on a voluntarily basis. With a desire to have a greater impact on students, this teacher changed his major from science to education and, subsequently, became the 2013 National Teacher of Year.

Another example in the book is about an individual who did not intend to become a lawyer until he started taking undergraduate classes in political science, studying abroad in Oxford, England and learning about the British political process. He changed his major from sociology to political science, graduated from Yale Law School and became an Assistant United States Attorney.

Finally, there is the story of an interior designer who became a successful worker in the insurance industry, but knew at the age of 14 she had a gift for interior design. She had an amazing ability to see things such as space, line and color palette and would use this innate knowledge to decorate the homes of her friends’ parents. She left the insurance industry, acquired the necessary training and license in interior design and became a successful owner of her own interior design company.

These are a few reasons education matters. Additional reasons can be found in the book on “Professional Career Paths.” The book can help students visualize how their background fits certain characteristics of the 57 professionals so they become inspired to pursue a defined career path. To order the book, visit: Amazon.com; Barnes and Noble or Authorhouse.com

Dr. Ronald Holmes is the author of 10 books, “How to Eradicate Bullying” “Education Questions to be Answered,” “Current Issues and Answers in Education,” “How to Eradicate Hazing,” “Professional Career Paths,” “Your Answers to Education Questions,” “How to revitalize the National Baptist Convention, USA, Inc.” “Completing the Dissertation: Tips, techniques and real-life experiences from Ph.D. graduates.” “Jacob’s Dream, A Story of Careers for Children” and Jacob’s Dream, A Story of Animals in Africa. He is publisher of “The Holmes Education Post,” an education focused Internet newspaper.  Holmes is a former teacher, school administrator and district superintendent. He can be reached at [email protected]