Does academic qualification ensure success?

Background:
Definition of success certainly differs from person to person. While some may treat only economic success as a benchmark for labeling a person as successful ignoring other failures like health inefficiency divorce etc. For some others success can be measured by the capacity of a person to overcome challenges irrespective of the earnings and the private life of that person. So how can we define a person as a successful one or as a failure? Can we say that grades and examinations results achieved in school and college predict or ensure a successful future? If this is true a lot of young people should be encouraged to gain higher formal qualifications but then how shall we explain the cases of persons like Richard Branson and Bill Gates who are college drop outs. Can we say that all the young people who did not have the opportunity to acquire academic certificates are failures in life?
Arguments in favor of:

1. The first question asked while applying for a job, looking for a business partner or even proposing marriage is “what do you do?”. No curriculum vitae, résumé or bio-data is accepted if it does not mention the educational qualification of a person. It has become an unannounced rule of the social as well as the corporate world that the academic qualifications of a person are treated as a big leap towards opportunity.

2. Academic qualifications ensure that the person has the basics in learning. Success in life is highly possible when a person has strong basic grounding in subjects like maths, science and languages. These allow a person to calculate, innovate and communicate effectively. For learning these essentials of success, professional help at schools and colleges is required. When these institutions are satisfied with the learning of a person, they issue the certificates which indicate the competence of the person and are called the academic qualifications of a person.

3. A few exceptions like Bill Gates can not and should not make a child abandon his or her studies. A few exceptions among successful persons can not be treated as a general rule. Moreover while keepings these few successful persons without high academic qualifications in mind we can not ignore millions of engineers, doctors and other professionals who rely upon their education for success. No country can do without these professions.

4. Academic qualifications provide and all round experiences of life along with an opportunity to meet different people having divorce background. It also allows us to reflect on the importance of values and culture in our life. These things are necessary for terming a person as successful. Widespread education helps in the creation of civilized nation. It uplifts moral and ethics by exposing people to the great thinkers and philosophers from the past. It also makes people aware of their rights and liberties.

5. Academic qualifications alone may not be enough for ensuring success they certainly indicate that the person having these qualifications has what it takes to be successful. It would be difficult for employers to choose suitable candidates if they don’t have any educational qualifications. Academic grades are also important because students have to work hard, learn specialist knowledge and master demanding skills in order to achieve good exam grades. These are important characteristics for success in any field and this is the reason by employers greatly value academic qualifications.

Arguments against:

1. Success is not dependent on grades. Had success and opportunities been measured by grades alone there would have been no requirement of an interview and the person with best qualifications would have got the job. Even the potential marriage partners also ask for bio-data where other qualifications apart from the academic once are mentioned. Thus academic qualifications alone can not ensure success, it depends on the personality, physical characteristics and the willingness to work hard of a person.

2. Success is not about getting good grades or a degree. If this had been the case all graduates from Oxford Harvard or Cambridge would have been uniformly successful. The rule of success is certainly hard work. For example an engineering student with good grades could be successful in getting a job but if he is not effective in proper planning, solving crises or relation building he will not go to for in his job and is found to pay doubt eventually.

3. A large number of professionals are successful but even they want to be employed by person like Richard Branson or Bill Gates. Prosperity is not dependent on academic qualifications rather it depends on opportunities that are provided by entrepreneurs and it is not necessary that all these entrepreneurs are highly qualified. In fact successful entrepreneurs derived a benefit from their lack of academic qualifications because colleges and universities might have forced them to think like the millions of other person who graduate from these institutions.

4. Academic qualifications have not proved to be successful in restraining people from becoming drunkards, war mongers and rapists. The incidents of domestic violence and broken families have also not come down with the increased in the academic qualifications. True success should be measured by the moral courage of a person to speak against injustice and atrocities, generosity towards poor and respect for parents. These characteristics can be found in people from all types of social and educational backgrounds but are often missing in persons with high academic qualifications.

5. It has been seen that academic qualifications have very little relevance when it comes to the jobs assigned to the graduates. Only a few decades ago employers were recruiting people directly from school in areas like banking, management and government services and then training these persons on the job. These persons were promoted to higher levels according their abilities. The requirements of these jobs have not changed much but now all applicants are required to have a university degree. This situation is not in favor of talented young people having poorer backgrounds.

Conclusion:
Academic qualifications ensure success in life and make the society worth living.