To lead a happy and stable life, education is important. Being an educated person gives you a good social reputation, a job, and many other benefits. The society that we live in has much unspoken as well as spoken rules for everyone. They expect you to get proper schooling, then go to a college and then land a job and settle down ultimately. So, to become a member of this society, you have to be formally educated.
The purpose of formal education in society is to impart knowledge. Knowledge is something one can achieve by many other means, for example, technology and libraries. But, the formal education provides you with degrees and certificates that will help verify your achievements.
Formal education is necessary for several reasons
Knowledge and learning
Traditionally, the schools and colleges are responsible for the formal education of a child. They affect the way a child thinks and gives direction to life. The ultimate purpose of formal education is to impart knowledge. It is through the formal education that the child learns the basic art and sciences. It teaches us the usage of this art and science in everyday life, and that is how a child becomes a learned person. It helps a person develop views and insights about various things.
Degrees and certificate
Formal education provides you with degrees and certificates of merit that informal education does not. Informal education is also important, and that should go on throughout your life, but being formally educated is mandatory to survive in the competitive society today. Students need their degrees from educational institutions to practice law, accounting, etc.
Share knowledge
Knowledge is power. So, to be powerful, you must be knowledgeable. The way to understand the importance of knowledge and use it in practical life is by being formally educated. Having gained experience, you must share it with other people. This helps you gain their respect too.
Discipline
Formal education instills a sense of discipline in you. When we go to schools and colleges, we are bound to follow a set of rules and regulations. Gradually, we start following these rules in everyday life. This is good because it helps in keeping yourself and your activities organized.
Specialization
The world today consists of people who have developed the understanding of the deep and complex aspects of various things. Only through formal education can one fit in the specialized world. The people driving the world today are those who have understood the complex nature of various subjects. This kind of understanding takes time and a gradual system of learning. Schools and colleges help us develop a sense of competition and motivate us to contribute to the development of the nation.
Organized
Formal education is an organized way of education. In the absence of a systematic system of education, the learning process remains patchy.
Economy of the country
By being formally educated, one can hope to improve the economy of a country. This is because the foreign investors would be impressed by an educated workforce and choose countries which have a higher population of an educated workforce.