Discussion: Capitalism and Positive Aspects of Education

Page 1: read topic: All my life I was told that the more education I had the better I would make it through my life time and that an education was one thing no one could ever take away from me. What do you feel are the most positive aspects of more education? Why? What about the people with little or no education? Where do they fit into society?
Then mine: Due to the advent of capitalism and American industrialization, social mobility is believed to be directly linked to the virtue of “hard work”. In other words, the harder you work and the more determination you have, the better your chances are in achieving your dream – wealth. Aside from this, the relegation of ‘menial tasks’ to other countries and the expansion (increase in the division of labor) of the professional field in the country greater credentials were required of everyone. Thus, hard work was translated towards having a higher degree. Following from all of this, in order to move up the ranks of the social and corporate ladder, everyone is expected to have a higher degree to have a better job. In my own personal opinion, this is in most parts true. Having a higher degree can make sure that you have the ‘edge’ as compared to others with lesser educational attainment in any job interviews that you apply for. The knowledge and technical expertise that you have is much greater as compared to others. However, despite my agreement with this argument, I also believe that there are a lot of instances in which a person with a higher degree had a lower position as compared to others (e.g. a Ph.D. holder working as a janitor). I believe that this is because having a higher educational attainment is not a foolproof method sine there are still a lot of other factors that should be taken into account. Thus - following from the argument above – for those people working in menial jobs, having lesser educational attainment does not necessarily meant that they’re stuck in the lower rungs of the ladder forever.
Then peers: 
I feel that first, a distinction needs to be made from the definitions of school and education. Here are two definitions from the Merriam-Webster dictionary:
School (noun) – an organization that provides instruction, primarily as an institution for the teaching of children
Education (noun) – the action or process of teaching someone especially in a school, college, or university
While both of these may seem to go hand in hand, as they often do, look at the definitions of the words a little closer: one assumes the other, while the other does not necessarily need one. Education doesn’t require school. I understand that the system essentially requires you to obtain a degree from a postsecondary school in order to find a well-paying job. But what I’m saying is people should take time out of their day to learn something for themselves, without the instruction of a teacher.
With that being said, I think there are many positive aspects of education in a traditional sense. There are teachers there who are (usually) very knowledgeable about their respective subjects and can answer any question students may have for them. Education, especially in college and beyond, can help you network with a variety of other people that can not only help you obtain a job, but also serve as mentors as you try to navigate this thing called life. Education also helps give people a voice for perhaps those that are voiceless; there are social workers out there who are trying to help provide better lives for lower income people, for example, but they have to be educated enough to know how to remedy the problem and be put in official positions.
The people with little or no education, again in a traditional sense, are often living in areas where their schooling system isn’t necessarily up to par. Of course there are those who are too lazy to do anything for themselves, but those type of schools must improve for more people to care. Typically, they are not given many options outside of low-end, dead-end jobs that can barely pay the bills if at all. I think the system in this country promotes classism, so I suppose the best answer I can give is that those with little or no education realistically fit in with the rest of their peers who have the same level of minimal education. I think this is a problem that we as a society can start to remedy by putting more into those communities.
What you write: Tell what you liked agree with, keeping in mind of my response to topic.
Page 2: Write 300 word summary of chapter 12 (make sure it is 300 words at least no less) in attachments