Investing in People

Investing. Money. Putting money into things, developments, projects? But people? Why, yes! Of course.

And what does that look like, investing actively in people? Well, one way is through education. Families invest in their kids’ futures by funding college education. Families that cannot afford to do this either at all, or in part, seek financial aid assistance to pay tuition, fees and room and board for their kids at college. This can be quite expense. Most annual costs run from $28,000 to $55,000 today. Some are more than $70,000 for a year at university for undergraduate study.

Whether funded by the family or scholarships, mostly taxpayer programs, this is a huge investment in education for each student. But what do they get for that investment? Hopefully a well-educated person who can make intelligent decisions about their future. And their families, communities and social order.

There are some who think all higher education should be vocational in nature, that is, training someone for a profession or job. Like accounting, law, business management, sciences, and so forth. But the primary purpose of education is to teach students to think, learn and create their own development path well into the future.

Such students build intentional futures and careers. They adjust and change as the world changes around them.

And that is important, yes? A quick survey of today’s world demonstrates the dizzying speed of change, expected and not. People who are aware of such change prepare themselves for the world as it morphs and adapts to all change. People must do this, too, or live with the changes for good or ill. In all too many lives, adaptation to change is poor or nonexistent. What happens to them? They likely continue to work the old job until it disappears, replaced by a new career pattern or an entirely new industry.

It would be best if the person maps out their own career and prepares for it and actually builds it year after year. Good education helps the person accomplish this. Not always, but most of the time.

And yes, some education is vocational inasmuch as many degrees are specific in preparing a student for a specific career such as doctor, lawyer or accountant. Sciences are a bit more complicated because of many channels and pathways to perform specific sciences.

Our interest here is in investing in people and their futures. A population that can manage their own careers is a population that adapts to the zillion changes that happen all the time. That helps create new products, services, ideas, and careers. It boosts employment and reduces unemployment. It kindles economic activity and supports stronger standards of living. It discovers better health care and treatments. It prolongs life and improves long term health standards as well.

Helping people be all that they can be is the hoped for result of investing in them in the first place. That’s where educators, schools, colleges and universities, and the state and federal departments of education enter the picture. Investing in a person’s future is not a one-person project, but a massive retooling of our people for whatever happens in our social order and history year after year as a group project by many people for the benefit of many. Our people benefit from this personally. Our society benefits immeasurably as well.  

I think we easily forget some of the above. Some even disagree with what I have written here. But investing in people is very real and an activity we should always manage to do. For our good. And for their good.

February 21, 2025

 

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