The Worth of Work

If you know what sort of education someone's parents have, and you can probably guess what sort of education that person has.

People usually get college degrees if their parents have college degrees. And people with college degrees usually work better paid jobs.

It's not 100%, of course, but you know it's pretty likely that someone will have a similar pay scale and similar kind of education to their parents.

Just driving around town, you can guess pretty accurately what sort of education people at most workplaces have. People with college degrees are separated from people with high school diplomas. That's not a good thing.

Attending college is hard work, no doubt. But working full time (or more than full time) for four years is hard work too. We shouldn't forget that.

The way the world gives some people less power and less respect is not how God created us.

Your status should not depend on how your parents were educated or what sort of education you have. Your dignity and human worth don't depend on that.

In God's eyes, we have dignity first as human beings in his image, and second as Christians called and transformed by Jesus.

That means that what sort of education you have doesn't define you. God defines you.

God gives dignity that you should treat everyone with, and expect for yourself too.

Hard work deserves to be rewarded. That's true for people with high school diplomas and it's true for people with college degrees.

A version of this article was originally published Apr. 5, 2018 in the Capital Journal.