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Having been raised in California, I tend to take education for granted. Mostly because so did the teachers, principal, school system, etc. Unfortunately, California is not known for its great public education. Now that I’m here, I understand why Iowans are proud of their public-education system and I’m impressed at how continuous improvements are sought after.

The focus on helping high school students begin the transition to college a couple of years before graduation is one of the smartest tactics I’ve seen. The supposed downside is that all these smart and well-educated kids will be desired by surrounding states. I think it’s good for people to think the grass is greener somewhere else. It’s especially true in Iowa, since six months out of the year the grass is covered in snow. It’s also true that a lot of the people who leave Iowa come back, and they come back for all the same reasons the rest of us live here.

I find it difficult when working with high school kids, including my own, to get them to understand that what they are doing right now in school connects to the real world and their future. For a lot of kids, what keeps them from being fully committed in studying and fully applying themselves is a lack of future understanding.

How many of us were told at some point in school that we weren’t reaching our potential or that if we tried harder we’d do better? I heard it many times. I also heard, “Mr. Reddin, please stop bothering your neighbors.”

Earlier this year, there was a survey about the median weekly earnings for the United States. The study was put together by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics and makes a great case for education.

The survey found that full-time workers in the United States had median weekly earnings of $719 in the first quarter of 2008, which is an increase of 3.8 percent from a year earlier. The more interesting piece of the study to me was that full-time workers over 25 without a high school diploma had median weekly earnings of $435, compared with $615 for high school graduates. Those with at least a bachelor’s degree reported a median wage of $1,108 a week. Sadly, it also showed that women are still not being paid equally with men. Women who usually work full time had median weekly earnings of $637 per week, or 80.6 percent of the $790 median for men.

The survey confirmed what we already knew: Being educated pays. I cannot commend enough the work of programs like the Iowa Department of Education’s Iowa Jobs for America’s Graduates (I-JAG) for what they do to help at-risk teens graduate, with a good majority going on to post-high-school education. I encourage you to talk to your kids about this survey. Talk to them about how important education is, not only to obtain a good job but to also be self-supporting.

An eye-opening exercise for you and your kids is to take different potential monthly incomes and subtract your current costs of living and compare the results. It’s a great visual that may just have their teachers calling you for advice. Education gives our kids the opportunity to choose their destiny before it chooses them.

Nick Reddin is business development manager for Manpower Inc.’s Des Moines office.