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In my opinion, education is essential to success in life. Though there can always be improvements in the system, I believe that the key goal of education should be to teach students "how to think." By the end of high school the goal should not be that every student knows a certain list of content material in each subject, but that they can think for themselves and make rational decisions about their own life. I suppose that success later in life then is not the goal or motivation, but at the same time becoming a thinker is not unrelated to success. Education is essential for success in society because we value it so much. If you do not have a high school diploma or a college degree, your choices in life will be extremely limited no matter how intelligent you are or what traits you might possess. Again, I don't think the point is that because you have a degree you possess certain knowledge, but more that the degree you attain shows that you have some skills that will continue to help you succeed in the job market (determination, intelligence, etc.). I think it's important to be real with our students. Education may not seem important in 7th grade (as many of my students believe), but not taking school seriously will most likely have negative affects on the choices available to you later in life.