The COVID-19 pandemic has been a time of great distress, causing many disruptions to how we work and live. However, one may argue that the adjustments that we’ve been forced to make have also made room for new opportunities – the most prominent of these being in the realm of education.
Education has changed dramatically over the last year, with the distinctive rise of virtual learning, resulting in a kind of revolution for online education. Social isolation and increased computer time as a result of the pandemic has led many to pursue higher education within the more accessible online domain. Mohamed Desoky, the academic dean of the SKEMA Business School in Raleigh North Carolina and a graduate of The United States Military Academy at West Point, asserts that now is an optimal time for Veterans to put their GI benefits to use in the pursuit of higher education in connection with greater income opportunities. Although worthy skills are gained in the military, Desoky argues that when making the transition to the civilian workforce, many industries seek candidates with a deeper knowledge of technical concepts. He points to evidence from the Federal Reserve to reinforce this point, stating that college graduates earned 80% more than those of high school graduates in 2018. Desoky urges Veterans to embrace technology and to maximize time spent indoors and in isolation to pursue degrees from accredited universities or colleges.
