why is people with an education more successful in life than those without it?

I do not know what your definition of "education" is, but I do not
think that what I call an education assures sucess and there are many
"successful" people who have limited education. I have told my
children that, if you can do something better than anyone else you can
make a good living at it. I will defend that position. I am not saying
that education is bad, but it is not for everyone.

Redhoss

Education doesn't actually teach anyone how to do anything except to
think more clearly.

The ability to think clearly and rationally is not something one is
born with, ready to go. It is a skill that requires practice and
experience. Education provides practice in thinking and the
experiences of thousands of years of human activity.

That said, education only guarantees success when it enables someone
to get a great job or an opportunity which for whatever reasons is
denied to people without an education.

Mostly it's as simple as:

- achieving academic qualifications takes hard work and intelligence
- employers want someone intelligent who works hard
- the high paying jobs go to those with a good education

It doesn't always hold that education = success. A friend of mine
dropped out of Oxford University in his first year, and four years
later has his own business making hundreds of thousands of pounds a
year.

But he's the exception, not the rule.

I would say it is because what the things in life that people who want
an education want to get are easier to get with an education. In other
words, the definition of success is to get a job that requires
education, and all that goes along with it. If someone proposed a
different definition of sucess, it is quite likely that those with
education would not measure up to that definition.