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Are Too Many People Going To College? By Charles Murray

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In “Are Too Many People Going to College?” Charles Murray offers his opinion on the number of students that pursue a B.A. He believes that two year or four year colleges are not needed for a majority of students who could instead pursue other life paths. He discusses the ability for the general knowledge needed to be learned in primary and secondary school, and for a lessened need for a “brick-and-mortar” institution the problems with the current secondary and higher educational issues including the lessened need to acquire a B.A. All members of society need certain skills in order to be productive members of society. They need to know general facts about the country they live in, general history, and general geography. However, these bits of knowledge could be taught a lot earlier in people’s lives. As students get older, they become able to understand different topics with more ease than when they were younger. For example, Algebra could be taught in under half the time if taught a year later than it is. So why force students to learn these things at a young age when they could instead …show more content…

Easy access to a large collection of books and companionship used to be necessary to provide a good learning environment, but as time passes all of these things will be available online thus reducing the need for students to go to a physical college. The time required to go to a physical four year college is also a burden on many students. Instead of taking your classes online and having a large number of options on when you take your classes, students are forced to follow a set schedule of classes depending on when they are offered for a much larger cost than an online college. Four year colleges are losing their appeal as more and more things become available online. However, that is not the only issue with the current educational

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People go to college to get a good paying job, have job security, and get a degree. Well at least that’s what it should be about. That’s what Charles Murray believes in his essay “Are Too Many People Going to College.” Murray counters the argument of Sanford Ungar who believes colleges should have a more liberal approach towards its classes and have students actually learn a broad range of real life skills instead of just going into a career just because it pays well. In Ungar’s essay he explains the misperception that Americans have on obtaining a liberal-arts degree and how they believe it doesn’t translate well to the real world.

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Some of the considerations about education have changed when we compare those considerations by looking closely at the qualifications of the blue-collar workers and students. Two writers looked at different generations, and one of them focused on the experiences of the blue-collar workers; however, the other writer looked at considerations from another perspective by paying attention to statistics. While in “Blue-Collar Brilliance,” Mike Rose claims that college is not necessary in “Are Too Many People Going to College,” Charles Murray believes college is somehow necessary; however, both Rose and Murray agree on how we value knowledge and how we measure intelligence. First of all, although Rose believes that college is not necessary, Murray claims that

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In his article, “Are Too Many People Going to College?” Charles Murray argues that too many people are going to college universities when they should be focusing on other lifestyle options. In his opinion, whether or not to attend college is a personal decision that should be thoroughly thought through. When weighed with the unrealistic prerequisites, the financial expenses, and the time needed to obtain a degree, many people will find that attending college will not be beneficial to them. Speaking of this Murray attests, “The question here is not whether the traditional four-year residential college is fun or valuable as a place to grow up, but when it makes sense as a place to learn how to make a living.

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