Clearly, New Data say and Jacques Steinberg, author of Plan B: Skip College each highlight the advantages and disadvantages of earning a degree and the different options if you don’t want to attend. A college education is not the right choice for everyone, but college is worth it. David Leonhardt’s article supports the decision to attend college and earn a degree. He argues that college graduates struggle to find work
“Saying No To College” by Alex Williams is an article that highlights a topic that has become increasingly popular in recent years. The author uses many real world examples of very successful people that are well known by the public to question whether it really is worth it to attend college. Williams begins that article by telling the story of Benjamin Goering and stating that he is not the only person to choose a path similar to the famous founder of Facebook, Mark Zuckerberg. Goering felt “frustrated in crowded lecture halls where the professors did not even know his name” and decided to drop out of school like so many others later named in the article. Lucky for him, he ended up at a successful job in California and is doing quite well
Who is to say that success cannot result from actively pursuing a career (internships, apprenticeships, etc.) rather than pursuing a college experience that may not be beneficial? It is critical to not confuse this, however, with Wilson’s fear that both the college path and career path remain unexplored. Not going to college definitely does not mean an easy way out; as much dedication is required as would be in school, as well as proper circumstances. For those that do require college though, a student loan may be a blessing in
Saxon assumes it may provide a general set of abilities employers value. Mead assumes it only provides an unquantifiable advantage to a student’s life. Both authors compare a potential student to Steve Jobs who dropped out of college, but they disagree over the meaning of this analogy. Mead uses Steve Jobs as an example of how an individual can succeed without college. Saxon uses Steve Jobs as an example of someone who used college as an opportunity to broaden his horizons rather than prepare for a job.
With large pool of recent graduates to pull from, employers are raising the requirements of entry level jobs to include Bachelor's and Master’s degrees to thin out the crowd. In response, students are increasing their efforts to get more fitting degrees in order to impress their potential employers and increase their chances of getting hired in their desired field. As Zinsser states, “College should be open-ended: at the end it should open many, many roads. Instead, students are choosing their goal in advance, and their choice narrow as they go along” (402). Zinsser’s observations of the current college system show that college is great for businesses, but poor for students.
As a college student who is currently spending thousands of dollars to further my education and achieve a career goal, it was, at first, disheartening to read Caroline Bird ’s essay “College is a Waste of Time and Money”. However, after thoroughly examining her points, I now see that her essay is illogical. In her piece “College is a Waste of Time and Money”, Caroline Bird argues against the idea that “college is the best place for all high-school graduates” (1); in other words, college isn’t for everyone. Throughout her writing, Bird supplies her readers with evidence that explains how, for some individuals, college is a waste of not only time and money, but of intellectual effort, as well.
Is College Worth the Cost? Life’s success is achieved in different ways. (Director, n.d.) A lot of television programs and magazines instills the idea in us that being successful means; having a fulfilling career, having a lot of money and being powerful. Most religious and spiritual organizations, in contrast, claim that success means being at peace with God and finding spiritual happiness.
My whole life I have heard it said that in order to be successful you need to go to college and get a degree. After reading the text ‘You’ve got to find what you love,’ a Stanford graduation speech given by Steve Jobs in 2005, I realized that it takes so much more than going to college and getting a degree to live a happy life. Steve was born in San Francisco, California on February 24, 1955 to a young, single college student. Since his mother put him up for adoption, she wanted to ensure his parents were college graduates so he could have a greater chance of going to college. Even though Steve Jobs was a college drop-out, he still managed to accomplish many things throughout his life.
In fact, he seems to suggest that living successful, productive life is attainable merely by trusting that everything will turn out right if you follow what you love. According to Steve Jobs having a high level of education does not guarantee a path to success. He states in his speech, Jobs argues that success is something that you get from abandoning traditional education and follow what their hearts desire. On the other hand, Job’s argument is lively and inspirational to the younger people.
Education today is still widely regarded as the key to success and an investment into one’s future. Some would argue that it depends on the field of study among a plethora of variables including but not limited to hard work, discipline, commitment and having ambition. No matter how we define success, one thing is certain is that knowledge is a key ingredient. Whether gained through formal learning from an academic institution or self-taught in today’s technologically advanced age of information. The knowledge and skills we acquire is vital to achieving success for those not fortunate enough to be born into substantial wealth.
For example Gates walked to the University of Washington every single day at midnight, just to practice coding. Many people are surrounded by opportunities, and do not realize it. If one takes the opportunities that they are given to progress and learn, they will be significantly more successful than those that are only intelligent. Within today’s society, there is far too much emphasis placed on intelligence, and too little on opportunity. Universities focus almost solely on grades, and students are often overly concerned with marks.
Albert Einstein ended up dropping out of high school in spite of his lack of formal education. He became a renowned physicist and his discoveries had an impact on science and our understanding of the world. Bill Gates received a high school diploma, but ended up dropping out of college to become an entrepreneur. He revolutionized personal computers and is one of the richest people in the world. These are two of the people that didn’t achieve academic success, but accomplished individual success.
- Steve Jobs. Are you a self-driven individual? Having read this article you will be aware of the strongest unconventional arguments for and against dropping out of college. According to The Magazine of Higher Learning, “The main arguments in favor of earning a college degree are based on college graduates’ larger earnings over a lifetime, lower unemployment rates, better health, and higher marriage rates.” So why do only 56 percent of the students who enter colleges
The 21st century has seen an overwhelming emphasis on education and knowledge as these are known to be the driving force of economic growth. On an individual level, the ability to land a decent paying job which will be able to secure one’s future is a widely sought after phenomenon by most graduates. This is supported by Burriesci’s observation that “advanced degrees are measured by their ‘return on investment’.” As such, many pursue education as a means to achieve better career prospects.
Some People Fail in School, but are Successful in Life Introduction Most people think that if you excel in your studies, you will become successful as you will get good jobs, high salary per month and manage to lead a comfortable life in luxury. But that is not the case as the meaning of success varies to different types of people. Some will find that success is having freedom of choosing whatever to wear, and some will find that success is to feel the satisfaction of earning your own money, in your own way. While that may seem to be the case, the definition of success here is “knowing your purpose in life, growing to reach your maximum potential, and sowing seeds that benefit others” (Maxwell, John C, 1947).
