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Charles Murray Four Year Education Essay

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What is a college education? What is it meant for? Are too many high school graduates attending a four-year post-secondary education? James Adams said, “There are two educations. One should teach us how to make a living and the other how to live.” In Charles Murray’s essay, he argues that to many people are going to college and colleges are teaching students how to be good humans rather than how to be good at what they decide to do. The graduates going to vocational schools, or schools that teach jobs that are more hands on, have been told by society that they will be paid less than people who get a four-year education. With Murray’s essay in mind the four-year education needs to be simplified down. Maybe groups should look at how the American education system is set up as America does not rank high in the standings around the world. Today’s American education system forces high school graduates to go attend a four-year university because society believes that to be considered smart, that is what all graduates should do; this causes issues with vocational schooling and hands on jobs as there are not many kids going into those fields. America’s education system is far from perfect. According to Jill Barshay, “Among the 35 industrialized nations that are members of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), the U.S. now ranks thirty-first in education.” America has some work to do in this sector. Starting from the beginning of the …show more content…

Changing these can point the business world on a tangent where employees do not have to have a bachelor’s degree and society does not deem graduates “dumb” who do not go on to a secondary education. America can change and can change for the better. Everyone needs to believe in American education again. President Lyndon B. Johnson said, “We must open the doors of opportunity. But we must also equip our people to walk through those

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