Mall of America: Shopping for Your Future In recent years, college has become the hot topic of conversation. The conversation is centralized by the reoccurring question of “is college necessary?” In addition to societies speculations about attaining a degree, college enrollment is being questioned among high school graduates. Could this be a result of the consumerism mentality colleges have inhabited or, could this be a result of the stressors college burdens on students? Recent studies done by “Georgetown University found that, on average, college graduates are likely to make $1 million dollars more in earnings over the span of a lifetime” than non-graduates (Corner Stone). “Another recent study by the Pew Research Center found that the …show more content…
Michael Welsch is a professor of cultural anthropology at Kansas State University who “explores the effects of new media on society and culture” (Wesch). Wesch labels his classroom full of students: a classroom full of “meaning-seekers” (Wesch) We can relate the statement made by Wesch to the purpose of a mall and its comparison to colleges. Much like college’s malls are always trying to revamp and appeal to the masses. When browsing through a malls website, the major marketing ploy will be the copious number of stores they offer. Malls strive to be diverse in order to broaden their profit margin. If a mall has only a few stores, the luster effect is lost. Nobody wants to shop at a mall with a limited number of stores. Malls are focused on the consumer. An informed consumer strives for the best. And to be the best mall with the most customers, you have to beat out the competition. Colleges are becoming too familiar with these …show more content…
Successful students such as Bryan Steward and Joon Lee create publicity. Potential students will be more likely to choose a reputable college. After all, college is an investment and a general rule of investing is to be informed and choose wisely. But is the competition and consumerism mindset too stressful? Do the ends justify the means? Margaret Talbot, an American essayist and non-fiction writer would argue that college is in fact too stressful. Talbot interviewed a former Harvard graduate. For the sake of interviewing purposes, Talbot named the anonymous participant Alex. Alex was a history major who “wrote about a dozen papers a semester” (Talbot 652). In addition to having a very demanding major Alex also ran a student organization, which occupied more than forty hours during the week. When Alex “wasn’t on the job, he had classes” (Talbot 635). Alex devoted his weeknights to schoolwork and weekends to spend time with friends at parties. Alex believed maintaining a social life was crucial. He told Talbot it seemed important to “appreciate” his own youth. In order to cope with all of his responsibilities and, “since in essence, this life was impossible, Alex began taking Adderall to make it possible” (Talbot 653). Alex’s use of the neuro-enhancing drug is a direct indicator of the stress placed on him by the competitive aspects in college. Do colleges place too much pressure on students to rise above the competition? Is Alex’s use of Adderall