Not everyone entering college will finish graduating with a degree, which leaves a lot of debt and no degree. For those who don’t pursue a higher degree, there should be different options to learn skills needed for the work force. Short-term vocational and career training is all some jobs require, a lot of careers don’t require bachelor degrees. Skill sets that employers desire are pushed aside to prepare students for college. The concept of apprenticeship should be more active today, it trains faster and teaches management in the workplace first hand.
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.
College, the most discussed and controversial topic for hundreds of years. The necessity of college has been discussed in many different countries for hundreds of years in the past and will still be just as controversial in the future. Many have asked why college is important and what it has to offer. William Deresiewicz in the chapter “What is College For?” from the book Excellent Sheep attempts to answer this question by using multiple literary elements to show his audience, which is primarily high schoolers, why college is the only option and is essential to all.
For decades, students have been told that college is the next step after high school graduation. Society glorifies those that have a degree and looks down upon those who do not. Many students have not acquired the necessary tools nor have the motivation to be successful and face problems while pursuing post-high school education. Some argue that college provides a foundation in liberal studies that will improve career opportunities. Charles Murray disagrees in his essay, "Are Too Many People Going to College."
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.
College and Career Analysis Part One: Rationale For some, the workforce is almost immediate after school, for others, it's the military but for me, its straight to West Hills. In his article, “10 rules for going to college when nobody really expected you too,” Joe Rodriguez states that “the mere act of attending college is totally unexpected there are unforeseen obstacles including family and friends that tend to blow nontraditional students off their paths like landmines. He believes if educators helped to guide them into what the reality of life could look like before, during and after college then more students would be willing to attend. He believes if educators helped to guide them into what the reality of life could look like before, during and after college then more students would be willing to attend. I was personally moved by Mr. Rodriguez’s article, it not only reminded me that I'm on the right track but encouraged me to face this bittersweet journey with my head
There 's always the one question in life that gets asked, “What do you want to do when you grow up?” Even when students or adults are all grown up they still ask that question. The thing is, they will always question themselves, they will question themselves until they believe they accomplished their goals. Furthermore, finding a college without a certain career in mind is difficult. Even if someone does have their mind set on a career it’s still challenging, because they don 't know if that college is best for them.
In his Essay “Are too many people going to college,” first published in a 2008 issue of AEI, Charles Murray explores many insights onto the topic of furthering education as well as exploring various other options to pursue after high school. Who exactly would think that too many people are going to college? Well with more and more students flooding campuses at the end of every school year and less and less going into trade schools, a shift in the job market is just beginning to be seen on the horizon. Charles Murray’s essay “Are too many people going to college” shows that not only are there other avenues to pursue a potential life long career, but that much of the time pursuing these avenues may offer better results for some wanting to go to college.
We all remember those days, where college is engrained into every student’s mind as a necessity for a happy and successful future financial life. But is that true? Do you need a college education in order to live that happy and successful life that all students dream of having? While you don’t need a college education to succeed, we see that those with a college education have a greater advantage. The price of college is validated through a drastically lower unemployment rate, higher annual earnings, and the quality of life a majority of college graduates live.
A Look into The Purpose Of College When thinking about the purpose of college, most people tend to lean towards either job-driven or life-driven. In the article “What’s The Purpose Of College?”, Brandon Busteed looks deeper into the meaning of the purpose of college. Instead of looking at college as solely preparation for a good job, we can also look at it as a way to prepare a person for a successful life through broad education. After reading this article, I agree with the author that the purpose of college is equally preparing students for jobs while also assisting them in ways to thrive throughout their life to be successful with a purpose. Summary
Many of my friends are studying different courses such as; Physician Assistant, Pharmacy, and Nursing. They all want to achieve their goals and dreams. They also claim that “As Figure 4 shows, the proportion of men and women ages 20 to 25 who attended college jumped by about half over the past poor ears, tracking the rise in the wage premium. When returns fell in the 1970s, the fraction going on to college declined. The rise in returns since 1980 has been accompanied by a significant rise
What does it mean to be a college graduate and do they really care about your career? In this essay, “We Send Too Many Students To College (2011)”, Marty Nemko’s, asserts, that colleges are a business as well as students are a cost item. Nemko supports his claim by illustrating authoritative quotes with the nationwide survey conducted by UCLA researchers. Nemko’s purpose points out the way colleges misinform high school students who are seeking a degree where sometimes employment is difficult to acquire, in order to collect billions of tax dollars with minimal accountability.
Are colleges doing enough to prepare students for the workforce? A college degree has traditionally been a strong indicator that one is ready and fully competent to succeed in an entry-level job. Students pay large amounts of money, and often find themselves in debt, in order to afford college tuition. Therefore, they expect to get the most out of their education, with hopes of attaining a job as graduates. Ideally, four years of undergraduate studies are crucial and usually sufficient, depending on one’s career choice, in shaping students by helping them develop skills and experience that will ultimately be necessary in their future in the workforce.
Graduating high school and deciding what a person should do with their life is a difficult, possibly life altering decision. Debate over the choice of college or not ensues in almost every young adult. For those questioning whether to risk the cost of an institution a realization needs to be taken place that the price of tuition pays itself off and creates benefits for present and future. Some people disagree with the decision to go to college and promote the labor working class. These people often prefer hands on jobs and have a hard time with wanting to sit at a desk for longer than they have to and would rather start earning money right off the bat; therefore, an institution might not be the most beneficial of actions.
However this isn’t the best solution for our prospective students; instead, we can work to better prepare students for college so students don’t have to adjust in college, but move forward right away so they are better educated and even more prepared once they graduate. In the May 15 2015 Article “Survey: 14 Percent Of 2015 College Grads Have Real Jobs”, author Eric Owens talks about how low the percentage of getting a real job after college is, and how important it is to improve those stats. According to Owens, “Just 14 percent of this year’s college seniors have steady, career-type jobs lined up for their lives after graduation. Thus, 86 percent of America’s college grads — about five out of every six — have zilch in the way of career prospects for their post-campus lives.” These statistics prove that clearly there is not enough people entering the workforce after college, and if we were to get students more prepared before entering college, then students will learn more and be more prepared to get a job once they attend college.