College Education Research Paper

Over the years, society has progressed and changed in several ways. Many ideas have evolved for the better, however some for the worse. One instance of a change for the worse is the evaluation of the expectations around higher education. The way America has come to treat a college education is harmful for its youth. Between employers’ lack of care for the discipline of degree achieved (just that those applying have one,) the steep price tag, and the absence of a genuine pursuit of knowledge, the flaws in the college education system are obvious.

Nowadays, a college education is essential for anybody looking for a job where they will have change to spare. As Carlo Rotella points out, “a college degree has become a minimum qualification for

The need to go to college to have legitimate knowledge in the field is often lost. A sense of obligation surrounds lots of students. College is treated as a mandatory goal throughout high school. Why? So that students can be prepared for the workforce by having a thousands of dollar piece of paper that shows their dedication, not for the actual knowledge that they have collected along the way. Unless one is going into a STEM career field, many employers just want to see that you can put in work. While employers don’t care about the disciplinary of a degree, “they do care that you’re a college graduate . . . if you worked hard and did your job properly,” (Rotella 468). While that is a valid thing to look for when hiring somebody, needing to pay thousands of dollars to prove it is ridiculous. Highschool transcripts are free and do very much the same thing: show the effort and dedication an individual put towards a goal. Plenty of working class people without the resources to attend college are dedicated workers that could succeed at their jobs with basic training. Paying the way through college alone is not an accurate representation of somebody’s ability to complete the work, however sometimes it feels as though employers view it that

For the college education system to be fair, either employers need to stop viewing a college education as the only way to prove one’s ability to do work, or education needs to be made widely accessible to anybody seeking it. Both options would make those seeking well paying jobs without having to risk debt to do it. College would again be about the pursuit of knowledge and learning, not merely a hoop to jump through to gamble the possibility of a successful