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Martin Estrada

English 1102
Professor Hughes
May 12, 2016
College Education & Success
Whether to Pursue A College Education or Not Too?
Depending on the circle you run in, a person without education today is looked
down on, stigmatized as uneducated or low class. The more open-minded among us
understand that the richness of a persons mind or life is not necessarily related to the
possession of a college diploma. While it may appear obvious to some that a college
education is connected to a successful life, research shows that there is not a relationship
between the two. Claims have been made that college is not what it is made up to be,
leaving students unprepared for the real world (Bird). While in the past, a college
education was seen as the path to cultural currency rather than financial security, in the
wake of the Great Recession and as college tuition has continued to swell, prospective
students have become more concerned with the pragmatic value of their education. Still,
theres much debate over just how practical an education is: it is no doubt that the critics
some of us just see college education as a waste of money and time. On the other hand, it
still has its proponents who see it as the KEY to a better job, less stress and being more
successful in life. What results on education have affected the influence of ones success?
It is important that a resolution is made between the two debates as it affects our students
and economy.

Our country has been struggling financially for the past decade: especially college
students. And as a nation, $1.1 trillion dollars is spent on education$460 billion dollars
on postsecondary education excluding loans, breaks down to about $27,000 per
graduating student (London). As a result, in 2011, an Associated Press analysis found that
54 percent of graduates were unemployed forcing many of them to just obtain a job in
something unrelated to their college studies (London). This is so they can start paying
that prolonged loan that was given to help advance their careers, but in reality becomes
a burden holding them back. As the graph below illustrates college debt per student
steadily increases over the years.

(Nearly double of what was borrowed 20 years ago.)


According to William Bennett and David Wilezol through years of research for
their book, Is College Worth It, came across the Zombie Generation a term used to
describe; a group of college graduates that are suffocating under a mountain of
accumulated debt, with a limited opportunity of employment who lack or have no

acquired skill(s) (London). Causing and creating those educated students to be


dumbfounded, when asked to complete a task as Charles Lawrence was, a
communications major in college and now the producer of Kennedy & Co., the
Chicago morning television show, said, You have to learn all that stuff and youll never
use it again. I learned my job doing it. Similar beliefs were expressed in Value of a
College Degree: that costs have outstripped the value of a degree and do not adequately
prepare a student for the real world.
From a list of 1,125 billionaires, at least 73 of them were dropouts at some point
in their career (Farrell). A few of the well-known billionaires are: Bill Gates (Microsoft),
Mark Zuckerberg (Facebook) and Steve Jobs (Apple). That clearly isnt something to be
impressed by or indicate that the motivation to believe education is worthless. As Gates
stressed to Congress, education the importance of education is beneficial in other ways,
like whom one might meet; for example, in 2000 him and Steve Ballmer an important
role of chief executive of Microsoft (Farrell). That lived just down the hall from Gates in
Harvard (Farrell). So everyone has a different meaning and purpose in life.
But however college can be worth the money. In a way it is a stepping-stone,
shaping that person from a child to a young adult. Forcing them to be on there own and
pay bills, mange time, and meet deadlines giving them a feel for the real world.
According to Ernest Boyner's concept of the "New American College", higher education
is essential for preparation for one's future. He states that:
In spatial terms, teaching and learning may begin in a classroom, but course work
also spills over into the life of the campus and the community. Students engage in

experiential learning and co-curricular activities that take abstract ideas and
anchor them in real-life problems (Coye).
Another reason it is worth it helps develop that person to deal with different ethnic and
racial backgrounds. Giving them the ability to be more open to unfamiliar cultures and
better their social and communicative skills. To a level college is not just about getting
that good job it is about acquiringknowledgeandbroadeningone'shorizon, colleges
offer students to explore outside of their intended major.
Bowen explains this goal by breaking it down into three aspects. He expresses it in this
manner:
The specific goals for the education function are derived. This function...is
intended to help students develop as persons in three respects: cognitive learning,
by expanding their knowledge and intellectual powers; affective development, by
enhancing their moral, religious, and emotional interests and sensibilities; and
practical competence, by improving their performance in citizenship, work,
family life, consumer choice, health, and other practical affairs.
A more prestigious job acquired through higher education provides benefits such as,
better health insurance, frequent vacations, and retirement funds.
In conclusion, while both perspectives have been influenced by a harsh economy
and a desire for financial stability, idealizing and demonizing the institution of higher
education is irresponsible. Such a simplistic interpretation of an extremely complicated
issue fails to take into account the myriad student goals and prioritizes, school

reputations, varied disciplines, job opportunities, available grants and scholarships, and
so on that must inform each students decision to attend college or not. It can be the best
time of your life, but only if you want it to. You can take the pessimistic view about it and
think that college is a waste of money, or it can be looked at as a challenging and exciting
new frontier that basically will set the precedent for the rest of your life. Painting with
such a broad, vague brush does a disservice to graduating high school students as they
reflect on the opportunities available and how they wish to best position themselves for
the future. In fact there is no real evidence that the higher income of college graduates is
due to college (Bird). But then again, statistics showed Americans with four-year college
degrees made 98 percent more an hour on average in 2013 than people without a degree,
as shown in the graph below (Leonhardt).

A solution to this debate is fairly clearly. If a student decides to pursue higher education,
they might consider going for badges, certificates or attending a community college in
order to escape such a burden. These could be the way of the future (Hallam). In 2012 in
efforts to collect and analyze data, an organization called College Measures worked with
five states: Arkansas, Colorado, Tennessee, Texas, and Virginia (Schnieder). That showed

results that more than 1 million students earned an associates degree making it the
second most common postsecondary credential granted in the nation (Schnieder). Some
short-term higher education credentials are worth as much as long-term ones
(Schnieder). Ultimately the decision is all personal keeping in mind the kind of life style
one wants to live. Itissometimesjustasgoodtobeanintelligentpersonandknowabout
alotofthingsinsteadofbeingsomeonewhomakesalotofmoney.

Works Cited
Bird, Caroline. "Testing-a Waste of Time and Money?" Tribology International 11.4 (1975):
232. Print.
Changing expectations of college: America's long love affair with a four-year college education
may be undergoing a shift." Phi Delta Kappan 97.3 (2015): 54. Student Resources in
Context. Web. 17 April 2016.
College- Is it Worth it?. 123HelpMe.com. 6 May 1998 Web. 08 May 2016
Coye, Dale. "Ernest Boyer and the New American College: connecting the 'disconnects.' "
Change May-June 1997 v29 n3 p20(9).
Farrell, Andrew. "The World's Richest Dropouts." Forbes. Forbes Magazine, 30 June 2008.
Web. 01 May 2016.
Hallam, Andrew. "Is College A Waste of Time And Money?" Assetbuilder. N.p., 9 July 2014.
Web. 3 May 2016.
Leonhardt, David. "Is College Worth It? Clearly, New Data Say." The New York Times.
The New York Times, 26 May 2014. Web. 3 Apr. 2016.
London, Herbert. College: Who Profits? Academic Questions 26.3 (2013): 360-365.
Academic Search Complete. Web. 20 April 2016.
Schneider, Mark. "Does education pay? Yes and no. It depends on what, where, and how long
one studies--but the outcomes do not align with conventional wisdom." Issues in Science
and Technology 30.1 (2013): 33+. Opposing Viewpoints in Context. Web. 5 May 2016.
Value of a College Degree. Issues & Controversies. Infobase Learning, 2 Oct. 2009. Web. 2
May 2016.

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