Demonet
Julien Demonet
Ms Pyle
ENG 1302
15 September 2014
Introduction
“Are Too Many People Going to College?” is an article written by Charles Murray in 2008 discussing the necessity and the consequences of people attending college after graduating from high school, particularly liberal education. In this argument, Murray implies he is against people going to college as it’s the notion of college is changing. The primary argument he uses is the social model that pushes people to seek a B.A. as it is the first reason students attend college. Another argument Murray makes is the financial aspect of college education as it is increasingly difficult to afford. He argues that basic liberal education is and should be learned during elementary school
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Several years ago, when college was not available to the middle class, a college degree was not necessary for the way people applied for jobs. Companies considered applications on account of the person’s experience and potential. Today, a résumé needs to mention a B.A. degree to have a chance to be considered. It does not assure the post but the diploma assures the recognition of the person’s achievement and potential. Murray uses the term “screening device” to qualify the role of the B.A. for companies. So the degree’s role is the ticket to get a job. However, because the majority of young adults earn a B.A., then the job position becomes more competitive, forcing the graduate students to study for a master degree. This becomes a vicious circle: just like the college degree, the master degree is going to become a norm and soon, the doctorate degree will become a norm …show more content…
The second factor is the experience college life brings to college students – growing up in a scholarly environment with a bunch of strangers one can meet and become friends with. Every college student have lived their lives under their parents’ roof before they attended college. They learned and followed the way their parents lived, with their morals, traditions and expectations. College enables the high school graduate to experience a life where they grow up without the presence of the parents. Through their undergraduate years, college students discover themselves, they learn to be independent and responsible, how to manage their time, and encounter young people with whom they flourish and share their values. College is an opportunity to start a young adult life alongside with mature adults, guiding them through their new
Most people in the world thinks that a degree is required almost everywhere. In today’s society it is often thought that if people do not go to college they will not succeed. In Owen and Sawhill’s article “Should Everyone Go To College?”the author respond to people who either go to college and actually earn a degree or people who do not go to college and are actually saving money. The major reason that college is not always the idea for students and their families is the cost. “The cost of college matters as well: the more someone has to pay to attend, the lower the net benefit of attending.” (Owen and Sawhill, 2013, p. 2 ). Although the authors mention the benefits of attending college, they argue that college is only beneficial under certain
In "Are Too Many People Going to College?" by Charles Murray is not that too many people are attending college but that people are going for the wrong reasons. People ought to head off to college to become "capable and cultivated human beings" and get a liberal arts education, but should not wait until school is over to do so. You ought to know your aptitudes and shortcomings before picking a job just to get a degree in view of the amount of money you will make. Murray utilizes the electrician and the business manager scenario for a young male to demonstrate this point. The young man could be a successful electrician in light of the fact that he would be the best at what he does and that would secure professional stability. Then again turning into a business manager wouldn't be his best
College is a popular topic for most, and Sanford J. Ungar and Charles Murray have a unique way of explaining both their opinions. In his essay, “The New Liberal Arts,” Sanford J. Ungar advocates that the liberal arts should be everybody’s education, regardless of the fact that most Americans are facing economic hardship. The first misconception that he begins to explain is “a liberal arts degree is a luxury that most families can no longer afford”. Career education” is what we now must focus on.”
In “Should the Obama Generation Drop Out?” Charles Murray talks about how a college degree now days, is looked at higher than it should be when it comes to meeting the qualifications for a job. Most jobs that pay over minimum wage will require you to have a college degree, making it very difficult for people that either can’t afford it or do not believe in it, to get a reliable well paying job. Like Barack Obama said “It’s what you can do that should count when you apply for a job, not where you learned to do it”(Murray 97); a large amount of people have the skills for a job but do not have the degree to show for, making them not qualified for the job. Companies will not even give you an interview if your resume does not have any type of degree on it. That situation makes life very unfair for multiple individuals. There should be some kind of certification test for applicant to take to see if he or she meets the skills needed for the job. The benefits of discarding the bachelor’s degree as a job qualification would be huge for both employers and job applicants. Therefo...
In recent years, many have debated whether or not a college education is a necessary requirement to succeed in the field of a persons’ choice and become an outstanding person in society. On one hand, some say college is very important because one must contribute to society. The essay Three Reasons College Still Matters by Andrew Delbanco shows three main reasons that students should receive their bachelor’s degree. On the other hand, many question the point of wasting millions of dollars on four years or maybe more to fight for highly competitive jobs that one might not get. Louis Menand wrote an article based on education titled Re-Imagining Liberal Education. This article challenges the main thought many americans have after receiving a secondary education. Louis Menand better illustrates the reasons why a student should rethink receiving a post secondary education better than Andrew Delbanco’s three reasons to continue a person’s education.
Returning to College as an Adult Coming to college as an adult, we have many expectations and preconceptions of what college will or will not be. The expectations we have can influence our college life for the better or the worse. My experience since starting college has been an interesting one. People have misconceptions about college because they do not know what to expect. After doing some research, I have concluded that there are three major factors that are often misunderstood about college life.
In Charles Murray’s essay entitled “Are Too Many People Going to College?”, he discusses the influx of Americans getting a college education. He addresses the topic of Liberal Arts education, and explains that not many people are ready for the rigorous challenges a liberal-arts degree offers. In addition, Murray explains that instead of a traditional degree more people should apply to technical schools. He believes that college should not be wide spread, and that it is only for those who can handle it. These viewpoints harshly contrast with Sanford J. Ungar’s views. Ungar believes college education should be widespread, because a liberal-arts degree is, in his opinion, a necessity. He argues that a liberal-arts college is the only place that
Charles Murray argues in his paper, Are Too Many People Going to College?, whether or not students should go to college and if the students going to college are going for the right reasons. He believes people should head off to college to grow and become "capable and cultivated human beings" (Tyler, 2012). He also argues that these students are being geared toward a specific job in comparison to the liberal education that these individuals have received prior to attending college. Murray states that “everyone should have a liberal education rather than go to college” (Murray, 2008). Murray argues that students should know their skills and limitations before picking a job so one will be successful in that job. I agree with Murray because everyone
Charles Murray was able to pose and answer the question about whether or not too many people are going to college. In his essay,"Are Too Many People Going to College," he argues that most students should not be going to college to attain a bachelor 's degree when their skills and interests lie elsewhere (240). Murray 's argument on this topic is felt strongly by him, he believes that going to college is helpful for those who have the academic ability to absorb a college-level education, it is the appropriate thing to push a student in that direction since they are likely to gain wisdom (238). On the other hand, there are students in America that learn their core knowledge from kindergarten through eighth grade and are set for their future.
Everyone knows that person from high school that just wasn’t cut out for college. It’s not a bad thing by any means, but if you’re thinking about heading off to college like many American teenagers often do, think about this: going to college can be a waste of both your time and your money. I’m not the first to say it, and I sure as hell won’t be the last. In Stephanie Owen and Isabel Sawhill’s essay, Should Everyone Go to College?, the two authors take a strong economic approach to justify going to college. Owen, an ex- senior research assistant at Brookings’ Center on Children and Families and current research associate at the Urban Institute, a nonpartisan center for research on the problems of urban communities, and Sawhill, the co-director
The author Charles Murray says there are too many people going to college without really saying it. The essay is written in a way that his audience will understand by the time they finish reading that he has many valid points. He Persuades his readers with facts and counters arguments to false stereotypes involving college and success. By questioning whether college is for everyone makes "you" the reader want to rethink if your time spent in college was really worth it in the end.
We live the truth every day, working to keep the ideal of democratic education alive. The best reason to care for college, who goes,and what happens to them when they get there, is not what it does for society, but what it can do for individuals.like the elder guy said, you thought me how to enjoy life. What he meant is college helped him read, help him crave for works of art, heightened his alertness to color from melody. He was grateful for such an education given to him. As a person regardless of what kind of origin we have, we have the right to pursue happiness. In america today at every kind of institution education is at risk. Student are persuade and program, trained to live from task to task. To many colleges do to little to save them debilitating frenzy that makes liberal education marginal if it is offered at
American’s education system has been entering crisis mode for a long time. Throughout the past few years, the overwhelming question “Is college needed or worth it?” While it is an opinion, there are facts that back up each answer. Plato’s “Allegory of the Cave” mentions that the enlightened must help the unenlightened and further their knowledge. The problem with America today is that high school students are given the option of college and that makes for less enlightened people. While it is possible to learn in the work force or Army, college is a better option. Mary Daly wrote the article “Is It Still Worth Going to College?” which talks about the statistical value of attending. Michelle Adam wrote the article “Is College Worth It?” which mentions the struggle young people are going through to even get into college. Caroline Bird wrote the chapter “Where College Fails Us” in her book The Case Against College where she
“Many institutions have begun to use hard-sell, Madison-Avenue techniques to attract students. They sell college like soap, promoting features they think students want” (Bird 372). This is a strong statement to use because it seems like some kind of item of need in everyday life for young adults. Colleges have gotten to the point where they have become so much like a business that they feel the need to satisfy the customer on what they are selling so they include all sorts of programs and curricular activities that could please the new students. Not only does it seem as if they are being pressured into attending college by their high school counselors and parents but also by their own classmates as most of them are going so many don’t want to feel out of place and they attend anyways. Due to society make it seem as if college is a necessity people feel the need to attend but also as if it is just a way to “temporarily get them out of the way…” (Bird 374) Today even some sociologist believe that college has become an institution so people just accept it without question. That’s wrong because people make it seem as if you won’t get far in life if you don’t have or get a college degree. But that shouldn’t be the case because in the past many jobs were done by people
University life is something that people should experience. The experience itself is a good enough reason for students to go to universities since it plays a big part in the process of teenagers turnin...