College Is A Commodity Essay

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College, a Commodity or a Challenging Engagement? There are many reasons why people go to college. Whether it is to expand upon one’s intellect or to expand one’s job opportunities, more people are attending college now than ever before. With this increased participation in higher education, it seems now that the norm is having a college degree rather than a high school diploma like it once was. In fact, the former president of Cornell University proclaimed “college [is] replacing high school as the required ticket for a career” (Rawlings). With the sharp influx of degrees held by the current populace, the value of a college degree has certainly declined and when one takes into account the steep rise in tuition every year, it raises questions like, “Is it really worth it?” or, “Would I be better off if I went …show more content…

They hold a strong belief that college is indeed not a commodity. Both of these authors have classic ideologies about education, which makes sense: they were both heavily involved in the world of academia and each held important positions at prestigious institutions. Just like Hunter Rawlings, Gary Gutting implemented pathos and ethos into his argument, using reasoning, values, and metaphors to persuade the reader. Gutting proclaims that “college is to nourish a world of intellectual culture: a world of ideas dedicated to what we can know scientifically, understand humanistically, or express artistically” and believes the current higher education system makes sense and works only if, and when, we regard the intellectual culture as essential. Gutting furthers his argument that college is not a commodity by pointing out that if college was indeed a commodity and there no intellectual desire, “We could provide job training and basic social and moral formation for young adults far more efficiently and cheaply.” However, many people including myself strongly disagree with Rawlings and

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