Analysis Of Colleges Prepare People For Life By Freeman Hrabowski

Quincee Brown

English 120

Instructor Toland Perry

11 Sept. 2016

An Account and Analysis of Colleges Prepare People for Life Freeman Hrabowski wrote an article, “Colleges Prepare People for life,” which appeared in the Baltimore Sun. Hrabowski gives numerous examples of how college graduates are more likely to get a job and to make a higher salary than those with just a high school diploma. He talks about how college is something that is great to experience not only for the education that the student acquires for their future job but also the knowledge that they learn will help with the impact they have on the people around them. Hrabowski captures the reader’s attention by evoking reasons why college ought not to be seen as a waste of time

On page 260, Hrabowski talks about how our current schooling system fails to “help students find institutions that are best suited to them based on their academic preparations, aspirations and resources” (260). He feels, “we focus so much on monetary inputs and outputs we ignore the question of what it truly means to be educated” (260). In other words, Hrabowski is saying that students have a choice when it comes to which type of college they would like to attend. It is not strictly based on a four-year college or strictly based on two-year. He proceeds to say how students should choose their colleges or universities wisely because there are so many options. Hrabowski wants readers to know that choosing the right college is very important for not only the job that they want in the future but on how they get educated in the

Hrabowski talks about Barack Obama’s call on higher education to standardize the information given to students, and how Maryland was the first to sign the initiative. He supports that claim by saying “Lack of counseling is one reason that fewer than 10 percent of Americans from the lowest income quartile have earned a college degree by age 24, compared to the 80 percent of those in the top quartile” (261). To support this, he provides an example of how his colleagues expend a numerous amount of hours while counseling potential students. In which, students end up making a choice if they should, or not, attend that college or choose another. He strategizes this by referring to Obama’s initiative, and how the University of Maryland was one of the first to sign the initiative. This helps because Obama is a very well respected and powerful person. It appeals to potential students because of Obama’s social status in the United