Analysis Of Pharinet's Essay 'Is College For Everyone?'

From even before their introduction into primary school, students are force-fed the idea that college is the only possible path to success and happiness. In a blog post, Pharinet included an essay titled “Is College for Everyone?” in attempts to challenge this belief. She builds her argument by appealing to emotions, logic, and her authority as a professor and by providing various examples that expound on her opinion that college is not for everyone. While she makes reasonably powerful points, her essay lacks solid evidence, which weakens her credibility and overall argument.
Pharinet begins her argument by offering a contradiction to what can be simply defined as an aspect of the American Dream, the idea that all Americans have the right

to success and prosperity. While she agrees that college should be available to everyone, she rejects the idea that every American should take advantage of it. She attempts to support her argument by providing the following statement: “…it is estimated in the U.S., approximately 50% of students who begin college never graduate” (Pharinet 680). Despite being a rather compelling piece of argument, there exists no credible source for her claim, leaving readers dubious as to how accurate her report is.
To explain her provided statistic, Pharinet details the academic and financial hardships that college students face. In the years leading up to high school graduation, teachers and parents glamorize the benefits of a post-secondary education and pressure students to perform well in their academics whilst partaking in various extracurricular activities. These efforts, while prettying them up to go through the college admissions process, do not sufficiently prepare any student for these hardships. By creating an image of a college student’s struggle to balance work and academics, she evokes a sense of empathy and understanding in her readers, creating a connection between the author and the reader.
Undeniably, the most effective point of Pharinet’s argument begins with her rhetorical question “If college is for everyone, why do we rely on SAT scores and high school transcripts?

Why doesn’t every school not have an open admission policy?” (Pharinet 681). The reasoning here is that, if every American really deserves to go to college, why would the colleges focus on AP credits and/or volunteer hours? Clearly, the answer is what Pharinet has been arguing: not everyone is meant to go to college. She connects this to her previous point of college students coming in unprepared by comparing the differences in a high school course load to a college course load. Students who graduated from high schools that had lower than average standards, or who have yet to reach the mental maturity required to take on the responsibilities of adulthood are especially unfit for college.
Unfortunately, despite being the most compelling point in her essay, Pharinet offers little evidence aside from generalized assumptions. Her answer to the rhetorical question she posed was simply a reiteration of her opinion on the argument. She writes “Quite simply, because not everyone should attend college” as if her opinion is correct and true (Pharinet 681). There is no support for her claims, leaving her argument lacking, and therefore ineffective in appealing to those with opposing

views.
To continue her argument, Pharinet offers a mildly convincing appeal to ethos with her position as a professor. She wrote, “‘C’s gets degrees.’ One of my own students said this to me… There is no real desire for learning. Students are ‘going through the motions to earn degrees, hoping to settle into a comfortable job that will pay them well…” (Pharinet 681). By using a quote from one of her students, she informs readers that her experience as a professor has influenced her position on this debate. As a professor, she has had plenty of experience witnessing students succeed and fail. She has seen first-hand the ones that have struggled because they came into college unprepared, the ones that have struggled to balance school and work, and the ones unwilling to learn any more than necessary to hold a degree. Rather than being odd that a professor is advocating against the necessity of a college degree, it is more impactful.
While this part of her argument provides an advantage to her overall essay, the way Pharinet delivers it may come off as offensive to certain readers, and therefore, negatively affect their view on her argument.

She poses the question: “What good is there, then in attending college?” and swiftly answers with “None.” (Pharinet 681). This sentence alone weakens the entirety of her argument as it shows Pharinet as a person against the idea of college completely. She explains it as if there are no existing benefits to college if a student does not learn well, which could potentially offend readers. Even though her position as a professor has given her authority over the topic, she delivers her argument in a way that it comes off as biased and heavily

opinionated.
In continuation of her argument on students with a “C’s get degrees” mentality, Pharinet refers to college as the “place you go when you want to get a good job, or appease your parents, or because you are ‘finding yourself.’” (Pharinet 681). She proposes that, instead of forcing the idea that college is a necessity and producing unqualified professionals, parents and teachers should be open to the fact that there are other options, especially since there are countless jobs that society depends on to properly function that do not require a college degree.
The structure of Pharinet’s essay is, overall, the least lacking aspect of her argument. The flow from paragraph to paragraph is smooth and sensible, and each paragraph offers an attention-grabbing statement followed by the expanding of her ideas. Logic played a major part in presenting her argument, but rather than statistical or solid facts of any kind, generalizations and opinions served as her main source of support. She also showed an appeal to emotions by evoking a sense of empathy in her readers, giving the impression that she understands and cares and therefore, creating a connection with the readers. Her appeal to authority had to be the potential to become an effective method of argument, but her misuse resulted in a weaker essay. Pharinet’s essay, overall, is intelligently written, but it is ineffective in appealing to those that oppose her opinion due to a lack of credible evidence.