In Freeman Hrabowskis 2013 article, “College Prepares People for Life” in The Baltimore Sun, he discusses how nowadays college students have a lack of the definition of what it means to be educated and that students need to find a better fit for the school they would like to attend. Hrabowski suggests that colleges redefine education and that they be more transparent with what they offer so that students are fully aware of the available resources that shall set them up for their career goals. Hrabowski suggests that in order to be educated we must “contribute to the public good.” (260) What he means by this is that we must be worldly human beings and take as much experience as we can get. Furthermore, Hrabowski proposes, “call on higher …show more content…
education to standardize the information given to students and families about costs, financial aid packages, students’ debt at graduation and graduation rates.” (260) In other words what Hrabowski is declaring that forthcoming college students should be aware of what they are truly getting themselves invested in when they graduate high school. Finally Hrabowski shows benefits of spending countless hours advising which school is best fit saying: “That type of counseling is critical.” (261) If you plan on doing something for four or more years you should be absolutely certain it is someplace you wouldn’t mind being at for that extended amount of time. Although Hrabowski overall states that going to college is a good thing, in my opinion I think that he lists too many cons that seemingly weigh out the pros in this situation.
Overall Hrabowski is trying to put the idea out there that college prepares for life and gets students ready for the real world, and going to college is necessary, but he also says the debt young adults go through is outrageous, many fail out, and is a waste of time. In my life as a college student I would say that overall the pros without a shadow of a doubt outweigh the cons. There is no reservation in my mind that education is extremely important and knowledge is power, college is something that can give us this knowledgeable power. There are for sure scary aspects about college like the money or time but it does not help that an article for college students has a dissuasive tone about how regretful college should be. If someone who has doubts already reads this article it is possible for them to be dissuaded out of college. It is necessary in today’s society to have a college degree to obtain a good job and to make good money in order to support the life of a young adult. As Hrabowski says “we are all the beneficiaries” therefore we must all thrive and prosper as college students and eventually become wealthy hard working individuals. Evidently, there are some cons to being a college student but the feedback I would give Hrabowski is that he should have been slightly more optimistic whilst
writing his next article.
In Frank Bruni’s New York Time’s article, “The Imperiled Promise of College,” he argues that college is no longer a guarantee of success because students are not being properly motivated and guided into the programs that will provide them with jobs.
Caroline Bird writes the statement in her 1975 article “The Case Against College (Bird 15-18)” that not every high school graduate is ready to attend college. It is 2010 and this article is still valid today. Some of the college students I have been around were not mature enough for obedience school let alone college. A few of the points she makes in the article are: College has never worked its magic for everyone. Does it make you a better person? Are colleges responsible for your children? Are my children living in a country club? I will use some of my own experiences as an example of college life, as well as examples from my daughter’s college experience, along with my nephews as well. All to find the answer to the big question: Are you ready for a college education?
In the article “College is Not a Commodity. Stop treating it like one,” Hunter Rawlings explains how people today believe that college is a commodity, but he argues that it’s the student’s efforts; which gives value to their education. Rawlings states that in recent years college has been looked at in economic terms, lowering its worth to something people must have instead of earn. As a professor Rawlings has learned that the quality of education has nothing to do with the school or the curriculum, but rather the student’s efforts and work ethic. Rawlings explains the idea that the student is in charge of the success of his or her own education, and the professor or school isn’t the main reason why a student performs poorly in a class. Rawlings
Today in American society, one feels pressured and obligated to seek higher levels of education. In the article “College prepare people for life” written by Freeman Hrabowski, he expresses his views on the many aspects in which college prepares one for their life; especially, financially. Having a college degree increases ones ability to get a job in comparison to somebody who has solely a high school diploma. However, many are faced with the irony of having to go into to debt, in order to work towards financial independence and security. In terms of socio economics, those who are stuck by poverty often cannot afford going into debt to exit their current ranking in the qazi caste system of poverty. Many argues that college prepares people for life, however one can disagree due to
Have you ever read something and thought “What a bunch of crap”? Well that’s the reaction I had to reading Fareed Zakaria’s book, In Defense Of a Liberal Education. Over the course of the book, Zakaria makes the argument that attending college with the specific intention to get trained for a job is “Short sighted and needlessly limiting”. Zakaria also breaks down the differences between the United State’s education system with other countries across the globe. By attending college with the intention of receiving critical thinking skills and being able to express our ideas, rather than just going to train for a job, Zakaria believes that the average student would be much better off in the world after they graduate.
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.
It should not be a surprise that many people believe that a college degree is a necessity in today’s world. We are taught to believe this at a young age. The average citizen will not question this statement due to how competitive the job market has become, yet does graduating college guarantee more success down the road? Peter Brooks is a scholar at Princeton University and publisher of an essay that questions the value of college. He obviously agrees that college can help securing a job for the future, but questions the humanities about the education. He uses other published works, the pursuit of freedom, and draws on universal arguments that pull in the reader to assume the rest of his essay has valid reasons.
The right and privilege to higher education in today’s society teeters like the scales of justice. In reading Andrew Delbanco’s, “College: What It Was, Is, and Should Be, it is apparent that Delbanco believes that the main role of college is to accommodate that needs of all students in providing opportunities to discover individual passions and dreams while furthering and enhancing the economic strength of the nation. Additionally, Delbanco also views college as more than just a time to prepare for a job in the future but a way in which students and young adults can prepare for their future lives so they are meaningful and purposeful. Even more important is the role that college will play in helping and guiding students to learn how to accept alternate point of views and the importance that differing views play in a democratic society. With that said, the issue is not the importance that higher education plays in society, but exactly who should pay the costly price tag of higher education is a raging debate in all social classes, cultures, socioeconomic groups and races.
When it comes to the topic of college, Martin Espada, the author of "Why I Went to College," argues that college is a must and that if you do not attend college there will be consequences. In comparison, David Leonhardt, author of "Is College Worth it? Clearly New Data Say," also argues that college is very important to get a higher paying job than those who do not attend college. In contrast, Leonhardt also argues that college may not be the best idea considering the substantial amount of debt provided with college. My own view is more with David Leonhardt because I understand both sides of attending or not attending college with the positives and the negatives of the dilemma. This discussion is important in our society today because we constantly push the idea of college on to kids that may not even be ready for college or the fact that the debt may not be worth it; also the rise in the wage gap between college students and non-college students.
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.
I am a college student myself and there were only two things in the whole article that I was in agreement with. One was that colleges try to market themselves. The other was her paragraph on how Americans are looking less and less for great paying jobs and are looking more for job that they like doing. This unfortunately is also a contradiction to her piece of writing, because college prepares, and helps you get a job that you will enjoy. Furthermore, the author’s main ideas were not well thought out or well supported. An example of this might be her money investment idea. She implies that if an eighteen year old invested his/hers college tuition money in a bank, and kept it there till he/she was sixty-four, they would be twice as rich as those who go to school, graduate and work in their field of study. What she fails to mention is that while their money is gathering interest, it can not be touched till their sixty-four, and in the mean time they have to be making a living in another job which they probably hate doing. Overall, Bird’s attempt to pursue her readers that college is a waste of time did not work on me.
College education also does a large of things for college students, these things can be both counted and not counted. Delbanco wrote about this when he wrote “The best reason to care about college – who goes,.... is not what it does for society in economic terms but what it can do for individuals, in both calculable and incalculable ways”(Delbanco 507). In the article Delbanco writes about what one of the alumni at one of his talks said to him afterwards. He writes about the experience of this alumni in his article when he writes “Not only had a college education enriched his capacity to read demanding works of literature and to grasp fundamental political ideas, it had also heightened and deepened his alertness to color and form, melody and harmony...Such an education is a hedge against utilitarian values”(Delbanco 508). Delbanco also wrote how college education has maintained the same in some ways for many years. He writes “The tradition of liberal learning survived and thrived throughout European history but remained largely the possession of ruling elites. The distinctive American contribution has been the attempt to democratize it, to deploy it on behalf of things cardinal American principle that all persons, regardless of origin, have the to pursue happiness… is helpful to that pursuit. Educated can be characterized as “snobbish and narrow”, but that is not
Throughout the years, America has always debated whether education is needed- if it helps people succeed or not. The argument in the past was always over high school education, which is now mandatory. That decision has helped the US rise economically and industrially. Today, the US is in the middle of the same debate- this time, over college. Some, like David Leonhardt, a columnist for the business section of The New York Times, think a college education creates success in any job. Others, such as Christopher Beha, an author and assistant editor of Harper’s Magazine, believe that some college “education” (like that of for-profit schools) is a waste of time, and can even be harmful to students. Each stance on this argument has truth to it, and there is no simple answer to this rising issue in an ever changing nation full of unique people. Any final decision would affect the United States in all factions- especially economically and socially. However, despite the many arguments against college, there is overwhelming proof that college is good for all students, academically or not.
“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
In Louis Menand’s “Live and Learn: Why We Have College” he discusses his three theories about the purpose of higher education. The first theory says “college is, essentially, a four-year intelligence test”(57). This meritocratic theory is saying that “society wants to identify intelligent people early on … to get the most of its human resources” and college is the machine that does the sorting (57). The second theory, the democratic one, claims the point of college is not to pick out the elite. Rather, the point is to “expose future citizens to material that enlightens and empowers them” (58). The third theory explains how “advanced economies demand specialized knowledge and skills, and, since high school is aimed at the general learner, college is where people can be taught what they need in order to enter a vocation” (62). All three theories have their