The main thesis of Marty Nemko’s piece published first in the Chronicle of Higher Education in June 2008, is that the higher education system is failing all students, and that there are improvements that can be made to the system. Nemko identifies are range of issues which are causing the value and quality of education to fall. This includes the cost and the lack of ability of some graduates to pay back loans. Allowing weaker students to start diplomas that they are unable to complete are left without a qualification and debt. Also, even stronger and well prepared graduates do not earn as much as expected once they have received their qualifications. Furthermore, there is a gap between the real earning capacity of graduates released by colleges, …show more content…
and the reality in the work place. Finally, Nemko presents and argues a range of changes and reforms to improve the college education system for all students. Nemko uses a range of language features and techniques across the different sections of the paper. This includes the use rhetorical devices such as repetition, emotive techniques such as appeal to fear, fairness and emotive language. Nemko also uses logic devices such as statistics, examples and expert opinions. Finally, to strengthen his response he includes personal anecdotes from his experience. This leads to an extremely effective piece, which presents arguments, which are well researched and believable. Nemko not only makes criticism but also argues and presents solutions, which strengthens the piece overall. The opening argument of the piece deals with the issue of weaker students being accepted into colleges.
Nemko opens up with a personal anecdote which he argues, using emotive language was one of his “…saddest moments as a career counsellor”, explaining the situation of a student desiring to go to college will most probably not be able to finish to course. He then backs up the personal anecdote with a statistic from the U.S. Department of Education stating that colleges have students who graduated high school in the bottom 40 of their class, 76 out of 100 will not gain a qualification. This statistic combined with the personal and emotional anecdote is a strong opening when presenting the argument that the college system is failing students. It touches also on the cost to students emotionally, but also financially of beginning and not completing a course. Therefore, Nemko’s acknowledgement that many students are underprepared for college and will leave without a qualification and debt is confronting. He argues that colleges are knowingly allow underprepared students in citing that “only 23 percent of the 1.3 milion students who took the ACT…were ready for college-level work”. However, that is the purpose of the argument and what makes it effective, his argument taps into the emotion of spend so much and gaining …show more content…
nothing. Nemko’s second main argument is about qualitifed students, it is interesting that he presents this group second.
It is obvious that most people would expect underprepared students to be less likely to finish college, but using qualified students as the second group strengthens his argument. As it is something the reader may not be expecting. Nemko opens this part of the paper with a statistic, however, he does not indicate the source which does lessen its effectiveness. The statistic is that “only 40 percent of each year’s two million freshmen graduate in four years; 45 percent never graduate at all!” One argument which Nemko presents that isn’t based on a statistic or personal experience and is at best a prediction. He argues that college bound students could be locked away for 4 years and still earn more than non-college bound students as “they’re brighter, more motivated, and have better family connections”. However, this argument is not very strong as it undermines what he had already argued about college students, and that so many of them are unready. Within this section on college ready students, he gives two examples, but the use of emotion in the two cases actually lessen the argument. This is because they are not personal anecdotes, but the stories and experiences of someone else. For example, he talks about the college graduate who spend $175,000 on their degree and as part of their job at a water treatment plant, they have to wash down tower that holds
the sewage. The fact is many people will reflect on the horrible duties they might have had in their entry level jobs and not have any sympathy for this particular student. Although this section began strongly and the argument seemed good, it was effected by the choice of language and argument techniques used. Nemko challenges then what students actually learn at college and his use of statistic provide a good basis for a strong line of argument. He cites the large lecture sizes and small classes being taught by graduate students. The surprising statistic is that “only y 30% of the typical student’s class hours will have been in a class with fewer than 30 students taught by a professor”. He is careful to acknowledge that professors are not the only good teachers but it does lend weight to his other argument that a nationwide survey show that “only 16.4% of students were very satisfied with the overall quality of instruction they received”. Therefore, it builds an overall picture of a system, which is allowing in underprepared students, is failing prepared students and is not providing quality teaching and instruction. However, Nemko does not only complain about the system, he is willing to suggest solutions and this is central to his thesis, that we have a broken system but it can be fixed. Nemko’s first argument is one that appeals to many people, it is based on finances and the fact that colleges receive so much money without a lot of oversight. This will appeal to people who want to know how their tax dollars are used and how good colleges are for the nation. So, accountability is important to his thesis and belief in improving colleges and their outcomes. He also acknowledge a range of improvements that colleges can be made based on the Spelling Report recommendation. This report is based on accountability on issues such as: value-added to students, retention data, percentage of students being assaulted on campus length of degree completion, employment data, and public display of the up to date student surveys. Overall, even with some weak arguments Nemko’s paper is persuasive and uses a good range of techniques to engage and convince the reader.
In the essay, “We Send Too Many Students To College” by Marty Nemko, he argues that, contrary to popular belief, college is not for everybody. Nemko states that colleges accept numerous high school graduates every year, when they know that if the student did not do well in high school, they have a very low chance of actually acquiring a degree. However, If someone is fortunate enough to graduate from college and obtained a degree that costed them an exceptional amount of money, it is likely that they will have to settle for a job they could have “landed as a high school dropout”. Colleges are just out for money, and the only way they can get money is by accepting countless students into their “business”, whether the student will prosper from it or not is a different story. The article reports that there is no proof that students actually learn and remember everything they get taught during their college education. In fact, some college seniors failed tests that should be easily and accurately completed, and instead of these institutions getting penalized perhaps, they are “rewarded
Nemko uses the literary devices of understatement and distortion. Using understatement the author shows how the presentation of a higher education is being represented as something that is less important than what it really is. To begin with the author starts out by telling the readers about his saddest moments as a career counselor. He goes on and states that he whenever he hears a story about someone not doing good in high school but wanting to prove they can get a college diploma
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.
Summary of the essay: Marty Nemko’s essay is a critique of the education system, mainly focusing on the pitfalls of attending college. He believes that the cost and time of attending college do nothing more than leave a student in debt with no job opportunities. Nemko cites information provided by
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
The article, The Value of Higher Education Made Literal by scholar Stanley Fish focuses on sharing his opinion of higher education and what it has become in recent years. Mr. Fish’s argument is essentially over the “logic of privatization” where students are pictured as “investors” or “consumers” in courses of study that maximize successful employment outcomes. He also believes arts, humanities, and social sciences are overlooked while study courses in science, technology, and clinical medicine are prioritized. Fish also strongly believes the value of higher education has changed due to the desires of students over time, desires of becoming extremely financially secure enough to buy more than needed to justify years of money and hard work applied when in school.
This makes the paper very ineffective because to parents and other adults, these facts would not apply to them. His article has the potential to become much more effective if he also targets parents, teachers, and counselors because those adults are major influences in a student’s life. If he targets the teachers and counselors, they can start teaching the students that it is okay not to go to college. By integrating this idea into the school systems, the social norm would begin to change and many employers would possibly start looking more closely into the individual potential employees, not just their
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.
In todays’ society college has become more so a necessity rather than a luxury. With a job market without as many opportunities as in the past, college degrees have become required to gain most well paying jobs. Due to this it is logical to say that college should be an environment that properly prepares the young adult to succeed in the working world. Although there are some who believe that the youth of todays generation are unprepared, and that institutes of higher learning are not doing anything to aid the situation. This is a view shared by Jacob Neusner in his speech “The Speech The Graduates Didn’t Hear” and by Fred Reed in his blog post “On Campus at U.PE: The University Of Practically Everywhere”. The ideas both these men exhibit
College can be a stressful time for students. They go to college to work on creating a better future for themselves. But sometimes everything gets so overwhelming, that they can’t do it anymore. In the article “What is College For?” I found the author Gary Gutting’s thesis to be “Nonetheless, there is incessant talk about the ‘failure’ of education” (412). Gutting proves his thesis to be true throughout the article. He makes different points as to why he thinks this epidemic of failure is happening in college. Access, dropouts, students becoming disengaged in learning, and focused mainly on studying for their jobs and careers. All of these things acting as the building blocks to one another in the epidemic of failure that is happening among
In this article Nemko is illuminating the issues that our modern society is facing involving higher education. Students are starting off college with bare minimum requirements for next level learning and feeling disappointed when they are not succeeding in their courses. The author acknowledges that the courses being taken by students are sometimes not beneficial to life after college. Nemko states, “A 2006 study supported by the Pew Charitable Trusts found that 50 percent of college seniors scored below ‘proficient’ levels on a test that required them to do such basic tasks…”(525). Students are specializing in areas of learning to in turn be denied to working in that field and stuck with unnecessary skills. “Many college graduates are forced to take some very nonprofessional positions, such as driving a truck or tending bar”( ...
The argument about if college is worth it or not has been one of the biggest arguments throughout the media for decades. Students suffer a lot from the debts that they get from college and also the amount of studying that they do in college and when they graduate they ask themselves “is graduation from college really worth all the money that we paid and all the work that we have done?”
The critical challenge within in today’s society is that college tuition should be free or if not free, more affordable for all students. Certainly, higher education should not be considered a luxury where only the wealthy could afford, but an opportunity for all caste systems. It must be an accessible and affordable opportunity for all students in order for them to invest in their education. Higher education is important because it provides more careers to choose from than the careers offered without having a college degree. Ultimately, the issue here is whether it is right to make college tuition more affordable for the students.
Studying a university degree is one of the biggest achievements of many individuals around the world. But, according to Mark Edmunson, a diploma in America does not mean necessarily studying and working hard. Getting a diploma in the United States implies managing with external factors that go in the opposite direction with the real purpose of education. The welcome speech that most of us listen to when we started college, is the initial prank used by the author to state the American education system is not converging in a well-shaped society. Relating events in a sarcastic way is the tone that the author uses to explain many of his arguments. Mark Edmunson uses emotional appeals to deliver an essay to the people that have attended College any time in their life or those who have been involved with the American education system.
In Caroline Bird’s “College is A Waste of Time and Money”, it’s argued that there are many college students who would be better off if they were to begin working after high school graduation. Colleges and universities can no longer ensure that one will go on to get a better job, getting paid more than they would have without a higher education. However, high school seniors still stress about where they will be attending college, how they’re going to pay for it and what they’re going to study for the next four years. Bird points out how college has changed over the past few decades and how, in turn, it has set many young adults up for disappointment, if nothing else.