In the article “America’s Most Overrated Product: The Bachelor’s Degree” by Marty Nemko, the author argues several different views on why higher education may be very overestimated. For starters, the author shares his opinion more than anything else due to him being a career counselor. The purpose of this essay is to explain to the readers that most people start off with the idea of living the American Dream. Which is practically going to college to have a better life and career. But over the time the idea of working very hard for a Bachelor’s degree has become very dimmed. Furthermore, for some people, when they think of the American Dream they think of hope for bettering themselves and also helping their families. Unlike the author, Nemko feels that even the thought of trying to pursue to get a bachelor’s degree is overrated. The audience of this passage would most likely be teenagers going into college and parents. Nemko states that “Colleges are quick to argue that a college education is more …show more content…
That may be the biggest deception of all” (Nemko 524). In the passage Nemko’s voice would be explanatory. Nemko goes into details about based off of him trying to explain why he feels the way he does towards trying to get a bachelor’s degree. Which leads to the situation of the passage, which is getting a bachelor’s degree can be very overestimated. In the article “America’s Most Overrated Product”, the author Marty Nemko uses strategies such as understatement and distortion. 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 “Actually, College Is Very Much Worth It” , Andrew J. Rotherham opens this piece addressing the issue of whether or not college is “worth it”. Rotherham effectively builds his case that college is essentially the better choice for us. Additionally, he acknowledges opposition of those who are anti-college. He allows us to have ‘free will” in the decision-making process, but presents the information in a way we cannot ignore the obvious facts. Rotherham conveys the idea that college does not guarantee a successful entry job, but it creates a path of opportunities for us.
In his essay, "Why Colleges Shower Their Students With A’s,” Staples claims that student grades are increasing for the wrong reasons, causing college degrees to become meaningless. Staples provides evidence that average grades have increased significantly over the last several decades, but claims that it is not because students are working harder. The real explanation for grade inflation, he argues, is the effect of grades on both students and their professors. Teachers give more A’s to receive better evaluations and increase job security. Students give more importance to their grades as a result of the rapidly increasing cost of a college education. Staples argues that modern
The essay “How Not to Get Into College” and the poem “Somnambulist” portray a similar message that people become unhappy and lose sight of their own values when the institutional world creates a stigma that forces them to over-work themselves. Alfie Kohn in “How Not to Get Into College” believes that students are already overworking themselves at such an early stage in their lives, and the result of this, is feeling unfulfilled. He believes that “what few realized was that the process wouldn’t end once they finally got into college. The straining toward future, this poisonous assumption that the value of everything is solely a function of its contribution to something that may come later – it would start all over again in September of their first year away from home” (Kohn 1). He proves
“We want to emphasize that the personal characteristics and skills of each individual are equally important”. (Page #221, para #3) Owen and Sawhill are inquiring that to be successful in any major requires dedication and personal motivation, which is another example of the authors bringing pathos into their argument. Owen and Sawhill state that “if they don’t just enroll but graduate, they can improve their lifetime prospects”. (page #220, para #1) Owens and Sawhill statement is taken as, applying with great intensions is not good enough to be successful in college. Owen and Sawhill are completely open about the fact that college isn’t for everyone and that’s perfectly acceptable. “It may be that for a student with poor grades who is on the fence about enrolling in a four-year program, the most bang-for-the-buck will come from vocationally-oriented associate’s degree or career-specific technical training”. (Page #222, para #1) this statement opens the argument to be about both, is college worth it financially, and also academically. Owens and Sawhill want their reader to understand that, being pushed to achieve something that you have no passion for attaining, only robs someone of their true
...ild, when he would hide and daydream, up until his first years of college, when he would avoid areas that were difficult, the author recognized that there was important link between challenging the student on a meaningful level and the degree to which the student eventually produced. “I felt stupid telling them I was… well – stupid.” (Rose 43) Here, Rose shows an example of how poor preparation and low standards in the classroom can make a student feel inadequate. Indeed, one can see how many things seemingly unrelated do affect a student’s ability to learn.
The ability for all children from varying walks of life to receive a well-rounded education in America has become nothing more than a myth. In excerpt “The Essentials of a Good Education”, Diane Ravitch argues the government’s fanatical obsession with data based on test scores has ruined the education system across the country (107). In their eyes, students have faded from their eyes as individual hopefully, creative and full of spirit, and have become statistics on a data sheet, percentages on a pie chart, and numbers calculated to show the intelligence they have from filling out bubbles in a booklet. In order for schools to be able to provide a liberal education, they need the proper funding, which comes from the testing.
Education has always been a current issue due to the fact that it is seen as an economic cure-all. However, the perception of college is ill-conceived and there are multiple debates on how to improve it. College universities believe that having open admissions will increase the amount of matriculations, but the fact is the amount of students being enrolled into a four-year university has no relationship to the amount of students with academic aspirations. W.J. Reeves, an English professor at Brooklyn College of The City University of New York, gives a few examples of how open admissions has changed education methods and student abilities. Reeves wrote this opinion piece to convince everyone, especially parents, that schools are in need of reform
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.
In recent discussions of "Is College Worth It?" by John Green, a controversial issue has been weather-attending college worth it or not? On the one hand, some argue that colleges are not worth attending because it is too expensive and they do not need a degree to get a good job. From this perspective, many people do not apply to a college. On the other hand, however, others insist that college is worth attending because it is expanding the knowledge and give more opportunity to find jobs. In the words of John Green one of this view 's proponents, " Education gave me perspective and context." According to this view, college is worth to apply for because it enlarges the information that people have and expands their knowledge. In sum, then, the
Louis Menand, a professor of English and American literature at Harvard University presented three different theories for higher education in an article for The New Yorker named, Live and Learn: Why We Have College. Menand (2011) claims that the reasons for college are meritocratic, democratic, and vocational. These theories are great models for the purpose of higher education in our culture, at different points in our history. As a nation, there are definite intentions behind the way that instruction is conducted in our colleges and universities. The techniques adopted by institutions of higher education are no mistake and they are designed to serve a purpose. These methods evolve with time and shape the way that generations think and reason. In our generation, the purpose of higher education in our culture is to sustain the nation atop of the worldwide economy.
In “College Pressures” from The Seagull Reader: Essays, William Zinsser examines the societal ideology of obtaining a degree from a university being the only path to financial and social success. Zinsser also discloses to his audience the encumbrances that college students face while enrolled in a higher education facility. The author’s main point is that college students should not be heavily pressured throughout their college career, for college is a time to relish the educational experience that comes with higher education. In his referential essay that is developed by description, William Zinsser effectively uses emotional appeal and rhetorical questions.
Zinsser’s work entitled “College Pressures” intent to expose a critical flaw within the educational system, in hope that it will encourage students to relax when it come to their academic success. Zinsser’s is doing more than illustrates a difficult situation, he is enforcing new ideas and principle just as: academic freedom and freedom to explore career opportunities without judgement and criticism from the school system and their parents. By enforcing these principle Zinsser’s hopes to awaken a new era where students are free from pressured sales tactics from both parents and society when come to academic success.
For those who wish to have children in the future, imagine putting ten dollars a week aside from now until they turned eighteen. That money would hardly accumulate up to even a portion of the costs for just a single year of higher education. In the article, “America’s Most Overrated Product: The Bachelor’s Degree”, an essay from the Chronicle of Higher Education in 2008, author Marty Nemko discusses all aspects that should be considered before pursuing a serious interest in educational institutions. Being a current student at a four-year institution it concerns me for not only myself but also fellow peers if we are making the right decision. The costs of higher education are increasing drastically along with the amount of Americans in debt from student loans. The value of a bachelor degree is declining and students are faced with the question, do the benefits of a collegiate education out weigh the costs?
According to Andrew Delbanco what is college for? The most common, one economic, college degree you earn more money, high achieving students from rich families,more likely to attend a selective college. The second argument for the importance of college is a political one, introduce student constitutive ideas of western culture, individual freedom toleration, economic life, acceptance of truth of modern science. The third case for high education or college is for citizenship, one of the guy said to the professor, taught me how to enjoy life, he meant was high education had opened his senses, as well as his mind heightened and deepened his alertness. Also talk about the unfairness between the rich, the poor, and middle class. If your parents making ninety thousand per year your adds of getting your BA by age twenty four are roughly one and two. If your parents make thirty five thousand, your ads are one to seventeen. The declining college attainment rates,apply to minorities who are growing portion of population in america. Some say
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