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Impact standardized tests have on education
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Impact standardized tests have on education
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Alternatives to College As high schoolers, we 're constantly juggling a lot of big responsibilities, from academic pressure from our parents to social pressure from our friends to act cool, wear the right clothes, and listen to the right music. It can be really overwhelming, and then, to top it off, is that goal in the distance that we 're told we must want: go to college. Day in and day out we hear that if we don 't go to college we are doomed to not have a career or a purpose in life, be poor for the rest of our lives, and be an embarrassment to our families. This focus on college is unfounded and unfair. We shouldn 't be given just one choice in high school — instead, we should be provided with alternatives to college in case we don 't …show more content…
We 're told to follow a path that will make us owe money for quite possibly the rest of our lives! Again, look at what the experts have to say: a 2009 report by the U.S. Department of Education says that the average price of a four-year degree — meaning money for classes, food, and rent — is $22,000 every year. Sound like a lot? It gets worse. Multiply that by four, and you 've got $88,000 total. Ok, that sounds like a lot but everyone gets a job and makes good money, right? Bad news again: the average starting salary, according to that same study, is $32,000. It doesn 't take a math whiz to figure out that if you take out a lot of loans, you 'll spend most of your life paying them back, and so you won 't do the things you really want to do. I 'm not just talking about artists, musicians, and actors. Do you really think that people who took risks in business when they were young could have done that if they had to deal with paying back all those loans? I seriously doubt …show more content…
What should schools offer, if not all college-prep courses? The answer is job training. As I said earlier, our society needs mechanics, bakers, waiters, and computer technicians, and plenty of people, at the age of 18, already know they 're interested in doing jobs like that, making money out in the world instead of spending it on college. So why not provide them in high school with the skills they need to get jobs like that, and connect them with employers who are looking for enthusiastic young people? That 'd be awesome for everyone. If you look at Europe, which has a lot of programs like that that are called trade schools, you can see how well it works. The United Nations, which people trust, wrote a report in 2007 called, "Training Youth — A Comparative Study." It showed that in countries as different as Finland, Bulgaria, and England, trade schools make up 20% of the student population, and as the writers of the report say, these schools work: "When you look at these programs and their high rate of placement, then compare them with the results of students going to college, you can conclude that they have a great deal of merit" (UN Study on Trade Schools 34). I think this is excellent
Society tells almost every high schooler that they need to go to college in order to be successful, but that is not necessarily true. Stephanie Owen and Isabel Sawhill question whether attending college is essential to being successful in their article, “Should Everyone Go to College?”. Owen and Sawhill discuss how even though college may be very helpful for many people, for some the benefits of a college education do not outweigh the costs. In discussing this, they compare statistics on the costs of college and general student success. Overall, this article does a very good job showing ethical appeals with statistics and showing logic with factual evidence, but only does an average job appealing to emotion.
Many kids beginning the college - decision process may be feeling lost at first, and ”By telling all young people that they should go to college no matter what, we are actually doing some of them a disservice. ”(Owen and Sawhill 209) For a seventeen/eighteen year old, going to college is arguably the biggest decision that they have had to make in their life thus far, and having the facts that Owen and Sawhill produce can be invaluable to the decision-making process. It is clear that the purpose of their essay is to better inform these young adults and guide them on their journey that is life after high school. The primary claim that Owen and Sawhill attempt to drive in using rhetorical appeals is that on average, having a college degree will lead to a higher income than not having one; however, it is not universally
One statistic that Owen and Sawhill presented was “Hamilton Project research shows that 23- to 25-year-olds with bachelor’s degrees make $12,000 more than high school graduates but by age 50, the gap has grown to $46,500 (Figure 1). When we look at lifetime earnings—the sum of earnings over a career—the total premium is $570,000 for a bachelor’s degree and $170,000 for an associate’s degree. (Owen, Sawhill pg 641). Owen and Sawhill also mention that “with tuitions rising faster than family incomes, the typical college student is now more dependent than in the past on loans, creating serious risks for the individual student and perhaps for the system as a whole, should widespread defaults occur in the future. Federal student loans now total close to $1 trillion, larger than credit card debt or auto loans and second only to mortgage debt on household balance sheets” (Owen, Sawhill pg 642). Basically, what the authors are saying is college is expensive, but for some career paths, the training and education received in college is necessary to have that job and the benefits outweigh the costs. With a high paying career where a college education is necessary, paying off student loans is no problem. On the other hand, people who go after low paying careers that don’t necessarily need a college degrees,
As the economy evolves and the job market continues to get more competitive, it’s becoming harder to have a successful career without some kind of college degree. This creates a belief in many young students that college actually is a commodity, something they must have in order to have a good life. There’s many different factors that influence this mindset, high schools must push the importance of the student’s willingness and drive to further their education. College isn’t just a gateway to jobs, but it is an opportunity to increase knowledge and stretch and challenge the student which in return makes them a more rounded adult and provides them with skills they might lack prior to
As David Leonhardt states in his article, It College Worth It? Clearly, New Data Say, “ When experts and journalists spend so much time talking about the limitations of education, they almost certainly are discouraging some teenagers from going to college...”. In spite this argument, I believe the purpose of college is to prepare me for a good, well- paying job when I graduate. Since I came from a family background in which girls are always on the bottom and can’t get out of the tradition in boys zone.
Every single individual has once heard the words “get good grades, go to a good college and graduate, in order to get a good job and succeed in life.” However, no one can really assure that a student with a degree is going to have a better future than those who do not attend college. Lawrence B. Schlack, a retired superintendent, asserts in his article “Not Going to College is a Viable Option” that college is not the only place to go after graduating from high school. By using different kinds of persuasive techniques the author effectively supports his claim and makes the article an understandable and important tool for both parents and students who believe that college is their mandatory option after high school.
The debate on whether or not students should attend college after achieving a high school degree is one that many would like to consider two-sided; Debra Humphreys says that “going to college is clearly better than not going,” but Claire Potter mentions the opposite side, quoting an unnamed professor who says that “the vast majority of people who end up in our community college system don’t belong in college at all.” I would argue that the issue is not two-sided, and that there are more complexities to the issue than are always printed in media; to say that all college students should go to college or that all should not attempt to place a variety of different cases into a single group. Perhaps a better option is to say that college (in the traditional sense, with boarding and special liberal arts programs) should be recognized as an option for students immediately after their high school graduation, but other options, including the choice to go to vocational school or entrance straight into the workforce, should be considered.
Many parents tend to question if they or their child is ready for early college. They fear their child isn’t mentally or emotionally focused to go off to college by themselves. What they don’t realize is students going to college early bring about better jobs, connections, opportunities, and a better experience.
To get our dream job, to get a good job we must go to school and get a degree. Confucius once said “choose a major you love and you'll never work a day in your life.” We must leave home and deal with paying our ways, even if that means dealing with loans. Our families will go into as much debt as possible, the government tries to help for all of the students in the US who are trying to go to school and sometimes it is just not enough to cover it all so the banks must help. Loans are stressful, and hurtful, as students we must try and win as many scholarships as possible to lighten the load on our families and the stress that would come personally from trying to pay back loans out of college. Life is different now, we are growing young adults facing a new reality and dealing with new battle each turn of the corner but it is possible to get through dealing with student loans and finances once we get to do what we
It seems as though the majority of college students these days aren’t looking to further their education because it’s what they really want, they do it to please their parents, to be accepted by society, or because there’s nothing else for them to do (Bird, 372). These expectations have led to students being unhappy and stressed, and have pushed them into a school or a job that they don’t particularly care for.
As students near the end of the academic year, they are constantly faced with some of the same choices the generations before them have been presented with too. The biggest question a lot of seniors in high school have to answer is if they are going to be attending college or not. There are a lot of legitimate reasons as to why a person might not attend a college, but I personally feel like everybody should have a higher education if they have the opportunity to do so. One of the biggest reasons that people do not have the opportunity to pursue higher levels of school is the fact that they do not have enough money to pay for it. With the staggering amount of debt, the majority of students incur in college, it is becoming a
Society puts too much pressure on high school students to attend a 4-year college right after graduation. Though this is an attainable goal for some, a great majority of students are not fully prepared for the demands of college. 4-year schools require an incredible amount of maturity and preparation, leaving very little room for mistakes. Schools often overlook this aspect because their main goal is to get as many students into 4-year college as possible. This is a great goal to have however they send students off to college who aren’t ready to be handle the difficult of their courses while being away from home. My senior year of high school, my family and I came to the conclusion that we were not going to be able to afford four-year college tuition. This upset me at first because I felt like all my hard work and good grades went to waste. I dreaded the thought of going to community college because my who...
One question that comes to mind when graduating high school is, “should I attend college?” For many graduates this question have a very obvious answer. A high school graduate may state that, “college is the best option if one is trying to get a higher level of education, and will help one compete for a higher paying job.” However, in my opinion most graduates do not consider the fact that going to college is a very big decision to make and that the schoolwork will not be easy. Going to college is not the best choice for every high school graduate because many students cannot handle college, colleges’ lower standards, and not all jobs require a college degree.
High school education is for students to learn the basic information that is needed to prepare them for college. It is critical for students to feel that it isn’t a waste of time for them to wake up and go to high school everyday. Is it right for students to not come to school because they feel high school is a waste of their time? Majority of students has also felt that the courses they are attending aren’t giving them enough information that will be useful beyond high school. Shouldn’t students be in classes that will benefit them in the future? Should students be able to know what might be their strengths, and weaknesses in the courses that are required to be taken for a certain major? High schools should offer useful courses because it
In “Should Everyone Go to College?” Isabel Sawhill and Stephanie Owen make a strong valid point on whether or not college is for everyone. For many students ready to leave high school, wondering whether they should attend college is an issue that may lay heavy on one teenagers mind. There are a few factors that could be a difficult decision depending on a person’s goal they are working towards. Some students jump right into the workforce after high school. Others may sign up for the military after graduation. While these are different options, research says higher education is very important. Higher education provides opportunity for students that attend college are giving a good shot of a better career later in life. Approaching graduation, a student might find themselves asking, “Why is it important to go to college?” The answer is that education is the most important growing factor in the growth of our country. Obtaining a college degree is a