The Goal of College Attendance

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Recommended: Benefits of a Liberal Arts degree

In previous times it has been thought, by some, that with a college degree a person could have any job and would be very successful. In Colonial America, colleges were mainly founded by the wealthy. The goal of college at this time was to “produce Christian gentlemen who would inherit their family business” (Thelin). After a “college boom” so many state colleges were built and some became co-ed, adding “special” courses for women. The goal of college attendance still was not completion of a bachelor’s degree. College during this time was mainly primary learning so students could eventually move onto college-level higher learning. “Students sometimes took two years of courses in order to earn an LI (license of instruction) certificate to teach public school” (Geiger). Recently there has been debate over whether or not a college degree is really worth it anymore. Some people think getting an education isn’t worth the money. It can be argued that with a college degree you can get a better job. Going to college, seems to be the obvious next step for many high schoolers. Getting a college degree and education is worth it. Students will come to find that the benefits of having a degree outweigh the negatives. College helps prepare students for the future and exposes them to life experiences.
College helps students learn interpersonal skills. Being in college is way for students to socialize better. Living on campus students have many opportunities to interact with many different types of people. Students also can develop better social skills whether it is by partying or joining different clubs and organizations. “According to Arthur Chickering's "Seven Vectors" student development theory, ‘developing mature interpersonal relationships’...

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...ion - ProCon.org." ProConorg Headlines. N.p., n.d. Web. 20 Apr. 2014. .
Geiger, Roger L. "The Era of Multipurpose Colleges in American Higher Education, 1850-1890," The History of Higher Education, Eds. Harold Wechsler, Lester F. Goodchild, and Linda Eisenmann, 2007 (92)
Goodchild, Lester F. "History of Higher Education in the United States," The History of Higher Education, Eds. Harold Wechsler, Lester F. Goodchild, and Linda Eisenmann, 2007 (90)
Hardy, Marcelina. "7 Benefits of Earning a College Degree," ." . N.p., 2013. Web. . .
Perkin, Harold. "History of Universities," The History of Higher Education, Eds. Harold Wechsler, Lester F. Goodchild, and Linda Eisenmann, 2007 (87)
Thelin, John R.. A history of American higher education. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 2004. Print. (3)

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