Perry And Murray's On Real Education

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An imperative quote from Henry Ford shows us just how important learning is, “Anyone who keeps learning stays young” This quote sums up both authors perspectives of college and how crucial it is to further one’s academic career. In a study conducted by Murray, he states that, “…it makes sense for only about 15% of the population, 25% if one stretches it, to get a college education.” This is a shocking piece of evidence that he shows throughout his article “What’s Wrong with Vocational School”. He expresses just how much of the population is not cut out for a college degree because they do not have the intellectual capacity that a college degree demands. Conversely Perry suggests in his article “On Real Education” that we should encourage more …show more content…

Perry states, “If we are to work smarter, our workforce needs to acquire more knowledge and skills that are adaptable in a constantly changing world.” In other words, Perry believes that we can’t hire people who will work cheaper, unskilled workers, because companies will find laborers overseas who will work much cheaper. Perry then states that we must train more skilled workers who can adapt to an ever evolving world. However, Murray’s beliefs are completely contrary to Perry’s. Murray states, “The spread of wealth at the top of American society has created an explosive increase in the demand for craftsmen.” This quote shows that Murray believes the economy has shown a boom in the need for vocational jobs. Murray even states “Journeymen craftsmen routinely make incomes in the top half of the income distribution while master craftsmen can make six figures.” He reveals that master craftsmen can even make more than some people who earn a college degree. I feel Perry gives us a piece of evidence that is a general rule for most of America--trying to use cheap labor only gets us so far until we are outperformed by countries overseas. While Murray’s arguments are true, only some master craftsmen earn six figures, and many of them struggle to make ends

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