In Charles Murray’s essay entitled “Are Too Many People Going to College?”, he discusses the influx of Americans getting a college education. He addresses the topic of Liberal Arts education, and explains that not many people are ready for the rigorous challenges a liberal-arts degree offers. In addition, Murray explains that instead of a traditional degree more people should apply to technical schools. He believes that college should not be wide spread, and that it is only for those who can handle it. These viewpoints harshly contrast with Sanford J. Ungar’s views. Ungar believes college education should be widespread, because a liberal-arts degree is, in his opinion, a necessity. He argues that a liberal-arts college is the only place that …show more content…
Murray’s view on college is more practical; if college education became wide spread, and less people went to vocational schools, there will be a significant change in the current job market, and a significant hit to taxes. If more people went to college, and less went the vocational route, jobs will take a momentous hit. Today, companies will not even touch an application that does not include a Bachelor’s Degree; even if the Bachelor’s Degree has nothing to do with the job being applied for. Attention is not given to whether the hopeful applicant qualifies for the job; all that matters is that the applicant has a Bachelor’s degree. Murray best sums up the American job market when he says, “Employers do not value what the student learned, just that the student has a degree” (Murray). However, if less people obtain a Bachelor’s Degree, employers will be forced to base applicants on their skills, and abilities. Furthermore, important vocational jobs that lie vacant will be filled. Good electricians, carpenters, and construction workers will always be in …show more content…
Calling a college education “free” is a contradiction because nothing in life is truly free. Someone will be responsible for paying for this education, even if it is not the person receiving it. To support this flood of hopeful college students, the American Government will have to heavily tax the working and upper classes. Taxes will have to be inflated to compensate for the price of college, and in some cases, may become outrageously high. If the upper class becomes constantly taxed, what keeps them from dropping down a class? What keeps the middle class from becoming the lower class? In an extreme situation, if the middle and upper classes were constantly taxed, there risks a problem of creating a bigger class divide. Maybe the plan to pay for college education starts out with only the rich being taxed. In America, there are roughly 324 million people. This number increases every eight seconds, so there is a constant increase of citizens. Imagine if half of that number decides to go to college. College education is free for them, but their tuition is paid for by the upper class. Now, average college tuition runs for about $9,410 for State Universities, and around $32,405 for out of state students. This amount of money, per student, is paid for by the upper class’s taxes. Taxes are raised higher and higher to pay for all these students until they cannot be raised any further. The upper
Most people in the world thinks that a degree is required almost everywhere. In today’s society it is often thought that if people do not go to college they will not succeed. In Owen and Sawhill’s article “Should Everyone Go To College?”the author respond to people who either go to college and actually earn a degree or people who do not go to college and are actually saving money. The major reason that college is not always the idea for students and their families is the cost. “The cost of college matters as well: the more someone has to pay to attend, the lower the net benefit of attending.” (Owen and Sawhill, 2013, p. 2 ). Although the authors mention the benefits of attending college, they argue that college is only beneficial under certain
All though “The New Liberal Arts”, Sanford J. Ungar uses seven misconceptions about liberal arts on why learning the liberal arts. And explain why is still relevant and will be for coming years. The first misperception that he advocates is that a liberal arts degree is no longer affordable. Vocational training is better alternative to liberal arts in today. In this recession it is a financially wise decision to obtain a career oriented education instead. Students may not able to find jobs in the field that they are training after graduate. Ungar argues that especially collage students find it harder to get good jobs with liberal arts degrees, which is not the case. Which is the second misperception is that graduates with liberal arts degrees
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.
Are too many people pursuing a liberal studies degree when it is not necessary? When planning for the future, people need to be well educated about what they are about to be doing. People need to base their future stories on what will benefit them the most Charles Murray, the author of “Are Too Many People Going to College?”, seems to think to many people are going to college. In his article, he discusses many different points about why to many people are getting degrees. However, Murray’s text is ineffective because he is very vague, his points do not always correlate with each other, and he did not target a large enough audience.
Unemployment is on the rise and, always trying to be avoided. By obtaining a degree, the chance of being out of work is reduced. Baum, Ma, & Payea (2013) claim, “The 2012 unemployment rates for 25- to 34-year-olds were 9.6% for those with some college but no degree and 7.2% for those with associate degrees” (p.20). With just an associate's degree, the chance of being unemployed plummets 2.4% compared to those compared to little college, proving when the higher of a degree is obtained, the lower
In the past several years, there has been a growing trend in the number of college-bound individuals getting two-year degrees from community colleges or earning certification for their desired career field at vocational schools. Such schools certainly seem to have some valuable qualities: all boast of having lower costs than other colleges, of their absence of student loans, of allowing people to make more money quicker, of being narrowly focused so students don’t have to take classes they don’t need. They attempt to point out apparent weaknesses in liberal arts colleges as well, claiming that such an education is unnecessary in today’s world. However, for every reason to go to a community or two-year college, a vocational track, or an apprenticeship, there is another, stronger reason for going to a traditional, four-year college, and the liberal arts degree gained at four year colleges far outstrips the degree gained at a two year school or through a vocational track.
College is a popular topic for most, and Sanford J. Ungar and Charles Murray have a unique way of explaining both their opinions. In his essay, “The New Liberal Arts,” Sanford J. Ungar advocates that the liberal arts should be everybody’s education, regardless of the fact that most Americans are facing economic hardship. The first misconception that he begins to explain is “a liberal arts degree is a luxury that most families can no longer afford”. Career education” is what we now must focus on.”
In “Should the Obama Generation Drop Out?” Charles Murray talks about how a college degree now days, is looked at higher than it should be when it comes to meeting the qualifications for a job. Most jobs that pay over minimum wage will require you to have a college degree, making it very difficult for people that either can’t afford it or do not believe in it, to get a reliable well paying job. Like Barack Obama said “It’s what you can do that should count when you apply for a job, not where you learned to do it”(Murray 97); a large amount of people have the skills for a job but do not have the degree to show for, making them not qualified for the job. Companies will not even give you an interview if your resume does not have any type of degree on it. That situation makes life very unfair for multiple individuals. There should be some kind of certification test for applicant to take to see if he or she meets the skills needed for the job. The benefits of discarding the bachelor’s degree as a job qualification would be huge for both employers and job applicants. Therefo...
In the early 1600s, America was given the opportunity of higher education. As decades flew by universities grew and flourished to a point where it’s no longer a struggle to be admitted into a university, and it’s also more accessible to pay for, such as student loans, federal loans, scholarships and grants (Kirszner). Since attending university has become an essential to most high school graduates, universities have welcomed larger classes. A common argumentative debate when it comes to college is whether every American should attend. An example of someone who believes college is only for a handful of individuals is Charles Murray. Murray wrote, “What’s Wrong with Vocational School?” an article published in 2007 for the Wall Street
First and foremost, Trade Schools, Colleges and Universities states, “After all, more and more of today's jobs are knowledge-based or require advanced technical skills. So a better-educated workforce would help fill many of the skills gaps that prevent America's economy from growing faster.” If more people attended college then there would be more jobs to fill in America’s economy. There have been droughts in America’s economy, but with free college tuition, droughts would decrease. It would not be fair that someone who could be successful at the job would not be granted the ability to get the job because they don’t have a piece of paper with a signature on it compared to someone who does average or mediocre at the job and had the opportunity to go to college. Making college free also comes with consequences. So graduation numbers might drop, or the people who do graduate might not be as well prepared for the workforce. Also, with more people choosing to attend public colleges because of their tuition-free status, many schools might have to create wait lists or expand the ones they already have. State budgets could become strained, which might lead to cuts and decreased access to the programs that students want to take. Here is the weakness, although it benefits many students, the nation's existing
First, free college can encourage students to go to college to get a degree which leads to a high paying career. It can fulfill those students that are having a hard time financially, and fewer students will be in debt. Second, with free college, colleges will be more likely to help students that need the guidance to stay on track and get a diploma. Clayton and Bailey mention, "If we want to significantly improve educational outcomes, we need to make college more affordable so more students can enroll, and make the reforms needed to en-sure community college students can succeed in their courses, complete their program, and grad-uate within reasonable amount of time" (Clayton and Bailey). Finally, free college can help the U.S. catch up to the rest of the countries with higher education. For example, it can help the United States surpass Russia, where more than half of adults have a diploma. Frohlich explains, “More Than 53% of Russian adults between the ages of 25 and 64 had some form of higher edu-cation in 2012, more than in any other country reviewed by OECD” (Frohlich). Although free college is an attractive idea, it will leave the United States in a bigger debt which will be hard to recover from and more students will be unmotivated to
Over the past few years, people have begun to see going to college as a way to achieve the American Dream through career-readiness. People used to go to college, hoping to get a better well-rounded education. For most the well-rounded education, it usually came with the courses required for a liberal arts education. The courses would provide a level of analytical and in-depth understanding that would prepare the students for both life and whichever career path chosen. No matter the amount of money paid, parents would be willing to gi...
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.
Pharinet. “Is College for Everyone?” Practical Argument. Ed. Lauren G. Kirszner and Stephen R. Mandell. Boston: Bedford/St. Martin’s, 2011. 635-636. Print.
Charles Murray, the author of “What’s Wrong With Vocational School?” discusses how too many of today’s high school graduates wrongfully head off to a four-year college. For a large majority of the population, a college education is unnecessary. Murray says that a lot of students don’t even want an advanced education. Even if they do want an education, they aren’t qualified for it. Additionally, a large number of these students are striving for an education or experience that a four-year college isn’t meant to fulfill.