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What is the real purpose of going to college
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Louis Menand’s “Live and Learn” talks about three different theories of why we have college. The first theory called college a four-year intelligence test designed to sort people by intelligence and aptitude. The second theory states that college is a useful instrument of positive or negative reinforcement and what matters is what the students actually learn. The third theory refers to college as specialized training, where people are taught what they need in order to enter a vocation. I believe the main reason why students attend college is because the society requires them to and not because they want, therefore I believe theory three is correct.
Students do not attend college because they want to learn something for themselves and about the world, where they cannot learn anywhere else. Students attend college because they’re required to in order to survive in this world. At the end of college, graduates are given a score known as G.P.A that professional schools and employers use to measure the intellectual capacity and productive potential of someone. This is
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People will only learn what they need to know for success. Students attend college because the degree is a job requirement and acquiring that degree will promise an advantage in the job field for students. According to Menand “sixty percent of American college students are non liberal-arts majors… The No. 1 major in America is, in fact, business.” (48) Employers demand more people with specialized training because work is becoming more high-tech. This demand for work leads to the explosion of professional master’s program and non-liberal education
While some say that college is a good investment due to its tendency to grow a student's character and intellectual ability, the downsides to college sorely outweigh the potential benefits that it has. While college does grow a student in multiple ways, “57% say that the higher education system in the United States fails to provide students with good value for the money they and their families spend.”(Doc F). This majority opinion demonstrates that the growth you can achieve in college is sorely outweighed by its economic cost, and not worth doing.
College can’t teach us everything’s. For example college can’t give us the job experience, only give us the education of the knowledge, and I believe their all lot thing need to be learn in the society. Many people who get a college degree but can’t find a job, which mean they waste there youth and their parent’s money to support their child go to college, and even can’t find a job after a college
In Preparing for a Career, Bok said “The practical question then is not whether many students are unwisely choosing vocational majors, but whether both liberal arts and vocational programs could do a better job of reconciling the career needs of students with the other goals of a rounded undergraduate education” ( 341). According to Bok, many students majored in vocational college because it is more beneficial for them; vocational majors are in high demand and pay more than liberal arts. Bok argued that it doesn’t matter what majors the students chose but what can college do to help students in both field. According to Bok, “Employers who complain about the college graduates they hire grumble not only about the lack of sufficient technical and vocational skills but also about deficiencies in speaking, writing and other competencies long associated with a traditional college education” (343). Bok states that most college graduates are lack of writing, and speaking skills because students does not take liberal arts major seriously; they take liberal arts because it is a
Hence, a college education is not needed to obtain success. Menand’s ideology on reconstructing education to better fit a variety of people while simultaneously stating that college is not essential to succeed. This essay provides a great amount of information to not only convey his message, but to persuade his reader to follow his ideology on college. While Delbanco only states three reasons as to why a college education is needed. Though many Americans seem to follow a similar trend of attending a higher education after graduating from secondary there are many examples of successful people who never went to college. Both passages displayed that whether one decides to go to college or not, they must first decide what they wish to do in life.
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’s purpose for writing this argument is to depict the different motives and reasons why so many people are going to college. The author makes the claim that students should learn core knowledge in K-12 instead of going to college to learn this information. Murray goes on to say “Liberal education in college means taking on the hard stuff” (Murray 225). This supports Murray’s claim that too many people go to college because people who go to college should already know the basics of each subject area and be ready to begin their major of choice.
A college education gives a person the opportunity to be successful in life, either financially or morally dependent on the goals that they set for their life. They will choose a college that offers programs for the major of their choice, where they will specialize and receive a degree. The decision to pursue a higher education will give the opportunity to earn a better income than someone who does not have a degree. College is more of a life preparation course that will help make sure a successful career. If a person pursues a career in engineering, physics or mathematics their curriculum would include more liberal art preparation courses, in order for them to earn their degree, so someone pursuing a degree in these types of careers should attend college for job preparation.
In Louis Menand’s “Live and Learn: Why We Have College” he discusses his three theories about the purpose of higher education. The first theory says “college is, essentially, a four-year intelligence test”(57). This meritocratic theory is saying that “society wants to identify intelligent people early on … to get the most of its human resources” and college is the machine that does the sorting (57). The second theory, the democratic one, claims the point of college is not to pick out the elite. Rather, the point is to “expose future citizens to material that enlightens and empowers them” (58). The third theory explains how “advanced economies demand specialized knowledge and skills, and, since high school is aimed at the general learner, college is where people can be taught what they need in order to enter a vocation” (62). All three theories have their
As the world becomes more specialized it raises the question, should undergraduate institutions change their curriculum requirements to better equip students? The goal of a liberal arts education is to enlighten individuals and prepare them for the complex and diverse world by requiring the study of literature, philosophy, mathematics, and sciences. As professional careers evolve into more specialized fields the argument that a liberal education is no longer needed rises. Some educators feel that future professionals would be better primed for the future by focusing specifically on subjects that deal with their intended field. However, a liberal arts education provides benefits that go beyond the classroom. The experience of studying a wide range of material makes an individual well rounded, creates opportunities, and allows for personal evaluation. Broadening one’s knowledge in vast areas develops communication, problem-solving skills, and social responsibility regardless of intended careers.
Students go to college in search of knowledge, a new lifestyle, and the hope of a job after graduation. For many young adults, college is a rite of passage into an independent, mature new lifestyle. Not only is higher education a rite of passage, for some, it is also an opportunity to have a better life. Overall, college is a wonderful part of many people’s lives, yet the way the college education system is conducted wastes students time and money. College is basically composed of two parts: general education classes and major specific classes. General education courses are the source of wasted time and money, and should not be required of students. A few of the problems associated with general education classes are that they are basically a repeat of high school, unfortunately they can be the demise of students, they are costly, and they waste time.
College education goes about the way to an effective future for people who are not kidding with it. Currently, a college education has turned in the base necessity in securing a job in different companies and although some people might think college is not worth the debt, in a long run it actually is.
Within recent decades, college has become a more easily available path than it has been for the past generations. In a current news release, The Bureau of Labor Statistics stated that, “Of the 2.9 million youth age 16 to 24 who graduated from high school between January and October 2014, about 68.4 percent were enrolled in college in October” (BLS Economic News Release from April 2015). When a student graduates high school, most of them intend to continue on to college. They have the idea that, while there, they can break away from all the general classes and just focus on what they want to learn. However, for almost all students, they find that this is not the reality. Just like high school, they find that they have to take approximately two years in general studies in order to attend and graduate with the major of their choice. General education classes should not be required because a majority of the information learned has already been covered in past years. Most of the courses do not benefit a student 's major, and the total amount of required hours for these classes can become a big waste of time and money.
College is a necessary part of higher education for many reasons. Though college may be expensive and time consuming, there is no way to get a degree without it. People may be able to learn without having to go to college but college is fundamental to getting a piece of paper that says you went and achieved a degree after years of hard work. However college is not meant for everyone, in some cases people are not able to function in a college setting so they turn to alternative forms of education. In most cases people that cannot function in a college setting did not do well in high school whether it is because of laziness or just the lack of know how. College is something that is something that is very necessary given our current economy status.
... college provide students with knowledge and skills they will need for the future. Skills such as social skills, reading something and remembering it, and also patients and perseverance to keep going with something even though it may seem tough. Student will have to go out into the work force and work through tough assignments given from a boss, or if they are going into business for themselves, how to keep going even when times get tough. All skills learned in high school and cared out through college. College may make students uses these skills more than in high school with persevering on projects, internships, and jobs, but started out in high school.
Rich people assume that College is important, but it is not a one way ticket to success, and happiness. However, Middle class people believe that education is important to be successful in the future. Education for middle class student is an important tool that is applied in the modern world to succeed, as it reduces the challenges, which are faced in life. “With nearly half of the nation 's undergraduates enrolled in community colleges,…….are playing an increasingly important role in higher education.”(David Hosansky). The information gained through education allows individuals’ future life to be optimally utilized due to training of the human mind. This eventually opens doors of opportunities for individual to achieve better chance in career growth. Education has played a major role in the modern industrial world. “This is attributed to the fact prospective employees must be qualified adequately to perform various tasks effectively.”(David Hosansky) Industries entail resources that are sufficiently equipped with the modern technology to suit the needs and wants of the society. This makes education to become a norm for services in all industrial