Lowering the Bar
We have reached an era where everyone is expected to go to college, and educators are forcing this goal upon unwilling individuals to their great detriment. According to Barbara Schneider and David Stevenson in The Ambitious Generation: America's Teenagers, Motivated but Directionless, only fifty percent of twelfth graders surveyed in the 1950s expected to attend college, but by the 1990s, that number had increased to 90% (5). Much of this can be attributed to the increasing complexity of the American workplace—machinery has replaced most of the blue-collar jobs that existed five decades ago, and nearly every job requires some degree of technical sophistication.
Much of it, however, cannot. Almost half of teenagers expecting to attend college “hope to get degrees that exceed the credentials needed for the occupations they want” (Schneider 6). Schneider calls this an example of misaligned ambitions, as the majority of teenagers “have high ambitions but no clear life plans for reaching them” (7). In the 1950s, high school students were segmented into different programs—vocational, commercial, general education, and college preparatory—but now, 95% of high schools in America are considered comprehensive (Schneider 113).
This situation provides a difficult dichotomy, as high school graduates now are better educated than those who graduated in the 1950’s were; but where our grandparents could expect that a high school diploma would gain them a job in a company where they could advance for the rest of their career, current “adolescents believe the college diploma is the basic credential needed to obtain meaningful work” (Schneider 52). What 80% of college bound students do expect, however, is a professional occupation after college, compared to only 42% of previous generations (Schneider 5).
So, while more people expect to go to college than before, more of those who expect to go to college also expect to be better rewarded for it than students in the 1950s. This is another example of misaligned ambitions, but were the majority of those students successful, it could be overlooked. Instead, what we are finding is that today’s students are not prepared to succeed in a university environment. Only 34% of students who were freshmen in 1989 finished their bachelor’s degree in four years, with an additional 24% finishing in five years.
To look at these numbers on a smaller scale, my freshman suite can be considered as an example.
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.
A high school education is no longer sufficient to succeed in America’s increasingly complex economy. However, because of the high price point of a college education, far too many Americans are unable to afford education beyond high school. As shown in the graph below, the higher level of education received greatly increases the chances for employment and also dramatically increases the average salary potential of an individual.
“Are Too Many People Going to College?” by Charles Murray poses a question about the mass majority of students going to college. Murray states various reasons why some recent high school graduates will not succeed in college, if they attend at all. Some students are not deemed as “fit” for college or possess a trade they are superb at that can be continued in lieu of college. Charles Murray displays his reasoning’s in such a way that the reader may start to believe his viewpoint of college are correct while simultaneously questioning the approach he uses to present his opinions.
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
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
In the article “America’s Most Overrated Product: The Bachelor’s Degree” by Marty Nemko, the author argues several different views on why higher education may be very overestimated. For starters, the author shares his opinion more than anything else due to him being a career counselor. The purpose of this essay is to explain to the readers that most people start off with the idea of living the American Dream. Which is practically going to college to have a better life and career. But over the time the idea of working very hard for a Bachelor’s degree has become very dimmed. Furthermore, for some people, when they think of the American Dream they think of hope for bettering themselves and also helping their families. Unlike the author, Nemko feels that even the thought of trying to pursue to get a bachelor’s degree is overrated. The audience of this passage would most likely be teenagers going into college and parents. Nemko states that “Colleges are quick to argue that a college education is more
American’s education system has been entering crisis mode for a long time. Throughout the past few years, the overwhelming question “Is college needed or worth it?” While it is an opinion, there are facts that back up each answer. Plato’s “Allegory of the Cave” mentions that the enlightened must help the unenlightened and further their knowledge. The problem with America today is that high school students are given the option of college and that makes for less enlightened people. While it is possible to learn in the work force or Army, college is a better option. Mary Daly wrote the article “Is It Still Worth Going to College?” which talks about the statistical value of attending. Michelle Adam wrote the article “Is College Worth It?” which mentions the struggle young people are going through to even get into college. Caroline Bird wrote the chapter “Where College Fails Us” in her book The Case Against College where she
Some students also attend and realize that college is not for them. At this point, they may easily become influenced by peer pressure and exhibit poor judgment. Many students look up to their parents as role models to help them decide whether they should even go to college themselves. It can be obvious to a second-generation college student of the benefits of a college education when they observe the success that their parents gain by being first generation college students. This is also reinforced when they observe the current job market. “Indeed, after World War II, the difference between the average wages of high school and college graduates was small and shrinking. After 1950, however, the trend moved in the opposite direction and accelerated as the demand for highly skilled labor increased (Brock 3)”. The bachelor’s degree received today has the same relevance as a high school diploma did in the
College is the place where people go to retain the necessary training for a job that requires specific skills, which results in earning a higher pay check. In today’s world, employers are scouting out for individuals with the proper dexterities to fill the shoes for that specific job. Blanche D. Blank, the author of “A Question of Degree," argues that possessing a degree of higher education isn’t the only way to have a very successful life. This statement is highly argumentative, due to the fact that college graduates still out-earn people without degrees. Obtaining a college degree is one of the best things someone can do for themselves, when it comes to looking for a stable job. There is also so much more to college than just receiving a
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.
Are too many people going to college, or are too many people giving up and not having high enough expectations? Some, such as Charles Murray, would like to say that the educational structure of college is becoming corrupt due to the mass amount of people who now are striving for more knowledge. Growing up in the contemporary black community, we have had only two routes to choose from. While college is often the harder route, it always seems like the best one for some of our people. Additionally, our community has those who enter the workforce directly without pursuing a higher education or who choose to sell drugs. Contrary to what Murray suggests in “Are Too Many People Going to College?,” the community should encourage more high school students to achieve bigger goals rather than limiting their aspirations to being a manager at Wal-Mart or a local plumber. More
to about 83 percent of high school graduates enroll in some form of postsecondary education, but only about 52 percent of students complete their degrees. Further, a very small proportion of students complete a degree in four years—“among students starting at ‘four-year’ institutions, only 34 percent finish a B.A. in four years, 64 percent within six years, and 69 percent within eight and a half years.” Colleges always want students to graduate and support their alma mater. However this begins with deciding what student are mentally readiness and determination for the task that lies ahead, college. In today’s society we struggle trying to find a proper definition for college readiness. This is the main reason statistics and graduation rates suffer in the way that they do. Just because a high school student reaches the age of 18, obtains a high school diploma, and has functional literacy, does that really make students college ready?
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.
Students’ wouldn’t be able to hold down a job is the second reason they shouldn’t dropout of high school. Many employers would like to have someone who has been too high school and that have been educated so they can handle money and add things p...
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.