As the late Nelson Mandela once said, “Education is the most powerful weapon which you can use to change the world.” When it comes to the topic of higher education and if it is worthwhile, strong opinions come into play. Many people believe that higher education is valuable because there are undeniable benefits from the time put forth in college and beyond. On the other hand, some people also believe that college is not for everyone, and all career paths do not require a college degree. Higher education is a valuable tool from which the benefits can been seen in future salaries, personal growth, and in opportunities that arise. Higher education is valuable because it provides the potential for a person to earn more money in the future. The average person, having more education and degrees to their name, will earn more money both annually and in their lifetime that the person with a basic high school or Associate of Arts degree, also known as the two year degree. “[Community Colleges] offer a network of affordable future, of accessible hope, and an option to dream. In the cold light of day is it perhaps more important to foster students with dreams rather than building take-over… For some students of many different backgrounds would never breathe the college experience if it were not for the community college” (Addison 1) Here, Liz Addison is discussing the value that Hudson 2 community colleges offer and why this route is better than higher education. While her statement that some students would never attend college if it weren’t for community colleges still holds true, she expresses that it would be better for peoples to have hope than a larger salary that would undoubtedly come with higher education. Karen Farnen compares the... ... middle of paper ... ...rtunities, but because it is the socially acceptable thing to do. “82 percent of [the universities] graduates found full-time employment within the year, and 93 percent of those who applied got into graduate schools.” (Hacker and Dreifus 188) Even still the fact remains that once a person seeks out and completes the higher education the opportunities for them to succeed are at their fingertips. Higher education is advisable and valuable because there are undeniable benefits from the moment a person starts college. It is obvious from in salaries of both sides that college is a worthwhile investment. There is no place like college to grow and discover yourself. Also, higher education creates undeniable opportunities for all who participate. Seeking out higher education is something all people, no matter the socioeconomic background or career plans, should advance in.
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Show More“The Benefits Of Attending Community College: A Review Of The Evidence.” Community College Review 39.1 (2011): 46. Publisher Provided Full Text Searching File. Web. 30 Sept. 2016. This article’s primary focus is on the benefit of attending a community college for two years. The information presented in this article supports that a college degree affects much more than we might think. People with only a high school degree have changes in health, criminal activity, well-being, and welfare reliance. These benefits are just as important as economic earning gains. These findings make the concept of college even more appealing to one’s
...accessible for all students. In his article, Murray states, “Employers do not value what the student has learned, just that the student has a degree.” (Murray 233) Similarly, employers often do not value where the degree is from, just that one has been achieved. Thus, community college is the quintessential choice to not only “break the norm” of a B.A., but to aid in financial stability while doing so. Addison’s counterargument strongly disagrees with Murray’s overall argument, that college is not necessary.
In the article “Two Years Are Better Than Four,” Liz Addison argues against another article that implies that college isn’t important to students anymore. Addison feeds off of her own community college experience as the base of her argument. Addison believes that community colleges give people an unconditional chance to succeed. Addison implies that community colleges allow students to gain initial confidence in college criteria at an affordable price. She argues that more emphasis should be put on the importance of community colleges in America as they cover the country community by community (Addison). Community college students, according to Addison, then end up seeking further
Based on Three Reasons College Still Matters, there are three main reasons why a college education is so important. From an economical standpoint, an education is most of the time needed to earn enough money to live comfortably. Attending and completing college provides a possibility for future economic stability. Within a highly competitive workforce a college degree can put a foot in the door to a job of a person’s choice. Statistics show that people who obtain a bachelor’s degree or higher get paid more than those who do not obtain one. Many question the worth of a college degree because of how expensive it is, though some say that the money spent is an investment on a person’s future. One can say that the worth of a college education is within the eye of the beholder. Many q...
With tuition rising every year, students face the challenge paying the debt achieving a college degree comes with. “Student debt surpassed credit-card debt in June 2010 for the first time in history, rising to about $830 billion — or nearly 6 percent of the nation 's annual economic output”(Clemmitt, Marcia). Not everyone has a ton of money just laying around. Being that financial trouble is the biggest problem for students, they begin to question whether college is worth it or not. In recent years, students have taken out loans to help with expenses. Most students choose to attend a community and junior college to help minimize the debt. Even after graduating with a degree, students still face the struggle of finding a job in this economic time. For higher class families this may not be a problem to them. But for the middle class and low income families, they face tougher times being that they don 't have the financial help like higher class families do. For the middle class and low income families, it makes more sense attending a community and junior college rather than a four year university.
Many Americans today tend to believe that a college education is valuable financially, yet some others strongly oppose this, since they look at the college education as being both time and money consuming. A person who successfully completes a college education may obtain one or all of the following; an associate’s degree after two years, a bachelor’s degree, master’s degree or a PhD. The institutions that provide the college education can be public or private. Whereas a college education might be seen as being very expensive, it actually increases people’s chances of getting higher paying jobs, instills knowledge into them, and raises their enjoyment levels.
Everyone knows that person from high school that just wasn’t cut out for college. It’s not a bad thing by any means, but if you’re thinking about heading off to college like many American teenagers often do, think about this: going to college can be a waste of both your time and your money. I’m not the first to say it, and I sure as hell won’t be the last. In Stephanie Owen and Isabel Sawhill’s essay, Should Everyone Go to College?, the two authors take a strong economic approach to justify going to college. Owen, an ex- senior research assistant at Brookings’ Center on Children and Families and current research associate at the Urban Institute, a nonpartisan center for research on the problems of urban communities, and Sawhill, the co-director of the Center on Children and Families and a senior fellow in economic studies at Brookings, claim that the return on investment (ROI) of a college education is overwhelmingly positive on average; However, they also bring light
As the cost of college tuition continues to rise each year, many individuals are questioning if a college education is worth the time and effort needed to obtain a college degree. In today’s society, however, a high school education or diploma is not enough to insure a chance at having a good future. For many students, the decision on whether or not he/she should pursue a higher education is a major conflict for many young adults who are graduating high school. Therefore, while some students wonder if going to college is worth the price tag, in the end, the benefits associated with earning a college degree are proven to uphold numerous opportunities for individuals in the future.
By attending college, students guarantees themselves a better job that the average Joe. Because the world is changing rapidly, and many jobs rely on new technology, more jobs require education beyond high school. With a college education, an individual will have more jobs from which to choose. In addition to obtaining a better job, people who go to college usually earn more money than those who do not. College furnishes you with proper credentials and documents to land high-level jobs. Figures from an A&E television program on ‘The Working Class’ show that in 2004 the average earnings were $23,895 for a high school graduate and $41,478 for individuals with a bachelor’s degree. Getting a college education is simply a stepping stone in ensuring yourself with a good start in life. Some may agree that college students are open minded and knows exactly how to expre...
...order to get better jobs and earn more money, to get to the good life, yet influenced by what colleges want them to learn and what employers want them to know: these all may or may not be the same thing. What employers want out of college graduates is also based on money: who can do the job the fastest and best, who can save or make money for the business. What is clear is that the university or college which is purely a "meeting of the minds," a place for people to gather and learn for the sake of learning, seems to be becoming a thing of the past. It is being replaced by an increasingly commercialized system of higher education: one that costs more and more each year--with the cost rising much faster than the rate of household incomes, and one that is being altered by the needs of an increasingly diverse student population and the needs of the business world.
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
In today’s society, the idea of receiving a college education has been pondered quite a bit as to whether or not it is actually worth it. According to Michelle Adam, many people “…today believe that getting a good education is key to success in our society, this revealed surprising issues that challenge the notion of higher education being worth its price tag” (59). Naturally, many high school graduates apply for college right before or after graduation. Others decide to go into the work force, armed forces, or simply remain unemployed. The question that many people debate about is, is a college education worth it in the long run? Though some people believe a college education will benefit ones’ career, others believe it will cause a mass of debt and loans for college students and graduates, and postpone life events.
People in the past did not stress value of receiving a higher education because it was not as indispensable as it is today. Now, people perceive others not only by their appearances, but by their accomplishments. Employers always hire people with the most education and experience. The majority of students are concerned about getting a higher education throughout the years. Nevertheless, some people question the purposes of getting educated, and consider it meaningless. The concept of education has a significant meaning. It enables one to take control of knowledge and apply it. It is education what prepares the mind to comprehend and learn important ideas. A higher education is very important for an individual's success in life. It offers students skills that prepare them mentally, physically and socially for the world of work later in life. A higher education should not be a choice, because it is the foundation of our society. It helps students with their personal development, provides economic growth, helps students understand and interpret the world around them, and affects individuals’ job positions. It will promote new interests, economic stability, help students understand others, and prepare better individuals for the future.
For many years, higher education has been a helpful tool for those looking to have a professional career, and now, it seems that getting a degree is almost necessary. In our present day it is nearly impossible to get a job without graduating college and that is why a higher education is considered to be the most valuable investment for Americans. College is so valuable because it lowers your risk of unemployment while giving you the opportunity to have your future potential earnings increased. Many Americans don’t go to college because they can’t afford it or they fear that college just isn’t the right fit for them and others don’t’ enroll because they are lazy. These problems could possibly all be erased by making all citizens in America legally required to move on to at least a two year institution at the very minimum upon the graduation of high school. Having community college tuition-free will eliminate any financial excuses against college being required for all US citizens. Alan Bloom believes “Education is the movement of darkness to light”. Bloom is trying to convey that education can help you get through the roughest of times and to help make something of yourself. College is a place for exploration and finding out who you are and what you want to be.
Individuals who attend institutions of higher learning offer many benefits to society as a whole. Some social benefits realized from those with a higher education include increases in the individual’s volunteer activity, as well as increase in overall individual health and well-being. A report from Analyst Diana Wardell, entitled “The Benefits of Higher Education,” states that individuals who did not complete high school made up 9.9% of those who volunteer their time, while those with a high school diploma made up 21.7%. Those who have some college experience made up 34.1%, and those with a Bachelor’s Degree made up 45.6 percent of those who volunteered their time. Additionally, those with a high school diploma, with an income ranging from $35,000-$54,000, 62%, report to be in excellent or very good health, while 73% of those with a Bachelor’s Degree, in the same income bracket, reported to be in excellent or very good health (Wardell, Benefits). Similarly, an article e...