Michael Petrilli's Essay 'College Isn T For Everyone'

Recently, many have begun to attack and degrade higher education in the United States. In the book How College Works, authors Daniel Chambliss and Christopher Takacs claim, “As state support has eroded, and as more students attend college in an increasingly desperate attempt to find viable jobs, the price to students of attending an institution of higher education has gone up, especially at more selective institutions” (172). So is college even worth it? Caroline Bird’s excerpt from her book Case Against College “Where College Fails Us” is an adequately written article that agrees with those who question whether college is a good investment. Bird argues that although some students would benefit from college and succeed, many fall short, wasting

In his article, “Are Too Many People Going to College?” Charles Murray argues that too many people are going to college universities when they should be focusing on other lifestyle options. In his opinion, whether or not to attend college is a personal decision that should be thoroughly thought through. When weighed with the unrealistic prerequisites, the financial expenses, and the time needed to obtain a degree, many people will find that attending college will not be beneficial to them. Speaking of this Murray attests, “The question here is not whether the traditional four-year residential college is fun or valuable as a place to grow up, but when it makes sense as a place to learn how to make a living.

As a college student who is currently spending thousands of dollars to further my education and achieve a career goal, it was, at first, disheartening to read Caroline Bird ’s essay “College is a Waste of Time and Money”. However, after thoroughly examining her points, I now see that her essay is illogical. In her piece “College is a Waste of Time and Money”, Caroline Bird argues against the idea that “college is the best place for all high-school graduates” (1); in other words, college isn’t for everyone. Throughout her writing, Bird supplies her readers with evidence that explains how, for some individuals, college is a waste of not only time and money, but of intellectual effort, as well.

The authors’ emphasis on “on average” is very effective at showing how their point makes sense and why it should be taken into consideration. I found the way that the authors focused on the minority more than the majority was skillfully effective at showing how some career paths do not require a college education and that the return in investment would not be worth the cost. Throughout their argument I found the writers to mostly use Logos and Ethos in their writing. The Logos is evident by the way they use statistics and the Ethos by how they state telling someone the only way to be successful is to go to college is a disservice. This is effective at making the reader think about how this should affect the decision of going to college and whether they should push someone to go to

There is many people that go to college, but because of the cost they don't get through college. The elevated costs of college cause not only students to struggle paying for college, but also to struggle financially paying for college when they are done. In many cases, after graduating, young adults who don’t find a job will become poorer, increasing the gap between the rich and the

College, the most discussed and controversial topic for hundreds of years. The necessity of college has been discussed in many different countries for hundreds of years in the past and will still be just as controversial in the future. Many have asked why college is important and what it has to offer. William Deresiewicz in the chapter “What is College For?” from the book Excellent Sheep attempts to answer this question by using multiple literary elements to show his audience, which is primarily high schoolers, why college is the only option and is essential to all.

Delbanco explains how students have changed their reasons for attending a college when he states, “...yet on the assumption that immersing themselves in learning for the sheer joy of it, with the aim of deepening their understanding of culture, nature, and, ultimately, themselves, is a vain indulgence” (222). Secondary education has become too expensive for learning to be an indulgence. Students only go to college to get a degree in order to gain a high paying career. Davidson explains how dire the situation with low paying job is by saying how the process should work, “Only through productivity growth can the average quality of human life improve” (339). Unfortunately, the productivity growth only leaves a bigger pay gap.

In his Essay “Are too many people going to college,” first published in a 2008 issue of AEI, Charles Murray explores many insights onto the topic of furthering education as well as exploring various other options to pursue after high school. Who exactly would think that too many people are going to college? Well with more and more students flooding campuses at the end of every school year and less and less going into trade schools, a shift in the job market is just beginning to be seen on the horizon. Charles Murray’s essay “Are too many people going to college” shows that not only are there other avenues to pursue a potential life long career, but that much of the time pursuing these avenues may offer better results for some wanting to go to college.

For many people, college is an important key for their future. Some people go to college for the job opportunities and the new windows it can open. Others go just for the education and experience. A good education is beneficial from many different viewpoints; in truth, it is a possibility that one's adult life could be much harder than people care to think. One can have better wealth, is less likely to be unemployed, and a much higher chance of being closer to your family.

“Is College the best option why or why not discusses the controversial issue of whether college is important or not. On one hand, while some argue that college is very important. Stephanie Owens and Isabel Sawhill writers of article “Should Everyone Go to College” asserts that we may be doing a disservice by telling all young people that college is the best option. Owens feels that college may be of service to some people, but not the best option for everyone.

A rising issue in today’s society is deciding whether or not college is worth the cost. There is an extreme amount of pressure that is forced upon high school students by parents, teachers, and peers to further their education and attend college. However, there is research that challenges the thought that college is the best possible path for a person to take. College may be a great investment for some people, but it is not meant for everyone. This is supported by the arguments that colleges are expensive, jobs do not always require a college degree, and students are forced to choose a lifestyle before being exposed to the real world.

If a person’s parent or guardian drilled the idea of college into your head, or if they told you ‘do what you want’ or ‘I don 't care’, or ‘You’re not going’. While college is great, there are other means of education. The value of college is a low because there are people who do not qualify for a college education, and also because there are other ways of post-secondary education other than college. College is not valuable because many people will not make it into a 2 or 4-year college, much less graduate from one. To support this, in the article Why College Isn 't For Everyone, it says, “As a general rule, I would use graduates in the top quarter of their class at a high-quality high school should go on to a four-year degree program, while those in the bottom quarter of their classes at a high school with a mediocre educational reputation should not.”

To emphasize the worth of a college education, the “net cost of college is a negative $500,000” (Leonhardt 2014). Over the long run, one gains a half million dollars if they attended college. These kinds of figures demonstrate how education is essential to the social mobility of the lower class yet the majority of the lower class do not have a college degree which puts them in the population of people who were hurt the most by the recession and still not fully recovered, making it even more difficult for parents to invest in their child’s education (Leonhardt 2014). The shortage of lower class receiving higher education can be attributed greatly to the negative effects of a low family income, including unequipped guidance counselors and absence of awareness of programs to help aid the financial strain of college tuition. Essentially, if one was born into a low income family and did not receive a college education, they are more likely to remain low income however, a college degree increases their chances to rise socially (Greenstone 2013).

In the article “ Why college isn’t( and shouldn’t have to be) for everybody” it states “For example, the emerging economy will need platoons of technicians able to install, service, and repair all the high-tech machinery filling up hospitals, offices, and factories.”(26) . “ Education is not preparation for life; education is life itself.” They feel they are compelled to get a college degree because they’ve been told that it was necessary to get a college degree, some people also think that if you go to a four-year college everyone would look down to their nose if they don’t have a college degree.. “ I think everyone should go to college and get a degree and then spend six months as a bartender and six months as a cabdriver.

Over the many years that the school structure has existed it has received much backlash and criticism for not preparing students for real life situations and higher educational institutions such as college. Even though public school institutions gives it’s students the opportunity to develop their social and cognitive skills, as well as discover their own identities, school however lacks the proper curriculum to prepare students for adult life that they must embark on as soon as they graduate from grade school. This issue is apparent in some urban public schools. According to a poll taken in 2016, fifty-percent of parents who reside in New York believe that their children are not prepared for college. In 2017 the documented average SAT score