Does college matter?

Does college matter?

What does college mean? Is college important to teenagers? Should college be essential for people to find a good job? Is everyone able to go to college? When we talk about college, these questions always come up. As a society, people have their own free ideas to plan their lives. A number of students decide to go to college to get a better and higher education, and to improve their wisdom associated with specific areas such as politics. Most of them think getting college degrees will lead them to find a great job, or even improve their personal qualities. On the other hand, some do not want to go to college. They consider that they do not need a college degree, as they think they can live better without four years of college life or they have other reasons to give up college studies. However, college still matters because going to college can increase one’s salary, make people more knowledgeable and also get students some different experiences.

There is a hot debate over the value of college in this era of increasing student debt and high unemployment. Some people argue from the perspective of economy that people can live a better life without college degrees. The four years of college costs them much money or even forces them to burden huge debt. However, if they do not pay such a high debt or cost to the four years college life, they can earn much money within the four years. Since their friends or high school classmates graduated from the college, those who do not receive college education probably have had certain social and economic resources.

In addition to the economic reasons, some people point that for those students who have supreme talents in specific areas do not necessarily need college degrees. For example, Bill Gates, the CEO of Microsoft, who dropped from Harvard and sought for his fortune in his twenties. At the beginning, people considered him crazy and irrational, as Harvard is the dream for most of people worldwide. However, Gates proved his choice was reasonable and rational with his amazing success and huge fortune. At this point, many people would claim that having a college degree is not important. Meanwhile, some people may propose that a college degree is not the unique channel to success. However, the success of other people cannot always be copied.

In today’s society, the pursuit of college education contributes to the wisdom and great jobs. The richness of knowledge would increase the competitiveness for people in different fields. Receiving college education will cost a lot of money. People have to borrow money or take out educational loans to support their fees. However, based on the “The Rising Cost of Not Going to College”, it is found that 89% of college-educated Millennial are most likely to be recruited full time, while 82% of their less educated counterparts and less likely to be unemployed or fired. This data indicate that the college degree contributes to getting a good job, although people have to pay the expensive tuition.

From the perspective of politics, the college education serves as an important engine for us to identify the difference between demagoguery and responsible arguments from politicians. It also expresses that people are living in a society with bombarded pleading or persuasions everyday such as advertisements, political appeals, and punditry of all kinds (243). All these are designed and established to capture our loyalty, money, and more specifically our vote. The most appropriate way to sustain a functioning democracy should be the wisdom of citizens that can distinguish the differences between demagoguery from responsible arguments. For this, it is quite necessary for us to receive college education, as the associated political issues would be introduced and well understood in college.

Currently, most people aspire to get college degrees as a door opener to find great jobs. The survey concerning the rising cost of not going to college indicates that among Millennials, 46% of college graduates are significantly more likely to agree that their college degrees have been good a tool to find a job or a satisfied career than the 31% of their less educated counterparts. For those adults who receive higher education degrees in the college and training to improve their careers. Above the data indicate the advantage of a college education. On the one hand, education can confer the associated degree to the college students. Then, they can take this certificate of academic degree to find good jobs. On the other hand, their rich theoretical knowledge can well direct their practical techniques in the actual business. Compared with the less educated counterparts, people who have received college education will be more acute and more intellectual than their less educated counterparts.

When I came to college, I met plenty of challenge and new experiences. In UCSB, there are students from all around the world. Most of them speak English but others speak their own languages. I have heard stories from English , Korean and Italian people, and those stories are exciting and wonderful. In addition, I have joined sport clubs that I had never thought about before. I do not like sports but I change my mind because at college, I met some weak people who still do exercise during their leisure time. If I did not go to college, I truly believe that I would have stayed inactive and I could not get those precious experiences.

My own experience shows that receiving college education improves personal qualities. That is, college education fosters people’s sense as well as their mind to experiences that would be foreclosed to them. For most college students, the college education enriches their capacities to read mandatory literature works and to catch basic political concepts. Meanwhile, college education contributes to the improvements of alertness to color and form, melody and harmony. In this way, as people gradually grow old, they will feel grateful for the college education they received. It delivers them the capability of appreciation towards our daily lives. Such an education performs as a hedge against utilitarian values. After receiving college education, people’s aspiration for contact with works of arts that somehow register one’s own longings and yet exceed what one is able to express by and for oneself. It also points out that people need “the inside of your head to be an interesting place to spend the rest of your life” (244).

The benefits of receiving college education would be larger than those who do not pursue a college education. The college education contributes to more employee opportunities. People can enjoy their political rights at their own will without being distracted. Also, college education can equip people with knowledge to compete with others including less educated counterparts. Finally, college education can improve people’s understanding towards life. That is, the attitudes, assumptions and way of thinking towards the life will be well enhanced by knowledge. From the above analysis, college still matters.

Cited Page

1. Delbanco, Andrew. “Three Reasons College Still Matter.” American Now: Short Readings

from Recent Periodicals. Ed. Robert Atwan. Boston: Bedford/St Martin, 2013. 243-247. Print.

2. “Disparity among Millennials Ages 25-32 By Education Level in Terms of Annual.”

Earning…” Pew Research Centers Social Demographic Trends Projects RSS. Pew Research Center, 1[CW1]0 Feb. 2014. Web. 22 Oct. 2014. <http://www.pewsocialtr[CW2]ends.org/2014/02/11/ the-rising-cost-of-not-going-to-college/ sdt-higher-education-02-11-2014-0-01/>.

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