Andrew Simmons

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

Today, you either get educated or you get stuck in a dead-end job without much prospect for the future. The gap between those with a higher education and those without one is becoming wider with advancements in technology and the growing competitiveness of the job market. There are many dangers of this gap. One such danger is the people who have a higher educations having the leisure to ignore those who are less educated. Joy Castro in her essays “Hungry” and “On Becoming Educated” discusses her life and educational journey. She was the first in her family to go to college and has a distinct view of this gap in that she can view both sides at once. Because all voices have something to offer, Castro argues that the rift existing between the

“On average, college graduates make significantly more money over their lifetime than those without a degree… What gets less attention is the fact that not all college degrees or college graduates are equal.”(pg.208 para. 1) Stephanie Owen and Isabel Sawhill are senior researchers at Brookings’ Center on Children and Families, Sawhill is also a senior fellow in economics study at Brookings’. Owen and Sawhill authored the essay, “Should everyone go to College?” The authors use a wide variety of rhetorical devices in the essay, including ethos, pathos, and logos to persuade their audience to take another look at whether college is the right choice for them. Throughout the essay, the authors keep a neutral tone so that they come across as non-biased,

Education is widely regarded as a key factor in the economic and social development of a country. With the extremely rapid development of the society, in order to enhance their competitiveness, increasing young people choose to accept higher education. Yet, there are different attitudes about whether students should pay or not. Some people regard education as a basic right, which should therefore be provided free, while others think the individual student should have to shoulder some of the costs of his or her education. According to Matt Bruenig’s Dissent article “The Case Against Free College: Free college is paid for by the working class people who don 't attend”, Bruenig against the free college because it seems more fair and benefit to

And in between, students are driven to take low paying and high paying jobs against their own consent, their interests are altered, personal decisions must be taken according to financial situations, and people dare to reject education (Choi, 32). Student loan debt weighs on billions of shoulders in the world and it is nearly impossible to be oblivious to all the harm that it has done and all the factors it takes part in affecting that it shouldn’t. If awareness could be raised and colleges would only consider to at least reduce tuition rather than eliminate it, that would still help do the nation well and commence improvement. An education must serve to inspire imagination and to motivate creativity in as many fields as possible. A society that is excellent is a society that presents opportunities for each and every member. Having educated people is crucial to a community and a society should be more than eager to pay to educate and enlighten them (Wiener,

The fact that not everyone needs to go to college is the main point that Stephanie Owen and Isabel Sawhill write about in great detail throughout their essay. Even though the authors do say that people that go to college usually earn more, they state that this is on “average,” and that the key focus of their essay is to focus on those that the benefits are not greater than the cost of going to college. (Page 211, Paragraph 1). They also include a graph right under the text that shows how “on average” people with a college degree earn more than those that are just high school graduates. (Page 211, Figure one). 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

The total U.S. student loan debt now surpasses $1.2 trillion and there is more than 40 million recipients owing on federal and private student loans (Malone). Most of the college students in the United States can’t afford their education by themselves and, as a result, students end up drowning in student loans in order to earn a degree. Student debt is a major problem in the US, and it is a major influence on the gap between rich and poor. A more accessible college education would help reduce the gap between rich and poor in the United States.

3) “Surely, every American college ought to defend this waning possibility, whatever we call it. And an American college is only true to itself when it opens its doors to all - the rich, the middle, and the poor - who have the capacity to embrace the precious chance to think and reflect before life engulfs them. If we are all serious about democracy, that means everyone.”

A child does not typically think about their lives ahead. Although they may not think about it, it is still there. Life ahead means getting a job to make money for everything else and if one wants a good job in the future, then college is the best option. College education is worth it because it makes a person better and more educated, it is not as expensive as some think, and college pays for itself once there is a good job to pay for it.

If anyone has ever went to high school, then they have heard about college. Everyone has a different point of view on the idea of college. Part of it depends on how someone was raised. 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.

These three authors expose their experience with education at three different levels: high school, college and self-education. At the end, it does not matter how people get it, but it does make a different in their lives. People who receive an education are more likely to be successful and live a healthy and happy live; but those do not are more likely to live in poverty. Since it will help the economy to have better equipped citizens, the government should make college education free for

Author Charles Murry talks about those who are more likely to go to college and depending on the percentage scale who is more prepared for college and who is not prepared for college and when is the best time to teach kids core knowledge. Charles Murry states that,” Kindergarten through 8th grade re the years to teach the core knowledge, and the effort should get off to a running start in elementary school”(Murry, P.238). Murry also goes along to explain that based on the percentile you rank in determines your ability, academic and “college readiness”. Researchers have studied that if students score low on the S.A.T and have a low G.P.A they fall under the low percentile rate and they aren’t ready for

Americans, when they think of Civil Rights probably think of the Civil Rights Movement. During the civil rights era African Americans fought to be treated as equals by fighting segregated schools, for their voting rights, and for their basic right that every American has today. To say that education is our civil rights movement of today is inaccurate. Antonio Alvarez’s narrative “Out Of My Hands” focuses on a financially struggling family, but proving that they can succeed. David L. Kirp’s article “The Secret to Fixing Bad Schools” reinforces the idea that even though a community might be poor, that doesn’t have to reflect the quality of education students receive. Horace Mann, known as the godfather of American public education, expresses

Throughout his article, he speaks about education. “The Upside of Income Inequality” makes two basic points to support the conclusion noted in the title of the article. First, the correlations between educationa and income; that the value of a college education has risen as income inequality has risen. And second, that therefore the rate of Americans who attend college has increased. The article provides multiple graphs that correlate different principles with education and income. The main point they make is higher education equals higher income. Becker and Murphy point out the difficulties in paying for college, but they look at the returns being worthy

In today’s society, it has become the norm for adolescents to choose where they would like to go after they graduate, seeking further education. William Henry wrote, “In Defense of Elitism”, he argues that colleges are letting too many students in, and that some of the students that are in college do not really deserve to be there. He thinks that the reason for the dumbed down education system is because of letting in too many students that do not need to attend college. In “America Skips School”, by Benjamin Barber, he believes that the teachers of todays generation blame kids for the fall of