Critiquing of “College is a Safe Bet” The essay “College is a Safe Bet” by Julie Margetta Morgan had a couple of problems in which the Author does not cite anything and her message is unclear. One must question how true something is if they do not cite any thing and it the information that they do give it incorrect according to the United States Department of Labor. Since the information it wrong then there is no reason to believe the rest of the essay. In the very first sentence then the author state some thing that is not true. The author says, “Plenty of evidence suggests that, on average, a college degree is worth it” (Morgan). The author states that there is an abundance of sources that agree with her point of view yet there is not one …show more content…
The transitions could have be made clearer if the author made the paper longer and spent a little more time on it. Since the essay is choppy then the message that the author is trying to comunitate. Which she seemed to state in one paragraph that one should go to college but in the next she gives reasons not to go. For example in the first paragraph she states that there is a higher unemployment rate for those that do not go to college but in the next paragraph she states that Bill Gates seemed to be doing just fine without a college degree. So there is a sense of unclarity concerning whether the author recommends people to go to college or not. The author seems to lean more towards going to college hence the title “College is a Safe Bet.” She could have made it more clear by adding a conclusion paragraph at the end of her paper. The essay “College is a Safe Bet” was not communicated as effectively as it could have which if it was just a bit longer then the correction could have been made and it would have been a supreme essay. Yet since the author did not then it was lacking in information resulting is it not being as effective as it could
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
It wasn’t until after reading this piece several times that I began encountering flaws within her reasoning. Although I agree with Bird that college is a waste of all these for some students, I also believe that Bird does not provide strong enough evidence to persuade her readers into thinking this. First off, when choosing the material to include in her essay, Bird should have used evidence that contained more certainty in order to solidify her claim. For example, “it is difficult to assess how many students are in college reluctantly. The conservative Carnegie Commission estimates
In the article, The World Might be Better Off Without College for Education, written by Bryan Caplan, explains how people do not apply what they learned in college into their actual jobs. He mainly focuses his argument on people who are deciding if they want to go to college or not because he is expressing if going to college is actually worth the money being spent. Through the use of rhetorical strategies like testimony, statistics, exemplification, and authority they help the audience have a clearer understanding of his argument. Throughout the article Caplan uses testimony to prove to high schoolers that a lot of people do not apply what they learn in college to their jobs.
Throughout the essay Bird makes several points to support her overall argument that a person does not need college to succeed. She says that college does not work for everyone and believes a degree is not essential. In “Where College Fails Us,” Caroline Bird invalidly argues that all college graduates find themselves working meaningless jobs and that no one needs a college degree to be successful. First, Bird states that “College graduates are selling shoes and driving taxis.” However, this point is flawed because not only does she not give any evidence to support her claim, but it is inaccurate.
Liz Addison’s essay, “Two Years Better Than Four,” was first published in the New York Times Magazine back in September of 2007. Addison went to two community colleges and majored in biology; earning her degree in 2008. In her essay, she is responding to Rick Perlstein's article “What’s the Matter with College?” in which he claims, “College as America used to understand it is coming to an end” (211). Addison refutes Perlstein’s claims by saying, “My guess, reading between the lines, is that Mr. Perlstein has never set foot in an American community college” (212).
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
“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.
Liz Addison, who graduated from Piedmont Virginia Community College and Southern Maine Community College agreed that community college was better than a university. Addison believed that a four-year college was for the “privileged class”. Addison viewed universities as the “privileged class” due to students applying at their curriculum vitae. In addition, Liz Addison tells the importance of community college. Addison then goes on to tell how high school graduates have a hard time getting into universities; the odds of entering would be low.
“3 Reasons College Still Matters” by Andrew Delbanco 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.” 4) In this part of the writing Andrew Delbanco tries to persuade his audience by using the pattern of logic that agrees with the overall argument but also considers another striking point of view to strengthen the argument (While these arguments are convincing, they must also consider…).
In “Are Too Many People Going to College?” Charles Murray offers his opinion on the number of students that pursue a B.A. He believes that two year or four year colleges are not needed for a majority of students who could instead pursue other life paths. He discusses the ability for the general knowledge needed to be learned in primary and secondary school, and for a lessened need for a “brick-and-mortar” institution the problems with the current secondary and higher educational issues including the lessened need to acquire a B.A. All members of society need certain skills in order to be productive members of society. They need to know general facts about the country they live in, general history, and general geography.
The final point is policy implications. The writers argue that it is a big mistake to tell students that are preparing for college that college is the best decision they can make, and I agree. It is important to insure that you are attending the college that best fits your educational needs. In closing, in the topic of is college the best option or not most will readily agree that college may not be the best option after graduating high school.
College is excessively romanticized until the cost and workload is understood. There has been an abundant amount of evidence
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.”
Thesis Statement: Even though college is a choice, everyone should realize that it is the best choice to make in order to make a good living. D. Credibility Statement: I myself am a college student. I realized early in my High School years that if you don’t have a college degree, life is going to be difficult for you. E. Preview of Main Points: 1. A college degree opens up more doors for you.
College Essay “There is a time and place for everything and it’s called college” This quote is not just to inspire but to authenticate the reasons to go college and be successful. So if you were to ask me the question “would you go to college” I would say yes without a second thought or hesitation. College has a lot to offer and values that can help your future because you can earn up to 22,000 than people that don’t go to college.