Nick Smith Professor Rocha Intro to College Writing 7 October 2017 Analysis Essay In The Article "Are Too Many People Going to College?" Charles Murray claims that there are too many people attending college. While this seems like an easily disputable claim, there are three reasons that he believes less people should go to college. The first point Murray brings up is that a liberal education can and should be gained in elementary and middle school rather than college. He also believes that there are many people going to college who don't need to because they already have the knowledge and skills necessary for a career. Murray also thinks that many students arc going to college solely to get their ticket for employers to consider their resume: …show more content…
He believes that a young man should become an electrician, something he is already good at, rather than go to college to become a manager, something that he doesn't have natural skills for. Murray is comparing the income expectation and says, speaking of the young man, "Realistically, he should be looking at the incomes toward the bottom of the distribution of managers." (p. 2). In this statement Murray is assuming that the man never gets better at the skills needed to be a manager. He assumes that after four years of college the young man is still only average in interpersonal and intrapersonal abilities. This assumption does not play in Murray's favor because most people in his audience have been to college. Most people who go to college feel that it is a growing experience; during college years people learn and develop various new skills and capabilities. Murray is also assuming that the young man will not need above average interpersonal and intrapersonal skills to be a top …show more content…
He is targeting people in the education field, student, and parents. Many of his arguments against college do not have strong enough evidence to support someone in his audience. His biggest weakness is his assumptions. Many educators would not agree with what he is assuming, therefor foiling his logic. Had he assumed less and provided more facts, he would have won the vote from much of his audience. I Iis argument as a whole also would have been more effective if he had stuck to his claims instead of breaking off on random tangents for paragraphs at a
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Show MoreSummary: “Are Too Many People Going to College” In the article “Are Too Many People Going to College,” writer Charles Murray explains that more people should be going to college instead of fewer. Murray states most people should get the basics of a liberal education and that begins in elementary and middle school.
Ungar has put this misconception to rest by saying the difficulty in the job market has nothing to do with a specific degree. A survey for the Association of American colleges and universities discovered that more than three-quarters of the nation's employers recommend that college-bound students pursue a liberal education. Misperception number three states that the liberal arts are a relevant for low income and first-generation college students. This misperception troubles Ungar and he says it is “ condescending to imply that those who have less cannot understand and appreciate the finer elements of knowledge”. He says this is a form or prejudice and makes very little sense.
“America’s university system is creating a class-riven nation. There has to be a better way,” starts Murray (235). Are Too Many People Going To College is a piece written highlighting alternatives to traditional education, as well as the repercussions we are facing as a society as a result of the strict guidelines of traditional education; a point that is spotlighted throughout the piece is the subject of Liberal Education and the core knowledge that we as a people should maintain, as well as the flaws of college as an establishment. Though the title and points made in the writings of Murray may lead one to believe he is standing against the college establishment, it is clearly stated from paragraph one that he believes more people should be
In Should The Obama Generation Drop Out Charles Murray talks about the flaws found in the Obama education plan . He brings to the attention of the public the fact that many student in America graduate lacking the skills necessary for the proper college education. Murray goes on to argue that in today 's society students who graduate from High-school go on to technical college to pursue a vocational education in their field of study; whereas, older generations have pursued an all around education, enrolling in classes that were irrelevant to the career they were pursuing. Murray claims that if you test the vast majority of Americans (including himself) in the more rigorous subjects, they would most likely fail. Murray mentions that he does
He is agreeing with the overall argument that college is very important and that those who dream and want to further their education should have the right to. Regardless of the many obstacles such
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
He finishes his argument by saying that instead of liberal education, most people would be better if they focus on career education in college. While I agree with Murray’s idea that people would benefit from getting a liberal education before college, I disagree with his statement that liberal education is not needed in college. Due to the wide range of knowledge a liberal education provides it can help a person become more adaptable to the constant change and demand of the job market, allow that person to have an advantage over another, and ultimately help a person figure out what they feel more comfortable doing in
In my opinion, I agree with Murray’s claim that four year college is not worth, job satisfaction for intrinsic reward, and the dark side of the Bachelor's degree. In my view, Murray’s is right, because college requires student to take 32 courses in four years or longer and not all courses are relate to the field they study with. More specifically, I believe that four years college will take more time to achieve our goal and knowledges doesn’t teach us how to make a living in our society. Murray described in his article, “More people should be getting the basic of a liberal education. But for most students, the places to provide those basics are elementary and middle school” (235).
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.
College Isn’t for Everyone "By telling all young people that they should go to college no matter what, we are actually doing some of them a disservice" (Owen). This quote from “Brookings Paper: Is College a Good Investment” goes into detail about how college isn’t for everyone. By educators, parents, and authority figures telling graduating high school seniors that college is necessary, they are limiting the potential of that student’s true skills. College isn’t right for everyone and not everyone wants to go to college.
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.
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
From a surface level, it seems as if Charles Murray presents a logical solution to a problem with a valuable argument to back it up. Diving deeper, I realized that this was far from the case. Not only do I not agree that the traditional college system should be completely abolished, but Murray presents a very weak argument to attempt and justify his conclusion. I do not agree with Murray because there are many careers in the world where education plays an extremely important role. For example, doctors go through years upon years of education, learning everything from the littlest things about the body to the way that those things should be treated.
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.”
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.