The ongoing debate about whether a university should require students to take courses only within their fields of study or take extra classes to fulfill graduation requirements is an interesting one. There any many valid arguments to each side and it is not a simple black or white choice when deciding who is right. However, by requiring students to only take courses within their major, it allows for students focus on taking classes that are only applicable to their future careers and allows them to save money in a time where saving money is equally important to a college degree.
In many situations, students will finish high school and go on to college with an idea of what they want to do with their life. For students who are in majors such as engineering or the a science field such as chemistry or biology, it is important to for them to stay on top of all of their course work because of the higher number of courses that they must take in order to fulfill the university requirements for a degree. Many of these students knew before they
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In many of these situations, the students are under pressure to finish their degree as soon as possible because of many state budget cuts to education which limit the number of classes offered with in their major. Not only does this mean extra classes that students must take and thus more money they have to spend because tuition is usually based on a per unit fee, forcing these extra classes upon can have a longer impact if they are forced to stay longer in college than they originally assumed they would. College already charges an extremely large amount to attend and that already does not take into account the other expenses that students have to pay (such as room and board, food, and books), but adding on extra semester, quarters, or even years because a student had to take general education classes instead of strictly major classes is an unfair system to put a student
Caroline Bird’s argument against postsecondary education is incorrect, specifically her beliefs that students are exposed to too many options and graduates only desire jobs that save people. First, Caroline Bird shares her belief that “a college experience that piles option on option …merely adds to the contemporary nightmare.” Although too many options are sometimes overwhelming, limiting choices would also create undue pressure for students. For instance, as a student, I am exposed to several options: what classes I should take, what major I should major in, what professors I should take, etc.
People go to college to get a good paying job, have job security, and get a degree. Well at least that’s what it should be about. That’s what Charles Murray believes in his essay “Are Too Many People Going to College.” Murray counters the argument of Sanford Ungar who believes colleges should have a more liberal approach towards its classes and have students actually learn a broad range of real life skills instead of just going into a career just because it pays well. In Ungar’s essay he explains the misperception that Americans have on obtaining a liberal-arts degree and how they believe it doesn’t translate well to the real world.
In the article, “Some Teens Start College Work Early Via Dual Enrollment” written by Joanne Jacobs,from the U.S. News and World Report Education, discussed a current path that most high schoolers are taking that will lead them to college success. Jacobs uses ethos and logos to prove the successfulness of the Dual Enrollment Program. The program offers students the opportunity to experience college life, to gain both high school and college credit, and to gain confidence. In most states, high school students who want to take a college class need to attend the class in a community college with regular undergraduates.
Thesis: While the cost of college is increasing rapidly and higher each year, leaving with many graduates post incurred debt, it is still deemed necessary for one to pursue and obtain a degree in today’s workforce. I. First Main Point: The constant rise of college tuition A. The increase of college tuition has made it hard for many people to attend, due to the fact is that many who choose to attend has limited or no financial resource.
For many students, their first two years at college are spent taking required classes outside of their major. Since many students are stuck in classes that they will never remember or need material from, this is an extreme waste of money. In the opinion article “General Education Requirements are a Waste of Money, Hurt the Economy,” Jay Cranford, a finance major at Louisiana State University, discusses his how these general education courses are adding to students’ debt. He argues, “LSU students pay around $291 per credit hour in tuition and fees per year, which means over my college career, I unnecessarily paid about $6,111 … This generation of students — making the bold assumption they all graduate — will pay around $34.3 million in general education classes” (Cranford).
Throughout the essay, Charles Murray stresses the idea that college is the wonderland of finding oneself and to find the career that one would want to follow for the rest of their lives. “College is seen as the open sesame to a good job and a desirable way for adolescents to transition to adulthood. Neither reason is as persuasive as it first appears.” Murray, C (2008) Practically spoken, this is not normally the case. College is a fair amount of work, much more work than one would normally acquire through any course of a high school or secondary school setting.
Some college students are working part-time jobs and are full-time students. Perhaps, working through college will not always cover all of a student's education expenses including books, supplies, room and board. If free tuition is given, students will have further time to educate themselves. Moreover, college tuition and prices are at an all-time high. Each year, prices are rising higher and higher.
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 most beneficial thing in life is to study something that interests you. When students are choosing what college to further their studies they consider: the cost, the social status of the school, and the programs the college carries. Professor Mark Edmunson gives his message on what students should consider in his article "Who Are You and What Are You Doing Here?", published on August 22nd 2011 in Issue 74 in The Oxford American. This essay is about Edmundson's viewpoint on education and that it is hard to get one. But if you do something you enjoy doing and work hard at it you will become successful.
(Berger, 2013)According to a sociologist at New York University, Richard Arum, 64% of students show improvement in critical after four years in college. They do not learn what they want to. They have to attend classes that have little or nothing to do with their major. (Allen,
Today more and more people are going to college. Most people go to college to build their knowledge and to study a specific field that they want to get a job in some day. College is marketed to most people as a creative place where they will learn everything they need to know to get a job and enter the “real world”. As college students right now, don’t get us wrong we do learn many things but, we have found that in many classes we take, we just focus on getting a good grade or a passing grade. At the end of the semester we walk out of some class barely learning a thing because we retain information just long enough to do good on a test or exam and then forget it all together when the class is done.
For these reasons, college is not as beneficial as it is played out to
Some students in high school who care more about going to the university and they cannot wait to go there and be with people who work hard and take it seriously. Another reason why higher education should not be free is that students would not be able to handle the stress. Also they will drop out easier and this is wrong! Students will never work hard and they would mess around. They would also turn to their high school habits and not work hard as well as if they pay for their education.
The college path is only one way to achieve certain goals among a host of
Choosing a college major is one of the most important decisions in a person’s life. The effect choosing a college major has on one’s life is much like a small ripple in the middle of a vast ocean. In the students senior year it is a simple seemingly inconsequential click of a button on an online application. But by the time this once meek ripple reaches the shore of the students’ life it has already transformed into a great tidal wave that has influenced their life every step of the way.