Essay on Is College the Only Option for Success - 902 Words

From a young age, most kids have been brainwashed to believe that college is the only path to success in life. Is it? Is college the right choice for everyone? Or are there better alternatives? These are questions that have been asked many different times but it seems like there has been a lack of a clear-cut answer. There are many different things to consider when looking at colleges as the only path to success. The brainwashing of kids seems to start as soon as kids step foot in a school. They are told over and over for the next 18 years that â€Å"you have to go to college then get a job†. What if kids were told that they shouldn’t go to college but instead start an online business or go to trade school? If kids were told that†¦show more content†¦With this increase in tuition costs it is making a college education more and more unaffordable and putting students in more debt. Supporters of getting a college degree often point to the statistics that college graduates earn more than their high school educated peers over a lifetime. Statistics by the U.S. Census Bureau reports that since 1977, â€Å"Adults with bachelors degrees in the late 1970s earned 55 percent more than adults who had not advanced beyond high school. That gap grew to 75 percent by 1990 -- and is now at 85 percent.† A gap of an 85% pay difference is a huge figure and a clear reason why college is a great option for some people. But there are problems with that figure because when the number of college graduates who are either unemployed or underemployed is taken into account it changes the value of the statistic. In an article by Businessweek’s Richard Vedder we get statistics to counter that argument. He tells of how the number of new college graduates far exceeds job growth in technical, managerial, and professional jobs where graduates traditionally have searched for employment. As a consequence, we have underemployed college graduates doing jobs historically performed by those with just a highschool education. He says we have â€Å"more than 100,000 janitors withShow MoreRelatedCollege Is Not the Only Way1803 Words   |  7 Pagesto believe that college is the only path to success in life. Is it? Is college the right choice for everyone? Or are there better alternatives? This year in the U.S., there are 17,487,575 students currently attending college classes. That’s is a pretty large number of students. Why is that number so large? Is there that many people currently attending college because that’s what they want to do? Or is the number so big because the majority of those students were told that college was something thatRead MoreEnglish As Second Law Essay1027 Words   |  5 Pagescould present a number of issues for colleges and universities. In the US, many students speak a second language. However, these students spe ak English first and their native language second because they were born in the US. They speak their native language with their families at home because their families are not fluent in English. According to Robinson (2012), ninety-three percent of schools in the US use norm-referenced exams such as the American College Test (ACT) and the Scholastic AptitudeRead MoreCollege: Is It Worth It? Essay689 Words   |  3 PagesCOLLEGE: IS IT WORTH IT 1 College: Is it Worth it? Kristen Nadeau College Writing Professor Kessler January 29, 2012 College 2 College: Is it worth it? There are many options and paths someone can take in choosing to go to college or not but a question to ask is, is it worth it? If the decision is made to go to college then one of the first things to decide on is an area of study and then looking intoRead MoreCollege Is Not For Success1258 Words   |  6 Pages College has always been the ideal pathway to success, but with the recent low job turnout rate of college graduates, there has been success in technical studies that shoot students straight into well paying careers. There are numerous jobs that do not need higher education and still make a considerable amount of money. Success is the favorable or prosperous outcome of determination and aspirations. College has proven unnecessary to success, the job market is uncertain and with the competitivenessRead MoreThe Importance Of College Education1593 Words   |  7 Pages Most parents encourage their children to achieve a college degree because they believe it is a passport to success. Nationwide it has been known in order to get ahead, go to college. College helps young adults socialize, be independant, and allows them to find themselfs. College graduates have been known to posses higher employment rates, and greater work benefits. Also, college can be a huge milestone in ones life. That being said, these are most likely the reasons why the majority of high schoolRead MoreAnalysis Of The Article Biographies Of Hegemony By Karen Ho1574 Words   |  7 Pagesperception of success evolves due to the impact of outside influences and societal culture, people begin to ask what is success? According to today’s formal education, success is only recognized with the achievement of good grades while a job as an investment banker is deemed as being successful on most Ivy League campuses. In the article â€Å"Biographies of Hegemony† by Karen Ho, the author discusses with the readers how the â€Å"culture of success† impacts the individual s perception of success on campusRead MoreA Gap Between Test Scores Of High And Low Income Students1541 Words   |  7 Pagesachievement gap (Reardon 1). The debate on how to resolve it has been growing since then as well. Low income students, one-fifth of America’s school age children (Resmovits 1), fall into the cracks of the school system and worry if they’ll ever make it to college. Most people would agree â€Å"We need to help these children achieve,† and so to that statement there is little or no contest, the real debate is how we should help these children. Several new learning philosophies have been coming into focus since theRead MoreAnalysis Of Bidging The Gap Between Funds And Felicity1160 Words   |  5 PagesFunds and Felicity By: Shola Jimoh For centuries, humanity has been plagued by the notion that one’s success is dependent on his or her ability to acquire material wealth. The misconception that money equals success has compelled teenagers and adults alike to enter unfulfilling careers with the sole objective of becoming wealthy. As a result, many students, especially those of younger generations, only seek careers that they have predetermined to be the most lucrative, neglecting the possibility ofRead MoreCommunity College Vs. University Essay1343 Words   |  6 PagesFor me, the decision to go to college was never based on community college vs. university. In high school, I did not apply myself and did not make the grades to go to college. As graduation time came and went I found myself disinterested in the idea. I often felt that I wasn’t smart enough to pursue a higher education and the possibility of failure was too intimidating. It wasn’t until my daughter was born that I decided I wanted t o earn a career and make myself into something she could be proudRead MoreHigher Education: To Go or Not To Go?1121 Words   |  5 PagesCollege is one of the biggest decisions a person can make. For most, the decision is deciding where to go. For some, however, the decision if they should go. David, a high school friend of mine, decided to not go to college. Fortunately, he had been working for a local lighting company, and had enough knowledge and skill to pursue a lighting career in Nashville, Tennessee. Today, David works in freelance, operating the lighting for shows in Nashville and for small tours. His views on college