*Warning this blog is serious and long. I wrote an essay on this topic *
In a time where jobs are
limited there is not much someone without a college degree can do. Most people
during these times go to college to hope that within four years the job market
will improve. They will be able to get a job with the degree they paid and
worked for. College is a necessary tool; unlike riding a bike you will forget how to do school
work. College will help you keep in touch with education. Have you ever taken
chemistry in sophomore year of high school and then find yourself in college
forgetting how to convert into moles? With the help of college it reteaches
what you forgot and helps it stick. Some people say college is worth it because
of the education you are paying for. Others say it helps with your social
skills because you’re thrown into a new environment with people you have never
met before. You become more social and make new friends at the same time. College
is truly what you make of it. If you go there with high hope and do the work
you will do well and you have a better chance than someone with no degree to
get a good job. If you go into college thinking this is a waste of time you
will do poorly and obviously drop out and have the same chance as someone
without a degree. College can teach you things that will help you succeed in
the future on different platforms of learning.
This essay was actually
really hard for me to write. I’m very undecided on this subject. I won’t really
have a firm grip on my stance until I graduate. I won’t know if college was
worth it for me. When reading the four essays about college education it made
it even harder for me to determine if I was doing the right thing for me. I was
tottering between dropping out and getting a job or continue my education and
hopefully finding my niche in society. I
thought I was being a financial burden on my parents because I was going to
college for a major that would take me nowhere. Theatre Arts major was not
going to get me anywhere in life. I also had the thought “why go to school if
my college doesn’t really have the major I want?” If UMB doesn’t have a film major I would waste
time and money in school, when I could start working and doing apprenticeships.
I would learn more from hand on experience. But reading these essays and
talking with my parents has shown me college is just more than just a doorway
to a future job. College helps you connect with others. They help you connect
with people who are also lost and haven’t found their niche. It also helps with
teaching us things we flew by in high school. We have time to read pieces of
literature and watch movies and listen to music. College also helps us think in
different ways. In high school we are still influenced by our parents and peers
but in college we are more independent and have the ability to think for
ourselves. College is a place where you can grow and strengthen your social
skills. In a majority of colleges you have dorm rooms and you make a strong
relationship with your roommate. You also have an opportunity to join clubs and
interact with people. My opinion on college education is simple; it’s truly
what you make of it. I went into college thinking it will be terrible and I’ll
never get a job when I get out. As the semester is coming to a close I realize
college is not just teaching me about my major it is also teaching me about
other aspects of life that will help me succeed in life.
The main reason why
college is relevant in society is probably the most basic idea, the actual
education is important. The vast number of majors they offer show how much you
can learn there. For a school to have a major they need to be able teach a
curriculum around it. With those classes you can learn a certain trade. When I
say trade I don’t just mean physical labor I also mean intellectual things like
math, sciences and liberal arts. With
the education you are paying for, which is expensive, it should be well rounded
and help you later in life. With the
degree that you get you have a good chance of getting a good job with it. In
Andrew P. Mills essay “What’s So Good About A College Education?” he talks about
how college is useful in terms of how you use that time to actually learn, he
uses a metaphor that says “…Can openers are valuable because they allow you to
open cans.”(Mills, 1) Alone it may seem like a stupid quote but he connects it
to how the stuff in cans is important. College and the education it gives you,
is like the can openers and what you do with the can opener is what is really
important. The stuff that is in the can is what you do for the rest of your
life. With out the can opener you won’t be able to get to the stuff in the can.
So with a college education you will be able to get a good job that will
support you. Like a can opener, a college degree is as powerful as what you do
with it. If you work hard in college and get a degree you will have the
education and the confidence to go out and get a job.
Another reason why I
think college is good for us is the number of resources it has. It not only has
libraries but it has a support group for us. Every school has a library
equipped with so many sources to use. They have the Internet, books, magazines,
journals and encyclopedias. With those you could do any paper, project or
presentation. You have so much knowledge at the end of your fingertips. It might
just be me but I find that when I go and look things up it stays in my head
longer then it would if this information was spoken to me. All this information is one convenient place
for the students to access. In Charles Murray’s essay “Are Too Many People
Going to College?” which is about how college can seem like a burden or not
useful, he explains why libraries were so important to college kids. With all
the elements in the library he states, “ …This project will encompass close to
sum total of human knowledge. It will be completely searchable.”(Murray, 6)
Everything a college kid would need to help them study for a class or a test
would be there. This resource helps them learn to look things up and that will
transfer later on in life to their work.
Another resource that
makes college really important is the support group it gives you. Everyone
there is in the same boat as you are and they’re going through the same thing.
You make friends with kids there and they help you deal with being away from home.
The teachers are there to help you with your work. They always have office
hours so you can top by and ask them questions on a more personal level.
Colleges also have consolers that help you with academics and ones that help
with personal issues. College is full of these recourses because nobody there
wants to see you fail. Everyone wants you to do well and succeed outside of
school. Just like in the real world, the people you work don’t want to see you
fail. If you fail there is a good chance your coworkers will also fail. People
at work will try as hard as they can to help you succeed. Like college work is
a place where you build a relationship with people. You trust them and they
trust you. That’s why they’re there, to help you improve your education to get
a better future.
In Mike Rose’s “Blue
–Collar Brilliance” which is about how you don’t always need to go to college
to learn important skills, Mike says
“The restaurant became the place where she
studied human behavior, puzzling over the problems of her regular customers and
refining her ability to deal with people in a difficult world. She took pride
in being among the public… There isn’t a day that goes by in the restaurant
that you don’t learn something.”(Rose, 2)
This shows that you can learn these skills
outside of college but with out the credibility of the school behind these
social skills it will not take you very far. You can learn social skills
outside of college by getting a job. But those skills won’t help you in all
situations. For Mike Rose’s mom she was a waiter and that is the only platform
she would have those skills. She wouldn’t be able to use the same skills from
waitressing for making a speech in front of an audience. Social skills are a
valuable skill college teaches us. Colleges are really a hub of interaction for
young people. It’s the first time you are not surrounded by your family so you
need to go out and get social interaction between others. You can join clubs
and talking to class mates and it’s a great way to meet friends. It prepares
you for when you have a job and meet new people. That first time you meet
someone, can leave a strong impression on him or her. Being comfortable around
new people can be beneficial working in any profession. As a doctor you meet new
patient all the time. With other professions that are a serves you meet new
people all the time and social skills are important to have. College is a great
way to feel more comfortable with new people and try out your social skills.
College
education is supposed to teach you a little bit of everything. They make you
into a renaissance man. You have a good understanding of many subjects. College
degree shows employers that that you have a good platform of education. This
also shows you know basics about Math, English and Science so you could be
trained in all of them with more education.
When college teaches you the basics it also teaches you things that high
school never did. In high school all they focused on was basic education that
would get you into college. Colleges teach you about great literature, music
and film. In the first semester of college I have read more interesting essays
than I ever have in my whole life. In high school they don’t take the time to
use literature to provoke thought from us, they use it to prove something to us.
They have a curriculum and they need to stick to it. These are assignments so
originally I don’t want to read them but when I do I’m pleasantly surprised
because they make me think in a different way. Someone who doesn’t go to
college is not going to go out of their way to get the magazine that these
essays came out of. They have less of a reason to go reading, watching or
listen to anything that isn’t something they would normally read. College opens
up people’s eyes to new and different things. It helps them be a well rounded
person.
College
helps sharpen your skills too. Some people see college as just a place where
you write and write and write some more. What people don’t realize is that with
all the writing it will improve your writing skills. It’s like the notion
practice makes perfect. Skills like writing is not something you will do in
school. In “What’s So Good About A College Education?” proves my point that college helps you keep
in touch with your skills. Mills says
“You won’t have to write essays on Jane Austen
or the Protestant Reformation once you leave college, but you will have to
write memos and reports and presentations and speeches, and honing this skill
in college will serve you well once you leave.”(Mills, 5-6)
Even though you won’t
write essays out of college you will be writing notes, memos and cards for the
rest of your life. You don’t want people to think you can’t write. The amount
of writing you do in college will help you polish these skills and help you for
whatever job you get.
The last and most important reason why I think college is
essential for success in the future is that college motivates you. We want to
do well so we get good grades and graduate. If we graduate we’ll be able to get
a decent job and support ourselves. It won’t only motivate us to graduate but
it will motivate us to do better. We won’t settle for doing poorly on something.
We want to do the best that we can. It will make the quality of things higher. This
then translates into having motivation in doing well in your career. You will
spend extra time at work to get the job done. College helps you realize that
with your degree and hard work you will be able to accomplish a lot.
College is the first time in many people’s lives where you
have total control of it. You can either sit down and not do anything and fail
out. Or you can go to class, study, meet new people, learn something and
graduate with a sense of accomplishment. The many things you learn in college
will help you develop as a person and help you succeed in your future. College
can be one of the best tools if used correctly, if the education is used in a
manor which it will help you, college is the best investment.
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