Preview

Are Too Many People Going to College

Good Essays
Open Document
Open Document
593 Words
Grammar
Grammar
Plagiarism
Plagiarism
Writing
Writing
Score
Score
Are Too Many People Going to College
Kathryn Williams
Gloria Crabtree
English 101
13 September 2014 Too Many People Indeed In America higher education has become an expectation of high school teachers, advisors, and parents for students to obtain a successful life and prosper in their field of study, no matter the conditions, after graduating high school. In this article, “Are Too Many People Going to College,” written by Charles Murray, he feels that not everyone is meant to earn a college degree, even though society thinks otherwise. Charles Murray believes that the elementary years are the prime years for learning the core knowledge, and that “starting early is partly a matter part of necessity” (Murray 224). The reason for this occurrence is, because most young children enjoy learning more than adult students. The classes in high school are assumed to prepare you for college, but they teach this curriculum “at a level below college course demands,” so Murray believes that it can either prepare the interested ones for this post secondary transition, or be more work for what it is worth, according to what their future has in store for them (Murray 224). Students who realize they want to attend a post secondary school are offered two and four year degrees. Four-year degrees have become standard for people who have the will power and resources to achieve the diploma at the end, but not many people are willing to finish through. “…In 1995, only 58 percent had gotten their B.A. five academic years later. Another 14 percent were still enrolled,” so now their four-year plan has now ended up being five years, six years, and eventually a degree for some. Finding a job that absolutely requires a Bachelors Degree is rare these days. So obtaining this extra two-year degree may be a waste of time and money for most students. Not everyone wants to be a lawyer or doctor anyways, there are some people that want “to become a good hotel manager, software designer, accountant, hospital



Cited: Murray, Charles. “Are Too Many Going to College.” They Say, I Say with Readings. 2nd Edition. Eds. Graff, Birkenstein, Durst. New York: Norton, 2012. 222-242. Print.

You May Also Find These Documents Helpful

  • Powerful Essays

    College: Is It Worth It?

    • 1591 Words
    • 7 Pages

    In today’s society teenagers have been raised with an image in their heads that they must attend college after graduating high school. Parents, teachers, and society have made us feel that going to college right after graduating high school is the only thing that we could do with our lives. That taking a year off to decide what you want to do or maybe even not going at all would be unacceptable and “the end of the world as we know it”. The main reason most teenagers go to college is because they feel that they are obligated to, or that “It’s the right thing to do.” In the essay that Caroline Bird wrote “College is a Waste of Time and Money”, she states that students go to college because”…Mother wanted them to go, or some other reason entirely irrelevant to the course of studies for which college is supposedly organized.” (481)…

    • 1591 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Good Essays

    In Marty Nemko’s article, “We Send Too Many Students to College,” he analyzes and questions whether college is truly worth the money. Marty “holds a Ph.D. specializing in the evaluation of education from the University of California, Berkeley, and subsequently taught there” (martynemko.com) as well as published five successful books. In addition to his novels, he previously was a columnist at San Francisco Chronical and The Atlantic Monthly, also a contributing editor at several other well-known companies. Nemko’s purpose is to convey the idea that, even though there may be reasons one would attend college, the complications overshadow the benefits. He adopts an impassionate tone in order to convince his adult audience to take a hard look at whether it is worthwhile for their children to attend college.…

    • 973 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Better Essays

    One of the first major steps to becoming a successful adult these days is receiving a college education. A college degree today is viewed as a necessity rather than just a place where students go to explore and expand the mind. Nonetheless it’s slowly becoming an unreachable goal for most people. It has become widely known that the cost of college has been rising the last few decades and continues to rise, and the rates will only continue to of increase. As the cost of college rises, families have to either change their way of life to be fortunate enough to send their children to college or take out extensive amount of loans. When the time comes to talk about college, a large number of questions arise. Even though there are many questions,…

    • 1809 Words
    • 8 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Better Essays

    Charles Murray’s “Are Too Many People Going to College?” essay is adapted from his book published in 2008: Real Education: Four Simple Truths for Bringing America’s Schools Back to Reality. In this essay, Charles Murray aims to convince his readers that too many people are going to college, too many people whom do not have the proper core knowledge that is needed to succeed. Instead, many students get ahead of themselves and plan for an unforeseeable future, when they do not know if they are going to succeed in this higher level of education without that proper core knowledge or the proper linguistic ability. Charles Murray states his opinions in this persuasive essay by incorporating ideas of other works of writing by other people and by drawing the audiences’ attention through realistic situations. I will not be doing a critique, I will be analyzing his essay to see whether he used deductive reasoning or inductive reasoning.…

    • 1084 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Better Essays

    Going Back To College

    • 1100 Words
    • 5 Pages

    Is it necessary to get a college degree in today’s society? Millions of adults ask their self the same question day after day. Returning to college in today’s busy world creates many challenges for adult students, however the value of a brighter future makes it all worth the while.…

    • 1100 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Good Essays

    In her essay “Who Needs College?” Linda Lee addresses the issue of whether or not a college education is necessary in order to have a successful life. Lee believes that too much importance is placed on going away to school and getting a degree when it is very possible to find a job and learn valuable life lessons without it. While many would strongly oppose her position on this topic, it has been proven time and time again by numerous individuals that a bright future is well within reach without having to obtain a degree.…

    • 748 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Response

    • 780 Words
    • 4 Pages

    The higher education system in America has become an expectation, and an apparent necessity, for those looking to achieve success in the work force. Young adults' mentors, including teachers, counselors, and parents, urge students to attend college after the competition of high school, no matter the circumstances. In his work, "Are Too Many People Going to College", Charles Murray brings this system of postsecondary education under question, analyzing the problems within our society that have grown from the high importance placed on earning a college degree.…

    • 780 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    “Too many people are going to college” by Charles Murray is a very informational article that contains a fresh look at today’s employers and what they look for in their employees. Murray defines the differences and similarities of a traditional university from current times and from past times. Overall, Murray is saying that everyone should not go to college. I agree with Murray’s statement that too many people are being pushed into college when they are not really needed to.…

    • 1018 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Good Essays

    “It’s just extremely disappointing and aggravating to have paid all that money and have nothing to show for it other than debt.” proclaimed Michelle Polyakov, an English graduate from Drake University. Polyakov obviously feels that college is not worth the cost and that all someone has to show for the education is debt. College has been deemed, by some, that it is not worth the cost because of the financial loss, the future job security, and the need for “blue collar” jobs. Finances, job security, and the need for manual laborers are all major factors in the debate of college and its cost. The reason being is because not all people are meant to go to college, or their situation just isn’t ideal. College is a privilege, and not every job requires you to have a higher form of learning, but most do. By viewing the debt of a student after graduation, the job security of graduates, and the need for manual laborers, one can infer that college is not worth the cost.…

    • 955 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Better Essays

    When it comes to embarking on post secondary education the views of it’s importance and relevance is controversial. In Murray’s Op-Ed piece, “Should The Obama Generation Drop Out”, he believes a college education is unnecessary. I, however disagree with Murray’s notion. College is necessary according to a person’s career choice and it’s requirements.…

    • 989 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Good Essays

    Is College for Everyone?

    • 708 Words
    • 3 Pages

    Is college for everyone? I am sure this is a question that many future, current, and even graduated college students have asked themselves at one time or another. In her blog posted in 2007 on AssociatedContent.com “Is College for Everyone”, writer, Pharinet, uses her experience, logic, emotion and reasoning as a college professor to identify the issues and answer the question, “is college for everyone?” Pharinet says that education is important and that every person has the right to an education, but that it still may not be right for every person to attend college. Pharinet describes to her readers how over the years and reasons why going to college have changed over time. She states, “often the desire for learning is not what drives students to attend college”(635).…

    • 708 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    In the article, "Should Everyone Go To College?" written by Stephanie Owen and Isabel Sawhill, in the Center on Children and Families at BROOKINGS. This article discusses the benefits of a college degree. In this section, you may also find many statistics and arguments over attending or not attending college. For the past few decades, a college degree has been argued as a prerequisite to entering the middle class in the United States. Study after study reminds us that higher education is one of the best investments (Owens and Sawhill).…

    • 795 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    This frenzy brings up a questioning to find out what would motivate the majority of people in America to absolutely want to send their children to college. Lee (2001) mentions that “America has the second-highest number of graduates worldwide, after (not Great Britain, not Japan, not Germany) Australia”. After all only few of them succeed in getting a degree, nevertheless there are many who get self educated and self employed or find good jobs that do not necessitate a college degree.…

    • 489 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Cited: Murray, Charles. “Are Too Many People Going To College?” They Say/I say with Readings. Ed Gerald Graff, Cathy Birkenstein and Russell Durst. 2nd ed. New York: W.W. Norton, 2012. 222-42. Print…

    • 1289 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Larry Cuban, a former social studies high school teacher, superintendent, manages to compress the mantra that has been repeated for several of years with his article entitled, “Why Everyone Shouldn’t Go To College”. He accomplishes this by giving us countless of interesting facts about the reality of college and life. He argues that the annual college tuition seems to be extremely expensive, that may not worth the amount of money you’re paying.In addition, he makes note that college graduates working at manufacturing places that don’t need college diplomas, in order to complete their job. Furthermore, he makes clear that one might be a high school dropout or graduate of high school and can still be highly…

    • 117 Words
    • 1 Page
    Good Essays