What Can College Do For You Analysis

English 1A
25 June 2014 What Can College Do For You
What do you go to college for? The argument of having a college education starts with some people agreeing that a college diploma will get the higher paying jobs, where others can do without higher education because it is simply not needed and is deemed useless. In the society today, students can not answer why attending college is beneficial, and most do not have a clue as to what they are attending for. Many people do not have the urge to attend college because of the unknown competencies that can help make college students experience more beneficial and not a waste of time.
With the fall in the economy, college students have had an issue with the high expenses of attending
It is seen all too often where a student comes into college to pursue a major their parents had already preselected since birth. Mark Edmundson, author and English professor at the University of Virginia, states in his video, “Many students come into school having been primed by their parents and their teachers to go into business school, to go into an economics major, into a science major, whether they are a scientists or future business people in their hearts or not.” Here, Edmundson explains how students are easily influenced by their parents and usually go to college to major in something that make students unhappy. The effects of pursuing undesired majors are high dropout rates and throwing away thousands of dollars on degrees that people are not happy with. Aliena Tugend, author of the article, “Vocation or Exploration? Pondering the Purpose of College,” explains how a university should be a place to explore and experience other areas such as art and history (2). Being exposed to the humanities such as extracurricular activities, history, art, music and so forth, gives students more of a choice of what it is they want to do; it gives students more knowledge and more of a deeper meaning beyond just “required” prerequisite course and allows students to acquire the tools they need to succeed while in college and
Successful businessmen such as Steve Jobs and Bill gates are the prime example of that idea. Mead explains how Steve Jobs did not finish college and was only enrolled a semester, and Bill Gates obtained his degree honorarily after he made his billions (830). The problem is that in the society today, several jobs now require a college degree. Entry level jobs, which were once easy to obtain by everyone, are now shifting towards people who have an associate, bachelors or masters background. According to Mead, “The safest of all degrees to be acquiring this year is accounting: forty six percent of graduates in that discipline have already been offered jobs” (829). Those forty percent of people with an accounting degree can expect job's offers after graduation and secured financial freedom. This does not mean that everyone should go out and pursue an accounting major, but it states how obtaining a degree can be beneficial for a persons future. It is known for the college educated to have increased employment rate and how lower unemployment rates are the effect of the increased rates. The benefits of having a college degree, obviously is making money, but it can also give the student increased career options, opportunities, and career