College Admissions Flaws

High school graduation marks the start of young adults’ lives, a time where they are expected to decide what they want to do for the rest of their lives. Many young adults are pressured into attending college, whether they have determined their goal or not, but is it necessary? “The Case Against College,” an article written by Linda Lee, a mother who has questioned the former belief that college equals success, claims that “not everyone needs a higher education.” College, though beneficial to many, is not for everyone and should not determine an individual’s life.

The standard way of thinking about college has often given the impression that education will open doors. College is foretold to be the wisest choice a student can make to better their future with a successful, high-paying job. Yet Charles Murray, author of the article “Too Many People Are Going To College,” introduces a controversial side to the argument, believing that the decision for students to attend college is one of great importance, but the choice may be made too soon. Murray emphasizes the reasons why this situation exists and continues to be proven true in today’s society with factors such as the misleading statements to students about college and the high academic standards students must conform to.

College is a time in life where students attain a sense of the real world and commence a new road to independence. Despite the alluring effects of a college education, many high school students have yet to decide whether or not college is worth paying for.  As time progresses, colleges are raising their demand on finances in return for a person to become acquainted with the intellectual properties for their desired career choice. Due to this dilemma, numerous teenagers have been dropping out of high school believing that college is unnecessary in order to find a job immediately. The progressive increase of financial gain in colleges have also raised some concern to the group of people that do wish to attend college, but cannot afford to obtain such prerequisite. While some may claim that college is not a valuable coming of age experience due to a personal conviction in which a college education is not able to fulfill one's goals, or appease prior expectations, college is able to be considered as a valuable coming of age experience nonetheless. The reasoning behind this is that a college experience allows an individual to discover their ambitions for the future and provide knowledge of who they are, while additionally providing a sense of purpose to their life in the future by transforming them into a more prosperous person.

In the essay “Are Too Many People Going to College,” writer Charles Murray explains that not everyone is in need of going to college for three main reasons: a liberal education should be gained in elementary and middle school, many people already have knowledge and skills necessary for a technical career, and many students are in college to “buy an admission ticket-the B.A.” (246) and ensure employers consider their resume. Murray does not argue anything against college itself but more against society and especially the education system. Murray also accuses guidance counselors and parents of “automatically encouraging young people to go to college straight out of high school being thoughtless about the best interests of young people” (249).

In December 2014, The Hispanic Outlook in Higher Education published “Rethinking the Admission Process.” This article was written by Frank DiMaria, who takes a look at the research of the former president of the University of Wyoming, Robert Sternberg. DiMaria explains Sternberg’s stance against the current admissions process. Sternberg has research that depicts, “GPA, standardized tests, and essays do not successfully measure the true talent of a college applicant.” He believes that the policies need to change. Sternberg offers an alternative to the current process. Sternberg has been a part of a new admissions policy testing students not just on their memorization and analytical skills, but on their creative, practical, and wisdom-based skills as well. Sternberg’s ideas stem from his experience with disadvantaged youth and their ability to adapt and overcome obstacles. Sternberg claims that students who grow up in the upper middle class tend to have an environment which better values the analytical skills that the current tests measure. He argues that, because of this, colleges may not be getting the most creative and adaptable students. He shows that some of these less privileged students are capable of handling a college workload even though they may not have been able to score as high on the SAT or other tests. DiMaria believes that through Sternberg’s Kaleidoscope policy may be a solution. The Kaleidoscope way of admissions administers tests which ask open ended

Does college really give graduates the tools and knowledge required to succeed? In the article “Where College Fails Us”, author Caroline Bird attempts to argue that college may not be worth as much as people are led to believe. Bird believes that with the rise in college graduates being well above the Department of Labor Statistics anticipated job needs, college is quickly becoming a waste of time. Moreover, several reasons listed depict colleges many shortcomings, including the stress it puts on students and the unrealistic expectations it gives them combined with huge financial burdens. The author believes that the successful college graduates would have been successful regardless of their education, and that the majority of students felt forced to attend. Finally, she states that before wasting your money on a college education the reader should reflect on her article and determine if there is still value in a college experience. Although Caroline Bird presents many persuading arguments against the college experience in her article, I believe her logic to be outdated and generalized, and her content lacking of discrediting information. I disagree that all college graduates are taking dead-end jobs, and universities have withdrawn from the social side of their educational experience.

In her article “Is College for Everyone?” blogger and college professor Pharinet discusses the value of a college education and debates whether or not it is worth it to pursue a continued education. The author’s purpose for writing this article is to attempt to change a popular societal opinion that it is necessary to attend college in order to succeed. She argues that there are students who are often unprepared for the challenges and responsibilities of attending college, but attend simply for the reason that they are expected to. She challenges the idea that “college is for everyone” and encourages college students to question how beneficial a college education is for them personally.

Marty Nemko, in the article, “We Send Too Many Students To College,” acknowledges that colleges have become obscenely expensive and that it is possible to be successful without going to college. Arguing that too many students are sent to college without realizing that it is not imperative, Nemko targets parents in his claims that colleges focus on educating in the cheapest way possible and most importantly, that the advantage of past college graduates in the job market is declining. One of his main reasons is that even though the average college graduate makes more money, hundreds of thousands of students in the bottom half of their high school class do not succeed in higher education. Nemko’s article is the most persuasive article on whether college education still has value as he argues that college is not beneficial to everyone through demonstrations of hyperbole, and figurative language.

In the article “Are Too Many People going to College?” Charles Murray argues that not everyone has the academic ability to go to college and only the top percentile of these people should attend college because they will actually understand the material and joy it. Although too many people are flooding colleges in order to achieve higher learning, Murray believes that most of these people should take a different career path and aspire to gain a skill in an industrial job.

In this unimaginable generation, we face many challenges to survive, but one challenge that is prevalent is student college debt intertwined with the expensive economy. The idea that a better and furthered education will bring you more success is why millions even make college loans an option. It is believed, that the two elements of education and employment coincide with one another. The idea of being employed is a necessity in modern day. There is a focus on getting an education to determine your success. Although attending school is appreciable, it also comes with its issues that make college appear as a trap; incognito in a sense. Dragging everyone down slowly like a leaf in quicksand. Young adults struggle with college debt, and financial barriers; by avoiding the economy’s false luxuries can prevent the occurrence of running into economic barricades.

“Kids who are the first in their families to brave the world of higher education come on campus with little academic know-how and are much more likely than their peers to drop out before graduation” (1). Many people believe that school isn’t for everyone, and whoever goes is privileged for doing so. Countless people in the world today do not attend college, and this is mainly due to an influence of those in their family. Perhaps they are unsupportive of higher education, their parents and family members may view their entry into college as a break in the family system rather than a continuation of their schooling and higher learning. Most of the first-generation students decide to apply to colleges, because they aspire to jobs which require degrees. However, unlike some students whose parents have earned a degree, they often seek out college to bring honor to their families, and to ensure they make a decent amount of money for their future.

The topic of college attendance and acceptance rates continues to be one of heated debate today. Colleges used to be a place for brilliant scholars to keep their path towards higher education, but have turned into a massive source of stress and debt for students nowadays who feel that college is essential for any form of successful career. Students are pressures more now than ever by parents, friends, and a society that tells them college is the only way to “a wage premium to earn to secure a decent living” (Scott, 2016). According to Scott Carlson, an author for The Chronicles of Higher Education, “society pushes high schoolers to go to college” because of “college-completion goals to hit that keep the country competitive.” The essay

It is a well known fact but there are many people including counselors, parents, teachers, and friends who resist saying it out loud for fear it will sound like discouragement and negativity: college is definitely not for everyone. The pressure on high schools students, especially those that excel, to attend a college or university is enormous. And in the case of a bright, industrious and motivated high school student, attending a college or university is an obvious career choice. For those students, it's only a matter of what university to attend, whether one's SAT score is high enough, and the availability of the money. Then there are the millions of high school students who are not really personally motivated but are being pressured by their counselors, teachers and parents should they attend college if they really don't care? This paper examines those issues.

Today colleges are growing more and more necessary for attaining a solid path towards a successful career, yet the rapidly increasing cost of tuition is driving students away from their dream of attending college, due to the preposterous amount of money that is now being demanded by colleges across the nation and world as a whole. It is sad to see students being turned away from a successful future due to the money-hungry nature of the universities that dot the globe. More and more impossible it is becoming to have a “rags-to-riches” scenario that used to highlight the American Dream, as if a student doesn’t have the riches to afford a higher education and the tuition that is drug upon its coattails, then our society is doomed to be clothed in rags forever, unless major changes are brought about to restructure and end the indefatigable growth of tuition rates across the board.

In this society of scratching and winning mega Jackpots or investing in your talent and earning more than a brain surgeon will ever earn in a life time, many parents today worry that their children might abandon education in search of alluring horizons that promise wealth without a college diploma. If the young people would stop to think about it, only a very small percentage of the population have such luck coming their way. College is and will always remain important because somethings, some experiences in life not even money can buy but a college can make you experience and reason like a diplomat. Ultimately, what is at stake here is the young people who have abandoned reality for utopia. Student loans and lack