Alfie Kohn's Essay: How Not To Get Into College

Alfie Kohn’s Article “How Not to get into College” analyses many key factors of how the current school system does not work and how we as members of society need to work together extensively to remodel the system to ensure the success of future students by valuing education over grades. By looking at how students only join clubs and and worship numerical grades only to impress colleges; students facing pressure from parents, teachers, and society to get good grades and succeed in life; and how students live through many mental health implications due to a multitude of factors surrounding their educational life, we can determine that systemic factors of this society have turned students of this generation into grade grubbers.

America prides itself on having what no other country can offer, The American dream. The United States offers someone to have freedom to make a name for themselves and become an entrepreneur in any industry they want. Therefore, it is easy for immigrants to come from other countries and have a chance to succeed in life. Every American wishes to be the great corporate executive officer (CEO) of a thriving company to make millions of dollars; however, achieving this goal becomes extremely difficult when you find out the great challenges that every CEO has to overcome. Aside from trying to become a successful entrepreneur, The American dream also consists of gaining an education. Completing an education in the 21st century is having a

One question that comes to mind when graduating high school is, “should I attend college?” For many graduates this question have a very obvious answer. A high school graduate may state that, “college is the best option if one is trying to get a higher level of education, and will help one compete for a higher paying job.” However, in my opinion most graduates do not consider the fact that going to college is a very big decision to make and that the schoolwork will not be easy. Going to college is not the best choice for every high school graduate because many students cannot handle college, colleges’ lower standards, and not all jobs require a college degree.

As a result of society’s pursuit of extrinsic happiness, society is left feeling unfulfilled and lacking intrinsic happiness; Jones argues that because of our everyday routine we are not taking the time to properly think about the impact we are having on our intrinsic happiness while Kohn argues that students’ preoccupation with preparation for their post-secondary education is not allowing them time to reflect on their intrinsic happiness. In the pursuit of extrinsic motivators, society often ignores what gives them intrinsic fulfillment; it may be because of one’s school schedule - and their obsession with preparing for life - or society’s busy work schedule that contributes to this. In How not to get into college, Kohn explains that students are “ignoring- or perhaps, by now, even forgetting- what they enjoyed doing” (Kohn 7), while this is happening Jones states that their parents are ”Killing the overtime ‘cause the dream is [their] life, refusing to take holidays or go home to [their] spouse”(53-54). Jones and Kohn argue that society is ignoring their intrinsic happiness

The texts “Manhood,” by John Wain and “How Not to Get Into College,” by Alfie Kohn illustrate similarities and differences that are directly related to the lives of people in today’s society. Both texts represent the idea of rigid social expectations challenging people to re-evaluate their perspectives on intrinsic happiness and to live up to others’ standards in order to gain approval of happiness, resulting in extrinsic happiness. In “Manhood”, the rigid social expectations are portrayed thorough the relationship between father and son and in “How Not to Get into college” they are portrayed through the scenarios of students.

I am writing to you in regards to the blog you posted “The Case Against College Education.” You mentioned, “It is absurd that people have to get college degrees to be considered for good jobs in hotel management or accounting…” It is crucial for an individual to acquire a college degree, however, the American education system is unfair. By attending a college, students have a higher chance of economic success in the future and undergo opportunities to explore a wide variety of possible paths. There are various ways to get a college degree but in the end, there needs to be a lot of reform around education. The question remains, should we help more kids go to college or make it easier for people who did not attend college.

Education has always been an important part of our sustainable society in which everyone plays a role. The purpose of the education system is to provide a way for students to learn and gain knowledge. The current education system focuses more on evaluations rather than teaching, which creates a stressful and unpleasant high school experience. Alfie Kohn’s essay, How Not to Get into College: The Preoccupation with Preparation describes the difficulties and purposeless school practices students face when preparing themselves for life beyond high school.

Perhaps it is safe to say that most everyone in the deranged world that we live in today aims for happiness. Some would even say we are simply slaves to our primal passions, shackled in our endless pursuit of fulfillments and shaping our existence around them. Gravitating towards the things in life that bring us pleasure, and recoiling away from those that could cause us pain. A lot of individuals think of happiness as an overall end goal, while others consider happiness the starting point of being great. Nevertheless, happiness is drawn from different things based off the individual.

People travel through life with what seems like a single goal: to be happy. This may seem like a selfish way to live, however this lone objective is the motivation behind nearly all actions. Even seemingly selfless deeds make people feel better about themselves. That warm feeling experienced while doing charitable acts can be described as happiness. But what is authentic happiness? There is an endless possibility of answers to this question, and man seems to be always searching for the solution. Although one may reach his or her goals, there is always still something one strives for in order to be happy. In the book Stumbling on Happiness, Harvard psychologist Daniel Gilbert takes the reader through

Intrinsic happiness is what individuals should be striving towards and that’s a major point because in all the three pieces of work that’s being compared, a common moral theme is being shared; intrinsic happiness and motivation should instead be the guide in which individuals should follow to gain more happiness in their search for a reward. An example is in how “How not to get into college”, students should find a more effective way of studying which does not always revolve around getting a specific grade. They should instead focus on building on relevant skills which are important in the workforce like; communication, leadership, time management, organizational, computer, and professional. In comparison, [Still have to add

Kris, a wife and a mother, worries about the increasing cost of higher education. She and her husband have a two year old daughter whom they are determined to send to college. They want their daughter to succeed in life, but they have to weigh the complications of going to college as well. “I have always thought about college as a “catch 22”...You’re taught from a young age that in order to achieve the “American Dream” you must graduate high school and go to college,” Kris contemplates (Kris 5).Throughout Kris’s ten years of experience with college, she has seen the tuition increase to shocking heights. In fact, she claims that community colleges cost as much as state colleges did when she first started her college hunt. Back then, she

In their article “Should everyone go to college?” Stephanie Owen, Senior research assistant, and Isabel Sawhill, former Vice President of the Brookings Institute, argue that many factors lead to individuals not being able to attend college. They go on to claim these factors to be school choice, career field, graduation, and area of study. The article states that while on average the rate of return is usually positive, there are cases in which it is negative. One of their focal points is what it cost to attend college and its affordability. Claiming that with the rise in the cost of college, which progresses at a faster rate than that of the job wage increase, that college is becoming less affordable. In their conclusion a three step policy plan is included for individuals who plan to attend college. While realistically I agree that yes, some individuals should not go to college, my optimistic side would like to believe that everyone should and can go to college without it becoming a sour investment.

In his editorial, “The Year of the Imaginary College Student,” Hua Hsu asserts that “alarm about offense-seeking college students say[s] more about critics than the actual state of affairs.” Hsu begins his article by discussing James O’Keefe’s attempt at Vassar College to depict that college students are as politically sensitive as they appear. He goes on to demonstrate that college students are getting increasingly more “hypersensitive.” Hsu then questions the “surge of interest in campus life,” wondering why people who are not in college are questioning the behavior of those in college. Next, Hsu states that this panic about “offense-seeking college students” says more about the people criticizing rather than the system. Elucidating, he

al., P.177). We must lessen our pursuit for self-gratification with our obligation to community. Bellah et, al writes "The self-interest demanded by the individualistic pursuit of success needs to be balanced by voluntary concern for others" (Bellah et. al., P.199).

For most of us, achieving some state of Happiness is a core objective. Indeed, in a great many of the philosophical musings on the very purpose of our lives here on Earth will tend to focus on the importance of achieving happiness, of sharing happiness and of bringing happiness to others. It is therefore reasonable to propose the knee-jerk response that happiness is the end in and of itself. However, as Kant asserts, this is an incomplete understanding of our supposed purpose here. As the 18th Century German philosopher asserts, happiness lived without the principle of good will, can have the capacity to be a rather unsavory force. According to Kant, in fact, this concept of good will is a core determinant as to whether the characteristics by which we can be defined may be considered virtues or vices. Kant argues that this truth "holds with gifts of fortune; power, riches, honor, even health, and that complete well-being and contentment with one's condition which is called happiness make for pride and often hereby even arrogance, unless there is a good will to correct their influence on the mind and herewith also to rectify the whole principle of action and make it universally comfortable to its end." (Kant, p. 7) This principle underlies the initial rejection of the assumption that Happiness, however formulated, is the