Annotated Bibliography Report

In today’s society, a college degree has become a requirement in order to obtain a well occupied profession. Prior to the recession, which the study defines as the period between December 2007 and June 2009, bachelor's graduates were already more likely to be employed than were associate degree holders, who were more likely to be employed than those without any postsecondary degree. After the recession, employment of college graduates dropped 7 percent, while associate degree holders experienced an 11 percent drop, and employment of high school graduates fell 16 percent. The percent of people excluded from the workforce, meaning they were seeking work but couldn’t find it, rose 31 percent for college graduates, 37 percent for high school graduates, and 50 percent for associate degree graduates, though associate degree holders were still excluded at a lower rate than high school graduates (Tilsley, 2013).

Higher education in America is facing many challenges, i.e., low retention, low graduation rates and less funding. Postsecondary institutions are scrambling to remain a competitive entity within society. In order to do so, students must remain in school (Talbert, 2012). The Office of the White House states (2014), educational attainment is critical to our county’s economic success. In essence, the work force is creating more jobs requiring more education and a higher level of skill than was previously achieved. Individuals with only a high school diploma will not make into the middle class sector because of

Throughout the essay, Charles Murray stresses the idea that college is the wonderland of finding oneself and to find the career that one would want to follow for the rest of their lives. “College is seen as the open sesame to a good job and a desirable way for adolescents to transition to adulthood. Neither reason is as persuasive as it first appears.” Murray, C (2008) Practically spoken, this is not normally the case. College is a fair amount of work, much more work than one would normally acquire through any course of a high school or secondary school setting. In no way saying that the average student cannot meet the requirement and achieve success over the amounted work, it would also be ridiculous to expect every graduate to pursue going into higher education with the expansion of work that will be given.

In society today, a college education is often seen as a “the next step” in a young adult’s life. Whether they actually know what they would like to earn a degree in, they feel the need to continue their education as almost everyone around them is pursuing post-secondary education of some sort. It is often argued that a college education is not necessary to get ahead because of the manufacture based workforce that is up and coming in America, however, there are many benefits to having a post-secondary education such as a higher rate of pay and more job opportunities.

Many young people think that obtaining a college degree is the best way—perhaps the only way—to get a good job anymore. So is it still possible to get a good job without one? According to Professor Blanche D. Blank, attaining a college degree doesn’t always guarantee success. In his published article “Degrees: Who Needs Them?”, he argues that American college is not teaching young adults the actual skills they need for the workforce, instead the education system is becoming a jumble of generalized credits that amount to a degree. College is becoming a mold for one to fit in the technological culture, rather than to release one to actively engage in the pursuit of knowledge. Blank begins building his credibility with personal experiences and

In the essay “College Value Goes Deeper Than the Degree” author Eric Hoover claims a college education is important to one 's well-being so they can get a job and be productive in other parts of life. Promoters of higher education have long emphasized how beneficial college’s value and its purpose. Many believe the notion that colleges teach students are life skills to apply anywhere, they also work hard to earn a degree and learn specific marketable skills which they can use to get a good job. Though obtaining a college education and a degree is helpful in countless of ways, it is not necessary to pursue a college degree in world where a college degree is seen different now, people without turn out fine, the growing average of debt that students who attend college have to pay off and people without a degree can obtain many jobs that do not require college degrees.

Getting a “good” job is not straightforward as it used to be. In past generations, someone in an entry-level position could work their way up the ladder simply through hard work and determination; whether or not one had credentials or a diploma mattered very little. This is not the case today. Higher education is now critical to obtaining a better job because the demand for skilled labor is rising. For this reason, the value that a degree offers is higher than that of one’s actual intelligence or merit. Furthermore, workers without college degrees will quickly be outpaced in position and salary by degree

As the world of work becomes more complex, many workers need training to avoid losing their jobs or being passed over for promotion. Consequently, many who would not have considered college 20 or even 15 years ago are finding themselves back in school. As adults become students, employers, colleges, and workers are changing old notions about how to go about pursuing higher learning.

Is the skills gap between colleges and employers legitimately different? Is a social employee more accepted than an employee with a degree? Whatever the public opinion is at the moment, one man may have found some answers to these questions.

With a degree from a first-rate college connections are made with potential jobs; job applicants without degrees are looked down upon by employers. By attending college, young adults make connections and earn preferable jobs. According to Hill, many college graduates are given jobs over those who did not go to college because of the connections they made while in school. John Siva, an economist at Wells Fargo Securities, urges all young people to attend college because they are more likely to be hired by future employers. Silva also proclaims that the number of jobs which require a college degree is rapidly increasing (Hill). Some highly acclaimed people are adamant in their opinion that college will give its graduates connections to future jobs. In addition, college graduates receive jobs over applicants who do not attend college. In “College Graduates Fare Well in Jobs Market, Even Through Recession” by Catherine Rampell, a New York Times economist, it is reported that unemployment for college graduates is 3.9%, while unemployment for the workforce as a whole is 7.5%. According to the Labor Department, the number of college-educated workers with jobs has risen 9.1%, whereas the number of non-college educated workers with jobs has decreased 9% (Rampell). The number of workers without a high school diploma has dropped 14.1% as shown according to Rampell. These statistics only reiterate the fact that employers are hiring college-educated workers over those without a

Today, many computer programmers without college degrees get jobs by presenting examples of their work. With a little imagination, almost any corporation can come up with analogous work samples”(Murray 2). Although not everyone has the intellectual ability to do college work but that doesn’t make them not have the skills for a job. Twisting percentages in education would be a good idea for students who are not up to college level. In generally, many of college students drop out and clearly many of them get on campus without gaining the skills and knowledge in their freshman and sophomore years to succeed. Jobs and education aren’t always related. Education shouldn’t always be the reason for getting a well payed job but rather your skills, not everything you study in college is remembered and a research by Murray supports his point which states that, “About 10 percent to 20 percent of all 18-year-olds can absorb the material in your old liberal arts textbooks. For engineering and the hard sciences, the percentage is probably not as high as 10.” (Murray 1). In my community, most of the Americans say that the higher education system in the United States fell and didn’t provide students with good value for the money. In addition, even at times college presidents not only rated the quality of higher education lower than before, but also rated students lower as well. According to Adam, “About 60 percent said high schools

In today’s society, employers look for workers with college degrees because they know what college students are capable of doing. Employers now hold their employees to a different standard compared to the 1900s. Back then, employers did not mind the level of education a person had because being educated was not as common. However, now that society has progressed, more and more people have the same level of education: a high school diploma. Today, employers want to hire someone that

To succeed in life, people think they need to have jobs. For good reason too, for people must have jobs to afford the necessary items like car payments, food, rent or a mortgage, etc. Unfortunately, college students do not usually learn the skills that they should know to succeed in the workforce. Some students may think that a degree will automatically obtain them a job, however, in some situations it simply serves as a minimum requirement. Even though some colleges have applicable majors that help, many colleges still have antiquated teaching techniques. I would like to present some things that colleges should improve on, and some that colleges should start doing.

In the article “Are They Really Ready to Work?,” editors Jill Casner-Lotto and Linda Barrington reveal the views of employers on the preparedness of incoming people into the modern workforce in the U.S. Do the graduates of high schools and colleges have the skills to make it in todays workforce? According to reliable sources like The Conference Board, the Partnership for 21st Century Skills, and the Society for Human Resource Management, the U.S. is not correctly preparing students. High school graduates lack more skills than graduates of college. College graduates are more successful, but not at an expectable rate. While the incoming workforce lacks skills like basic knowledge and applied skills, they are excelling in many other areas also.

Today, many students are settling for jobs immediately out of high school instead of furthering their education in college. Students should consider how necessary college actually is for their lives in the future. It provides one with a significant amount of opportunities, a greater knowledge about their career plan, and a better sense of responsibility.