Date: December 15, 2009
To: Anne Stafford
From: Justin Brooks
Re: Memo of transmittal
To be completely honest, writing this essay was easier for me because as I read the first two chapters, I had already known what I wanted to write about and how I wanted to write it. Reading this book and writing this essay has taught me about the importance of a college degree and how important social class can be to people.
Justin Brooks
12/15/2009
ENGL. 100
CLASS MATTERS
Class Matters, by correspondents of The New York Times, is a book about the importance of the classroom and how it can relate to your success in the world. Success to most people is the American dream. To have the cars, clothes, jewelry, house, job and family, basically
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This book, if you think about it, is very helpful and informing because everyone and anyone who reads this book can relate to it. This book can help change life’s that are heading in the wrong direction and help people that have bad habits over stressing about small situations, by simply observing the graphs that are given in the book and trying to do better with their situation. This book sums up the way we look at life today, the upper class citizens have a long and easy life, while the lower class citizens have a tough and not so long life.
Growing up, we are all told to go to college and get a degree. This is simply because of the power and value a college degree holds. Having a college degree is a ticket that can help you get any kind of job you want. In Class Matters, there are people with different thoughts about a college degree. “The aluminum factory could get him into middle-class security quicker than a bachelors degree could” (Egan, Timothy 108). This was quoted from a man in the book named Mark McClellan, a pest controller. He feels that he doesn’t need a degree because he can just work for the same amount of money that a degree can help you get. He might be right but without a college degree you will be limited to what kind of jobs you can get, if any will hire you at all. With a college degree, “The world is yours,” you can get any job you want. A degree seems like it is nothing but a piece of paper
When it comes to the topic of attaining a college degree, most will readily agree that it is essential to securing a successful career post-graduation. Whereas some are convinced that a college degree does not guarantee entry into a career in one 's field of study nor does it determine success in one 's career, others maintain that a higher education is, in fact, the way to job security and financial success. What comes into question is whether the investment in a college education is truly worth it or not in order to accomplish a student 's goals of success. I think it could be said for most prospective college students that the reason for going to college is to gain the credentials required for most jobs today. What many of those potential students may not realize is the substantial percentage of graduates who do not acquire a job related to their majors, how much debt they will incur, and just how many students don 't graduate at all for reasons such as an overwhelming workload and a poor work/ life balance.
Nowadays, companies require at least a college degree for better income. If an employer has two candidates for an open position, he will pick the best of both the one that fills all the requirements. Also, there is a high probability that the person chosen is the one with the highest level of education. Another reason to have a college degree is to earn more money with better features and benefits. In today’s society the cost of rent, food, medical insurance, and others bills is too high. A person with a high school diploma may need to have two jobs to support its family. Nowadays, the best recommendations are to either have a business or at least have a degree this will facilitate your income. A college degree is the base to accomplish higher goals in a company. The more education an employee has the faster this person gets to move up in a company.
We are told to “go to college” by family, media, and teachers, but we are never given an explanation on why it’s important for us to get a higher education. The importance of higher education is so we can obtain a career that can support our needs and wants. It’s also important because it gives you an advantage when trying to get a job. Employers require a higher form of education, which is necessary for our society to advance. There aren’t many jobs that accept people with a high school diploma as their highest form of education. Employers want people that know what they’re doing, and so does our society. In order for people to go into the career field they want, they need to go to college to learn everything that comes with that career.
A college degree is a valuable asset that could ultimately lead to a productive life in society due to the received education, but people without a college degree do turn out more than adequate in regards to societal success. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, of the forecasted 30 fastest growing jobs between 2010 and 2020, five do not require a high school diploma, nine require a high school diploma, four require an associate 's degree, six require a bachelor 's degree, and six require graduate degrees to get the jobs (College). In an article called “College Education” by ProCon.org,
There are many benefits to obtaining a college degree. Having a college degree is worth the expenses and two or more years put into getting it. A college degree can help with getting a well paying, enjoyable job in the future. Having a well paying, enjoyable job is important in one’s success. Which means that having a degree is important. If you listen to me, and go to college, then you can get your dream job, even if you have to put in a little extra time and
Attending college or pursuing a higher education is worth it because a degree ensures a stable, well paying job and provides a better quality of life. In Document A, “Earning and Unemployment Rates Based on Educational Attainment, 2015” compiled by the United States Bureau of Labor Statistics, a higher educational degree, such as a Doctorate or Professional degree, corresponded to a lower unemployment rate with a higher pay, while little to no educational degree corresponded to a higher unemployment rate with a lower pay. This means people who received a college degree had a better chance of finding and retaining a well-paying job because they are typically skilled in one profession that cannot easily be replaced, such as a doctor or engineer.
In recent discussions of Is College Worth It? By John Green, a controversial issue has been whether, people should attend college or get a job after they finish high school. On the one hand, some argue that people can get a monthly income better than if they have a degree. From this perspective, some people they do not want to attend college. On the other hand, however, others insist that people should attend college after they finish high school. In the words of John Green, one of this view’s proponents, “after graduating from college, I actually made $1 per hour less when I started working as an assistant at Booklist Magazine, but the job was better in every way” (video). According to this view, he was working at Stake and Shake and he was getting better salary than what he got after graduate by 1$ less but money is not everything in life. Then he proved to the audiences through his experience that he was more comfortable with working as assistant at Booklist Magazine even he is making less money. Because he got a better job, got the knowledge, and work on something that he like. In sum, then, the issue is whether to attend college or work without a degree. My own view is that attending college is worth it even if it will cost some sacrifices of things that we can get it in the future. After, all, I have chosen to identify as a college student at Winona State University. Though I concede that choosing the university and working to enroll and pay the
Although college tuition is a lot nowadays, graduates are “far less likely to be unemployed than non-graduates.” (D) A college degree gives you a higher chance of getting a job to assist in securing the future of you and your family while also helping paying off your financial obligations. A college degree not only helps you obtain a job, but it also increase your income. “Construction workers,police officers… make significantly more with a degree…“(D)
The whole idea that students don’t really need a college education in today’s society is questionable, because employers will often hire someone based on whether or not they have a degree, as well as their past experiences. In many cases today, the people that are making a reasonable amount of money either have a college degree or invented/discovered something that ended up making them wealthy. If you’re one of the lucky few who have invented or discovered something of significance, then you may not need a college degree. For the many of us who aren’t as fortunate, however, a college degree is a
This can be further illustrated by Andy Blevins, a college dropout who left college to pursue a warehouse job. He now thinks that he could've done more with a degree. He laments that when looking for a job "A lot of places, they're not looking that you're trained in something,They just want you to have a degree. " This contradicts one of the key parts of many people's conceptions of the american dream, which says that if you work hard, you’ll be rewarded accordingly. Rather, the key to a successful career is a college degree.
People think that having a college education is a pathway to success in life. However, what exactly is a college education? The actual meaning of it is “an optional final stage of formal learning that occurs after completion of secondary education.” By this definition, it is the highest level of an education before it allows us to step into the real world and start our career from everything that has been learned in college. It is also an optional opportunity for students to pursue if they choose to. Before entering college, I thought it was a place just to seek a degree to get a job satisfaction that I’ll be interested in and receive all kinds of benefits after college. What a college education really gives are many benefits for those that
College is a great place for many to experience new things and to further education. However, college is not for everyone. According to the film Ivory Tower, college teaches people valuable skills such as networking with peers and extensive knowledge. College also provides students, upon graduation, with a degree and proper credentials. Based on a survey done by the Pew Research Center; the article “The Rising Cost of Not going to College,” states that “economic analysis consistently find that college graduates regardless of generation are doing better than those with less education,” this shows that there is a reasonable gap between a college degree and a high school diploma. On the other hand, it may not be worth the rising costs. Carolina Bird, author of “Where College Fails Us,” mentions in her article “in the current slowdown it has become evident that there were never, and probably never will be, enough jobs requiring higher education to go around,” (59-60) this shows some people's job outlook may not be aligned with their major. Jeffrey Selingo’s article “Is College Worth the Cost? Many Recent Graduates Don’t Think So,” says that “nearly half of college graduates in their 20s are underemployed, meaning the jobs they have do not require a bachelor’s degree,” this brings up the possibility of college not being beneficial to many. College can be needed because of higher salaries after graduation and providing people with the tools to succeed. On the contrary, going to
It seems in the society we live in today, having a college degree is a necessity. Years ago it was the norm for people to just go right into a full time job after high school, if they even finished high school; they did this to support their families. In today’s society a person has a difficult time getting a decent job without a college degree. During an adults working life, bachelor degree graduates will earn about $2.1 million and a high school graduate can expect to earn an average of $1.2 million (Day and Newburger, 2002). This is quite a difference and it puts a college education in
The definition of success and class differs with each individual person you ask, of course, but with these two articles in particular, there is a concrete difference. In “Class Consciousness Matters” the author argues that the class in which you grow up in, either wealthy or poor, determines one’s social mobility as well as the possibility of success through a subcontext. The author argues a point through an article in the Times that having wealth when going through college has a dramatic impact upon the type of education you receive. For example, a wealthy college kid has the ability to take unpaid internships as well as study abroad for long periods of time while a working-class student usually has to decline studying abroad for financial reasons as well as work during the summer to pay the bills. The
A person is more likely to be more successful in life when attaining a higher degree. They can pursue a successful career that they are passionate about. Higher education is beneficial because no matter what you choose to do it will always be there to back you up in the future. Having a college degree can help you with financial stability as well. But, in today’s world, does having a college degree mean you can get any job at any given place or time? Not always will you find jobs that need certain degrees to be placed in jobs. Many places prefer no degree than having one. Some jobs require something even higher. There are a few limitations on having higher education. Also, by having higher education, it does not necessarily mean a person knows everything. You may have little to no education and still learn and know more things than someone with higher education can. For example, in Blue-Collar Brilliance, Mike Rose; Rose’s mother had dropped out of school to help support her family in a diner. She did not need school or a degree to develop psychological skills. She knew how things worked in a person by socially connecting to them. “Her tip depended on how well she responded to these needs, and so she became adept at reading social cues and managing feelings, both the customers’ and her own.” (Rose). That goes to show that higher education is not always needed in workplaces that use more connection to humans