Final Reflection

A condition of my admission to the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign was the completion of my senior year courses. I admit that my grade in Math Techniques was an F. This fact is not what I wish to explain, as there is no way for me to skirt the fact that I received a failing grade in this class.

In this day and age, an increasing amount of employers are requiring a higher level of education in order to hire people. Having a degree allows adults to have multiple choices of when, where, and how they work. Because of this, college graduates have new and improved employment opportunities. In a recent study of young americans, 58% of college graduates and people with some college or associate's degree expressed being "very satisfied" with their jobs, compared to only 50% of high school graduates and a drastic 40% of people without a high school diploma. For many people, working at a job you are fond of is crucial for living a quality life. Having a degree aids in increasing the amount of choices when selecting a career path you will enjoy. Because of this, college graduates have lower poverty rates than ever before. The 2008 poverty rate for bachelor's degree holders was 4%,

Advocates of this form of higher education contend “a college degree is certainly no guarantee of financial success, but it is nearly a prerequisite for moving up the income ladder if you're poor” (Rampell 1). While college has the ability to aid in the advancement of a person’s financial standing, it proves to be a fruitless investment for some students. Even with the accreditation a diploma offers, millions of graduates struggle to earn a salary that ensures the benefits of their major investment. Academic philosopher Gary Jason insists “the rising price of college tends to erase the potential returns of a college education for students of only average ability” (Jason 1). The essence of Jason’s argument is that with a multitude of programs available as an appropriate substitute, college proves to be a waste of time and money for students pursuing careers that do not demand a diploma. The financial burden of college is growing, and in some cases, it cancels out the benefits. Believers in the college dream’s claim rests on the questionable assumption that all students will successfully obtain a diploma and follow a career path that will result in profits from the

In her essay for The New Yorker, Rebecca Mead’s “Learning by Degree” addresses the issue of getting a college degree in todays society. Back in the day you could go to college and get a degree in your field of choice and you were almost guaranteed a job once you graduated. In today’s society, Mead’s says that to get a good job that pays well you would need to get a degree in a STEM field. Sadly even then you aren’t guaranteed a job after graduation. But you’re statistically more likely to get a well paying job with a STEM degree. People aren’t only deterred from attending college because of the lack of jobs after graduation but also the lack of reward people see from a degree. The cost of attending a place

Over the years, it has become more apparent that in order to be successful in a career, a college degree is necessary. Many people, young and old, are getting a college education. In an article in “Affordability and the Return on Investment of College Completion”, it is stated that “the average earnings of young adults with a bachelor's degree are twice as high as that of workers with only a high school diploma …” (Bowers 144).

Sanford J. Ungar is certain that obtaining a bachelor’s degree is an important step in creating a successful future. Unlike Murray, Ungar states that going to college and getting some type of a liberal-arts degree is an investment in one’s future (191). According to Ungar, there are still a lot of new markets that have not even been created yet and the reason behind this is that the world is still making new technological and economical advancements every day. Now, one might be thinking, how effective can having a college degree be when compared to those who do not have one? Gillian B. White, a reporter for The Atlantic, wrote an article asking the question of whether or not if “college still pays off” (White, 2). In this, White says that people who graduate from college earn about 80 percent more than those who did not finish or attend a degree school. White shows that even though most schools and universities are costly, having a reputable degree can almost double one’s annual income compared to a regular high school diploma. College is not cheap, and while there are people who think that there are too many people going to college, there are those, like Ungar and White, who believe that college is an essential asset that pays off in the

Technology grows everyday. We see technological advancements everywhere throughout the world, whether it is a new phone being released, a new computer being invented, or a new scientific experiment used in the medical field. Technology is constantly expanding, and with this expansion, we must ask ourselves one question: do we rely too heavily on technology? When discussing technology, there are limits and fine lines between using and abusing these technologies that are at hand, but as we discover these limits and ask ourselves this question, we look at the generation of fresh adults in our local area who are entering college and the growth of social media within this generation. Undoubtedly, young Americans utilize social media everyday whether

I have learned so many things out of this class that would be very useful to me in the future. Also, I don’t think that if I truly want to write about all the things I have learned from this class it would all fill a 2 pages paper. However, the three main things that I have retained from this include how to write a response paper, how to read a book better, and how to better write essays.

A recent study demonstrates that “nearly half of college graduates in their [twenties] are underemployed” (Selingo). The result signifies that employers do not expect the graduate to hold a bachelor’s degree. In reality, Richard Vedder, Director of the Center for College Affordability and Productivity, notes statistics that reveal there are “16,000 parking lot attendants with bachelor’s degrees, … 83,000 bartenders and 115,000 janitors.” Graduates must learn to acquire jobs that mirror the effort employed to obtain their bachelor’s degree. Therefore, this allows businesses to hire overqualified workers for their less paying job positions.

Many people are confused on why to invest time and money of attending college. A reason for obtaining a higher education is that a college degree can possibly earn a much higher salary than the majority of the people who have a high school diploma. College can be expensive and time consuming for the most of the people that do not have enough money and spare time to go to college. Stephen Rose, a research professor at the Georgetown University, wrote an article on “The Value of a College Degree” to explain if a college degree can be valuable to people to have. Eleni Karageorge, an author on the United States Department of Labor, wrote an article “Is A College Degree Still Worth It?” to give some details on job occupations that compares with employees having a bachelor’s degree or a high school diploma on how much they annually make on their job. Finally, Paul E. Barton, a consultant and a writer for topics related on education, wrote an article “How Many College Graduates Does the U.S. Labor Force Really Need?” on giving details on how valuable to have a college degree in the near future are needed when certain occupations are on high demand with a requirement on having a least a bachelor’s degree. We need to know why going to college is so important for anyone who wants to have professional occupations.

Recent college graduates who are working full-time earn about $15,000 more annually than their peers, who have only a high school diploma. Jobs that only require a high school diploma or GED will not pay as much as the jobs requiring employees to have a bachelor or even higher, so graduating college with a degree is almost required in today’s society. Consequently, students are forced to choose the lesser of two evils: pay the great price to go to college with the possibility of suffering an enormous amount of student debt, or earn far less over a lifetime and undergo a greater likelihood of being unemployed for long periods, without the prospect of finding a reliable job. When looking at the two options, college still seems to always win because despite the recent struggles of college graduates, investing your time in a college degree may be more

Supporters of getting a college degree often point to the statistics that college graduates earn more than their high school educated peers over a lifetime. Statistics by the U.S. Census Bureau reports that since 1977, “Adults with bachelor's degrees in the late 1970s earned 55 percent more than adults who had not advanced beyond high school. That gap grew to 75 percent by 1990 -- and is now at 85 percent.” A gap of an 85% pay difference is a huge figure and a clear reason why college is a great option for some people. But there are problems with that figure because when the number of college graduates who are either unemployed or underemployed is taken into account it changes the value of the statistic. In an article by Businessweek’s Richard Vedder we get statistics to counter that argument. He tells of how the number of new college graduates far exceeds job growth in technical, managerial, and professional jobs where graduates traditionally have searched for employment. As a consequence, we have underemployed college graduates doing jobs historically performed by those with just a highschool education. He says we have “more than 100,000 janitors with

Social media has been known to help students develop important knowledge and social skills. “At first glance this may seem like a waste of time; however it also helps students to develop important knowledge and social skills, and be active citizens who create and share content.” (Chen 3). The more time teens spend on social media the more they become aware of their own social side and how to interact with others, especially their peers. “Some types of social media has beneficial effects, like helping adolescents establish some sense of identity and build networking skills” (Riley Davis). Too much time being spent on social media can also exploit teens to some harsh realities that they’ve probably never experienced in their lives before.

Buddhism has been relevant to my life throughout my own cultural experiences and knowledge that I received from the Buddhist Ethics course taught by Dr. Geoffrey Barstow. The ideas and practices of Buddhism were not limited to my past knowledge and continuously expanded as I went over the introduction level of the course. The study of Buddhism opened to me various aspects that were beyond what I had known. The most standing out topic seemed to change my perspective in Buddhism was karma. The concept of karma is not simply to determine every single action that I have done in my lifetime but it also makes me think critically what is right or wrong in many situations when I make an action or behavior to other people around

I learned to take each paragraph separately and break it down step by step instead of jumping into to the assignment at once. The amount that I have learned throughout this course was surprisingly a lot more information than I expected to learn. I expected to do complete similar work that I did in high school, but this course really expanded my knowledge on writing. I could gather a better understanding for transitions and the proper way to use them. Reading academic articles will now come much easier to me because I understand the language and structure of these articles. Sentence level and organization would be the two biggest things I struggle with when it comes to writing. The skill that is most valuable to me would be starting with body paragraphs and taking them piece by piece, then moving on to write the introduction and thesis statement. This will be very helpful with future writing assignments because it will help me maintain organization and not get