Ivy League College Selection

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.

More people than ever before are attending college due to the endless opportunities that it provides. Louis Menand, a college professor and the author of “Live and Learn: Why We Have College,” explains the meaning of college through three theories that have been developed. Theory 1 supports the idea of the sorting-out process that separates the highly intelligent from the less intelligent. Menand’s second theory explains that college provides opportunities for developmental growth, personal growth, and teaches individuals about the world around us. These are valuable lessons that will not be learned anywhere else. Theory three supports the idea of people attending college to specialize in a specific vocation. I

Hrabowski uses facts and data to prove the benefits of college and to establish his position as an intellectual. As higher education becomes more mainstream, some people start to ponder if schooling is worth it at all given the tremendous costs and time requirements. Rather than spend money on a degree and go into debt, some students believe it would be wiser to skip college entirely. The belief in this is gaining traction, and Hrabowski notices it by mentioning how the echo is becoming “increasingly common” in the collegiate world (Hrabowski, 259). Hrabowski emphasizes this point to establish credibility that he is informed on the topic, and that he isn’t oblivious

In his work entitled “The Shock of Education: How College Corrupts”, journalist and author Alfred Lubrano poses the question of how receiving education can lead to a harsh reality. Lubrano explains that as a child works toward a higher education, there are certain aspects of life they are forced to leave behind as they enter into a new existence. According to Lubrano’s statement, “At night, at home, the differences in the Columbia experiences my father and I were having was becoming more evident” (532). Additionally, Lubrano states, “We talked about general stuff, and I learned to self-censor. I’d seen how ideas could be upsetting, especially when wielded by a smarmy freshman who barely knew what he was talking about” (533). In answering this question, Lubrano must explore the types of conversations that occurred with other family members, the disconnection from his peers, and how segregating himself from his family

Charles Murray’s essay proposes that American colleges are being flooded with individuals who are either unprepared for higher education or who are simply forced into attending college and can’t succeed because of the lack of certain innate abilities. Murray’s essay goes on to take issue with the idea that the pursuit of a traditional college education is somehow strategically creating a separation of the American class system. While Murray makes many salient points with regards to America’s obsession with college education as a standard into a class of the intellectual elite, the essay fails to take into consideration the various motivators that can lead to student success, despite

“Colleges Prepare People for Life” by Freeman Hrabowski, is an informative essay about how college is a crucial step for the preparation of a successful future job opportunity as well as future life. Hrabowski is the current president of the University of Maryland, Baltimore County and has been in that role since 1992. “In 2012, President Obama named him chair of President’s Advisory Commission on Education excellence of African Americans” (Hrabowski, 2013, p. 259). This quote goes to show the amount of knowledge and respect Hrabowski has earned throughout his life by proving himself and his ideas to others. Although college is a crucial step for the preparation of a successful future job opportunity as well as one’s overall wellbeing of life; some might disagree that college is the key to success. From this essay, messages within the text will be made known by analyzing the real meaning behind Hbrabowski’s words. As well as reasoning, as to why a college education is essential to one’s overall quality of life.

Accordingly, Marty Nemko, in his article, establishes college to be a deceiving business that is suitable only to a selective, precise percentile of high school graduates. In addition, Nemko states throughout the self-explanatory article that deciding to proceed to college will not necessarily guarantee a successful, effective outcome for students. Moreover, he covers most areas that involve, or revolve around, college. For instance, education, unemployment, debt and jobs subsequent to college are some of the risks that one must ponder and determine if college is worth it in the end. Furthermore, Nemko discloses the actuality of college and how it is unfavorable for most people. However, he does not discourage high school graduates to still

Hrabowski perceives that colleges do well to encourage and promote students to be successful in their future jobs and that the process of attending college itself is sufficient in teaching such “street smarts” as reviewed by Graff. Despite some contradiction between Hrabowski and Graff in previously discussed topics, Hrabowski is in agreement with Graff on in various ways. Such as, while college helps prepare students for future jobs, these jobs are only starting points and should not be the ending point. He continues by weighing the vast complexity of college success. He feels, in agreement with Graff, there is room for improvement in college, although Hrabowski stresses “There needs to be a more effective way to help people find the correct path for personal needs in higher education.” (Hrabowski 260) Graff continues in his essay sharing that intellect surrounds everything. Researchers are known to suggest that intellect is only in regards to schooling involving math, reading, english, and science or in other words academic based things only. On the contrary Graff would argue, “intellectualism is in everything.” (Graff 265). Sports were Graffs main concern, and interest in his younger years. Consequently, it was through sports he was able to find a love to study statistics, summarize interviews done with athletes, and many other intellectual practices. It wasn’t until college, that he was able to

What Is College For? By Gary Gutting is an analytical article upon the importance of a higher education to the public, he begins by discussing the statistics of what college has deemed worthful to people after their education. It was evident that many found it to be useful later on in life and helped them mature and grow intellectually. Gutting also points out that although many people find themselves to be successful later on after college that not everybody had the same experience, many had to drop out for the fact that a higher education was considered to be too expensive, or dropout rates too high. It is evident that he deems college to be an investment for many people who were fortunate enough to attend, therefore, providing the habits of mind of engagement, persistence, and openness to display how they play key points to the qualifying traits of a college student.

This article is Pinker’s way of discussing what he thinks is the problem with The Ivy League by using Deresiewicz’s article as a foil for his opinion. He starts out the article by discrediting many of the things Deresiewicz says in Deresiewicz original article. One time Pinker says, “Unfortunately, his article is a poor foundation for diagnosing and treating the illness”. From there, he continues to pick apart Deresiewicz article. One of Pinker’s main complaints was of Deresiewicz’s lack of sources. To one of Deresiewicz’s claims Pinker says, “(he) elevates an assertion that was based on nothing but his say-so”. Pinker, also, disagrees with the Deresiewicz over the actual necessity of highly selective schools. At one point, Pinker says, “there

I personally believe that these basic high school requirements should be eliminated. The eight Ivy league colleges are Harvard, Yale, Brown, Cornell, Columbia, Princeton. University of Pennsylvania, and Dartmouth. Of these Ivy league colleges only one of them requires you to actually have those basic high school requirements to be accepted. That specific college would be Brown University. Six of the other colleges recommend you to have these classes, and that is just for a better academic standing on your part, but it is not a requirement. The last Ivy league school, Yale, according to College Board has not released a required list of classes to be accepted, or it is that they do not have any specific requirements. From this it can be assumed

Mr. Deresiewicz provides his experience with his students to show what his observation of the average Ivy League attendee is to be. That conclusion is that they are neither passionate, or curious about the ideas and concepts they are taught. We can trust his opinion on this because of his reference to the years he has been in the system. He then comes to the conclusion that a superb education does not have to be attained by attending an Ivy League school, “I’ve come to see that what we really need is to create one where you don’t have to go to the Ivy League, or any private college, to get a first-rate education” (209). With the previous knowledge of his time spent in the elite school surrounding, Deresiewicz effectively convinces the audience that an Ivy League education is not necessarily the best there is to offer. William gives the readers an insightful and reliable background that allowed the readers to gain his trust and be dramatically persuaded by his observations and opinions.

But warns of the dangers of specialization saying that they can sometimes help in the job search but they can vastly limit your opportunities in the job market. And believes that the best track is to find a diverse university where you can take multiple years of classes, to find your skills and see what’s hot in the job market before picking a major. The article is written in such a way that it persuades the audiences attention to the information he is providing them. As the organization of each paragraph builds on each other with provocative information as the name of the article garbs your attention with a warning that college could backfire. It continues to build on that warning, asking the question “Does the Product Get Out the Door” the “Product” that Cappelli is talking about is the student, and the meaning of “Get out the Door” is getting a job out of college.

For the past half a century education has been heralded as the key to success. Parents across the country preach to their children that, providing they acquire a college education and degree, the world is their oyster. The documentary “Ivory Tower”, directed by Andrew Rossi, calls that whole notion into question. The biographical film opens at the University of Harvard, the nations oldest institution of higher learning, on move-in day. Hundreds of new students and their parents flood the campus grounds of one of America’s most prestigious universities. From there, in order to provide a complete overview of the complete college experience, several other types of colleges are shown; such as community, 2-year, and vocational schools. Each is examined in turn to determine both the positive and negative aspects.

America’s higher education system has an interesting history. It has advanced substantially since it was established. Unfortunately, its beginnings were based on slavery and cultural genocide. Craig Steven Wilder’s book Ebony and Ivy gives insight into the intriguing beginning of America’s colleges. Wilder focuses mostly on the impact and treatment of both the Native Americans and African Americans within the beginnings of colonial universities, but within these statements, one can see how dramatically the American college system developed in these early years. The book has excellent reviews. In an article posted on December 1, 2014 the African American Review states, “Ebony and Ivy will change the way we think about knowledge-creation at America’s universities…Craig Wilder’s masterly work will stand the test of time and should be required reading for college students across America.” In a Washington Post article published in 2014, Carson Byrd says, “Ebony & Ivy is a meticulously argued work and a valuable resource for multiple disciplines. It strongly connects slavery, science, and higher education to explain how racism is built into the foundation of our colleges and universities. A few of these connections are described below.”