Summary Of What Is College For By Andrew Delbanco

It can also be helpful for students to meet community needs.As it is stated in article “What is College For?” by Joseph R. Urgo who is the President of St. Mary's College of Maryland, “College is for students to decide what and how they want to contribute to society, to the economy, to their communities and to the well-being of their families”. Saint Cloud State University provides the opportunity to volunteer through different organizations. In these organizations, volunteer students are supposed to help in arranging and organizing specific organization’s cultural nights. In these cultural nights students also get chance to know each other and learn how to help each other. For example, I was helping the Pakistan Student Association in organizing

Andrew Simmons published his article for The Atlantic, “The Danger of Telling Poor Kids that College is the Key to Social Mobility” on January 16, 2014, which raises his concerns that higher education is only being promoted as an opportunity to increase their economic status, when it should be an opportunity to experience an education (Simmons). Through the use of students such as Isabella, Simmons disagrees with the way students now look at higher education and blames the educators through the students’ lives for this view. Instead, Simmons views education as an intellectual opportunity rather than a way to elevate ones economic class which is all people see when they see “higher education.” He believes that education, ambition and work ethic is how you have a satisfying life, not with how much you make. He makes the point that when economics becomes the main goal of education it’s all children begin to think about and they might not pursue something that they are truly passionate about or what they want to learn about, which then does not create an intellectually awakening experience (Simmons).

In the essay “Are Too Many People Going to College,” writer Charles Murray explains that not everyone is in need of going to college for three main reasons: a liberal education should be gained in elementary and middle school, many people already have knowledge and skills necessary for a technical career, and many students are in college to “buy an admission ticket-the B.A.” (246) and ensure employers consider their resume. Murray does not argue anything against college itself but more against society and especially the education system. Murray also accuses guidance counselors and parents of “automatically encouraging young people to go to college straight out of high school being thoughtless about the best interests of young people” (249).

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

Before reading the Andrew Delbanco book, College: What it Was, Is, and Should Be, my view of Liberal Arts education was positive. A Liberal Arts education consists of a curriculum based in the sciences and humanities while maintaining the freedom to pursue interdisciplinary study. Studying at a university with such a curriculum and freedom can be compared to an all-you-can-eat buffet; the student attending would not need to commit to a single area of study, trapped in confined course-load in one building on campus. Rather, that person could dish a little bit of business, with a side of art history, and a healthy helping of biology onto their academic tray and consume to their heart’s content, scraping the sides of the university in order to

I agree with Delbanco that college is overcrowded, under resourced, and little attention is paid to the fact that a whole person should be developed (154). I am convinced that a liberal arts education is what is needed to be successful in the world today. Not only is this particularly clear in universities like NYU, but also in specialized schools all around the country. For example, a student at the Stern School of Business is marketable to corporate businesses such as Morgan Stanley and firms on Wall Street, but the students may lack the knowledge necessary to transfer out of that specific field. Liberal arts colleges within universities (or even those that stand on their own) are much more useful today than specified schools because liberal arts classes offer opportunities to be exposed to a variety of subjects. They can also spark interests or passions one never knew they had. Delbanco says that colleges offer students too wide of an array of classes to take, and believes that they are too unrelated. While it does seem like classes such as the history of Australia’s koala population may seem unimportant, it is less about the specific class and more about the university creating a well rounded person that can integrate well into

To discuss the value of liberal education, there should be a mutual understanding that investing in college means to invest in oneself. Furthermore, while some consider this investment to be a critical stepping stone to success, others dismiss it, explaining that school simply cannot prepare someone for the “real world.” Sanford J. Ungar and Robert Reich explore both of these subjective values in their essays “The New Liberal Arts” and “College is a Ludicrous Waste of Money.” Ungar, the president of Goucher College in Baltimore, Maryland, discusses why a liberal education should be sought after; he does so by introducing common misconceptions about liberal arts and, using argumentative persuasion, proves their insignificance. On the other hand, Reich, the former secretary of labor, argues against the conventional belief of college being the only road to financial wellbeing; rather, he explains why a two-year education may better accommodate many college students, especially those in need of immediate work or those that simply cannot afford a four-year education. In all, although both Reich and Ungar generally discuss liberal education, their perspectives differ when it comes to its practicality in the current economy. Also, to express their different views about liberal arts, the authors use contrasting tones to present their ideas to different intended audiences.

It may come as no surprise to some that a quality education has the power to provide, for those who seek it, the opportunity of personal and professional transformation. It can be said that a society which encourages higher education is more likely to yield a population of individuals who are civic minded and purposeful as opposed to a society which does not. In an article entitled “What Can College Mean? – Lessons from the Bard Prison Institute, author Ellen Condiffe Lagemann supports the importance of a liberal arts education but also presents the case that quality education in the United States is not available to all.

Ungar’s essay The New Liberal Arts has a completely different perspective on general education than Murray’s essay. Murray believes that liberal-arts is a degree that is a luxury and that most people can’t afford it. He states,” Yet one could argue that the traditional, well-rounded preparation that the liberal arts offer is a better investment than ever-that the future demands of citizenship will require not narrow technical or job-focused training, but rather a subtle understanding of the complex influences that shape the world we live in” (Ungar 191). This is the complete opposite of how Murray’s argument goes. Murray thinks that liberal education isn’t something that should be focused on in college.

To begin, college has many benefits, despite the cost. College teaches students more than “book smarts,” but also teaches life skills. Liberal Arts graduates can be seen prominently in leadership positions in areas such as politics and culture (Source B). In this aspect, college holds a key to a prosperous

In “Colleges Prepare People for Life”, Freeman Hrabowski writes about the benefits of going to college and the things that are, and should be, available for potential college students. Hrabowski says that more opportunities come to those with a college degree, rather than those with a high school diploma (690). His argument is effective because of his strong ethos, while it is ineffective because of his weaker logos and pathos. Hrabowski has been the president of the University of Maryland for the past 23 years.

College, it has many different interpretations relating to it. Recently there has been a lot of talk regarding college and it purpose, and whether it’s important to us or not. there are two arguments from two authors, a professor of Anthropology, Paul Stoller, and Charles Murray who is a political scientist, author and columnist. Both authors want to see a change. Stoller claims that the way we view intellectualism needs to be changed. While Murray claims that people should go to vocational training, and that college is for the high class group of people.

Attending college gives a person countless opportunities which is why more and more people are going to college. Menand explains the different educational system that shows how much of a mess the American education system really is. The theories Menand claims in the article are good models for the purpose of higher education in our culture throughout our history. There is not much that anyone can agree on based on every man having a different opinion on the matter and how to educate our children, but Menand shows us the three main ideas of education and he points the flaws out with ease. These three theories have been developed and explain the meaning of college.

Education: Humans’ lives are mainly influenced by economy, social, and cultural factors. It is unlikely to be avoided because the societies we live, the relationship we have and create with other people, the ways we accommodate or resist unfairness and oppression, and the ways we choose to think about these phenomena are both limited and enabled by our place in the economic structure of society. Education is shaped

Right now in our society a college education is no longer an option or privilege, but rather a necessity. We were practically raised and conditioned to believe that we need a higher education in order to succeed in life. As opposed to generations of the past, high school students today are unable to obtain the number of high paying jobs that were once available. In the post War 1 era, the city of New York provided a free quality college education to many working class people (including immigrants) at the time when they were effectively barred from attending most colleges. Harvard College was founded in 1636, the history of higher education has been closely intertwined with the history of the United States economically, socially, and culturally. Both have generally been associated with expanding opportunity but as college and