Summary Of 'Why Focusing Too Narrowly In College Could Backfire'

In “Preparing for a Career”, Derek Bok, president of Harvard Law School and author, argues how universities, more specifically liberal arts colleges, should include training for a certain occupation with regular college classes to better prepare a student for the real world after college. Considering that Bok has earned his degrees at some of the most well-known universities like Stanford University and Harvard, he has a better understanding at what students are missing and what they need to be successful. However, on the other hand, not many professors and students see or agree with Bok’s point of view. They do not agree that students need the vocational training during their years in a liberal arts college, even though students need both; an education that helps them become critical thinkers and skilled communicators as well as skilled workers in a certain career. So why not help students with their career along with their regular core courses?

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.

For some students, the question of what to do after high school may be a burden to even contemplate as it approaches quicker and quicker. The pressure to continue another four (or more) years of education after high school can be overwhelming considering twelve years of schooling has already been completed; why go right back to school again? When’s break time? Some people are simply just not ready for college and they know it, or at least until after they have had a long break or have had some time to recollect themselves. Technically speaking college isn’t for everyone, nor is it necessarily needed for a career. Luckily today, there are many other options that potential career seeking beings can get a head start on such as community colleges and trade/vocational schools. These alternatives to a four year college are considered to be a good start on a job (and maybe even a career). The best benefits of these alternatives involve the cost of attending, the student environment, and the degrees offered.

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.

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

What we get out of the college experience, we use in our day to day lives. Even the things we think aren’t important or useful end up becoming helpful. The material we learn in college is fundamental when it comes jobs and life in general. We are taught to make choices. We are taught how the real world works, and how to turn our education into our way of life. “…the really significant education in thinking that we’re supposed to get in a place like this isn’t really about the capacity to think, but rather about the choice of what to think about.” (Wallace 199).

Another point Kirn seems to overlook is the premise that many high schools, especially in Canada, offer introductory courses to university level material; such as courses in law, psychology, calculus, and even some higher level sciences. For many students taking these courses can give them insight as to what exactly they are in for in the coming years of their post-secondary life. For example a student could leave grade 11 physics thinking that they love the material and have enough of a grip on the math that they might be able to pursue a career down that path. However, upon taking calculus and a higher level physics course coupled they suddenly realize that they in fact hate math and

    In the article “Are Too Many People Going To College,” Charles Murray claims that a lot of colleges are filled with students that lack certain skills and qualities that are needed for the college level. Murray goes on to say that not all students learn at the same level, but he still believes there are ways for lower ability students to be successful in college it taught better throughout K-8 and high school. Charles Murray wants all students to learn the importance of all subjects taught at college. However, he believes these students should be taught more in high school in order to be more prepared for college. Murray certainly expresses how important K-8 and high school can be when stating, “More people should be getting the basics of a liberal education. But for most students, the places to provide those basics are elementary and middle school.” Murray argues that core knowledge is very important to reading and writing comprehension, stating that familiarity of these concepts is important when going to college. He believes K-8 is the perfect time to teach the core knowledge, which should raise the students effort right away in elementary school. Murray wants kids to be taught more throughout kindergarten and eighth grade, and believes students in high school should learn by surveys and classes that are just slightly below college level courses. Another interesting quote

In the article, “What Is College For? (Part 2)” written by Gary Gutting we see a description of his ideal vision to improve education and the intellectual culture of our citizens. Mr. Gutting emphasizes that preparing students for employment should be the job of the elementary, middle and high school rather than college. He argues that higher education is basically unnecessary for the practice of many professions.

“Universities teach students how to think, but they do not provide real world experience, so people leave school unprepared for the workplace” (Smith). “More than half of all companies (60%) said new graduates lacked critical thinking skills and attention to detail (56%), while 44% found fault with their writing proficiency, and 39% were critical of their public speaking ability” (Berr). Students find it very difficult to understand what they need to do to prepare for the workforce. Instead, students could have been doing other things that could increase their techniques to help them make money in different

Caroline Bird’s essay “College is a Waste of Time and Money” explains her beliefs on why, for some people, going to college is an ineffective and inefficient use of their time. She states that many students do not belong in college because they are there for the wrong reasons and they are not happy learning. She also gives evidence to suggest that going to college and getting a degree does not actually allows a person to make more money in their life time. Her final claim is that college does not prepare most students for the real world and the jobs they will have once they graduate.

College is a place of higher learning and somewhere dreams can be made into reality. Whether it’s getting a degree to do your dream job, find someone to marry, become a better person overall, the possibilities are endless, and these possibilities are facilitated by how we are taught by our professors and the choices we make. However, are we learning everything we need to know for our post college careers? We are learning exactly what we need for our field or chosen career, but there are some skills that we need for the more “real world” aspect of life. There are several lessons a university can provide to aid graduates in the real world and there are specific skills and education that should be provided in a college education to help us prepare for the real world.

“Misconception No.1: A liberal arts education is a luxury that most families can no longer afford. ‘Career-education’ is what we must now focus on.” (Ungar, 2010, pp.191) As Ungar has claimed, there is a recent misconception that a liberal arts education is no longer a necessity but luxury because it doesn’t provide an instant career launching education. With so many people having to a need to spend as little money as possible, they are determined to only spend money on preparation for their future career. For this reason they go to college only to take courses that are necessary for their future. “She is in college to take vocational training. She wants to write computer code. Start a business. Get a job in television. She uses college to take vocational courses that pertain to her career interest.” (Murray, 2008, pp.228) Murray explained the story of a girl who is in college solely for preparation for her career. Because of this, she isn’t interested in a liberal arts education. If the course doesn’t directly pertain to her desired career, she prefers not to take it.

     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

For my MSE #1 essay, I am going to focus on chapter 12 of the WRAC. In my critique essay I chose "Why Focusing Too Narrowly in College Could Backfire" by Peter Cappelli. I found this article very interesting and I would like to continue my research into this topic as well as the rest of the chapter "The Changing Landscape of Work in the Twenty-First Century". Overall I look forward to reading the entire chapter and exploring other articles such as "They're Watching you at work: The Job Interview" and "Do what You Love?#@&** That!". I am sure that just these articles will not provide enough information so I will have to look and research for some outside sources.