The Importance Of The Skills Gap

A college education has been viewed as the key to the American dream. There are many opinions on the purpose of a college education from obtaining new information, becoming a more well-rounded individual or preparing for the workforce. Originally, the college education was primarily used to become more educated to provide services to society; however, the college education is perceived as an expectation and mandatory in becoming a useful person in society and workforce. The purpose of obtaining a college education to obtain the skills necessary to become a well-rounded individual in society.

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

Colleges and Universities are windows of knowledge that many people try to break, in doing so, people are ready for the next stage of their life. But not many have the option to go the world where knowledge is everything, and end being a simple worker all his life. People would judge a person for not having a degree, bachelor and many more. But do they ever think that colleges or universities are really preparing you for any jobs, does a piece of paper worth a lot now a days. Freeman Hrabowski wrote an article responding to people that think educations is a waste of time, and it is called “College Prepare People for life” (Hrabowski). In the article he mentions many positive thing about going to college and what is the outcome of going to college. But I believe that, he hasn’t done a very good job to explain why college is a good place to go prepare yourself for the real world. I believe that college is very important for our life, but not many of us know if we are really learning something while being in college. I feel like colleges or universities has become a place where we go just to go or try to earn a degree in any field. Therefore, I believe that colleges doesn’t enhance our basic skills, doesn’t give us a certainty of us getting a good job, doesn’t give us the hardships of the real world and it isn’t a place where everyone gets treated it equally.

In Martin Luther King Jr’s quote, he exposes that education teaches a person to think intensively and to think critically. One of the author’s main ideas is to tell people that education is able to make people intensively to what they do, because this is a way to make you success in college. On the another side, education is to teach one to think critically is mean that people have to learn what they mistake on, so they are able to change their mistake and become a better person. Education helps people to get the job they want, to desire and achieve their goal and make their own personal character. The real education goal is to encourage people to learn, and to use the knowledge in order to become an intelligence person, and to build their

Yet even with these realizations that delve into the deeper meaning of education, modern education is still calling for simple measurable outcomes and continues to be geared towards specific employment ideas. This model of education is blatantly inadequate though. Many students today will end up holding jobs not yet invented in fields not yet discovered, so the teaching of answers to today’s questions is utterly useless. Albert Einstein once said, “Education is not the learning of facts, but the training of the mind to think.” and this statement reigns true throughout time. To continue academic success, the education system needs to impart a mastery of one’s own mind that allows students to not only answer current questions but also to pose questions that will shape the future world.

Did you know that adults who graduated from a four-year college believe that, on average, they are earning $20,000 more a year as a result of having gotten a degree. College is something that is very important to some people, while it is not so important to others. While some people believe they do not need college for their future occupation, it can be argued that college helps every occupation because it helps a person grow and develop both personally and intellectually. Education is not only used during school. Education will be with a person for their whole life and through every occupation they go through.

College students get to analyze other subjects that they may have not shown an interest in before; that will help them construct their career. Getting the necessary skills students need, will assure their success on anything they choose to do. “It is the education which gives a man a clear conscious view of his own opinions and judgments, a truth in developing them, and a force in urging them” (Newman, 54). Education gives students a better understanding their own opinions, and judgments; it creates anxiousness in developing them, a fluency in expressing them, and a power in urging them.

Documented in an employee survey (2012) conducted by the National Association of Colleges and Employees (NACE) the belief by many of the employers surveyed set a number of employee competencies they felt were essential. The findings resulted in a list of capabilities they felt were needed in order to proficiently desired by organizations. Effective verbal articulation within and outside of the organization’s structure, a team player that will a readily work with others, an administrator and convergent thinker, obtain and process data, while planning, organizing, and prioritizing work.

In the article, Colleges and Employers Point Fingers Over Skills Gap, Selingo informs his readers that most employers want future workers with adaptability (Selingo, 2012). Many students will graduate high school and attend college because they are told that a college degree is the only way to get a good job. The problem with this is that many students fail to improve their critical-thinking skills in the first two years (Selingo, 2012). Even though it is said that most employers want future workers with

Source D states that “education seems to make people happier and healthier,” so it could help the college student do better in college for higher degrees for a career that earns more money. College also prepares young adults to be more mature after graduating, so they can be wiser about having a successful future. Smart choices in an adult’s career or life can be beneficial because their decisions could open up better opportunities for themselves, and their skills in life and career could be improved to become more successful. College graduates said that “their education was very useful in growing intellectually, helping them grow and mature as a person, and helping them prepare for a job or career” (Source

Yet many people don't seem to see it as a learning experience but instead a necessity to get to reach or stay in middle class. To me, the purpose of college is simple to help citizens to not only reach their maximum potential but to become better citizens. This can be achieved in college not only by our rigorous coursework but by the guidance of our professors.

College Education Education allows one to improve in the world and creates many marvelous improvements to the world. Education teaches one understanding of new technologies, the ability to determine what’s right or wrong, and helps one to make better choices in one life so that one may pursue he/she’s dreams of happiness. To better achieve in life, one needs to get better education and for that, one needs to complete high school and college. In “Where College Fails us” by Caroline Bird, Bird talks about how college is not for every student and say that college is only for those who are hard workers and believe college is the only way to be successful. On the other hand, Barber, in his “America Skips School” argues that American children are learning many wrong lessons outside of school and that society does not care.

The purpose of education to Martin Luther King jr was that everybody should have a good education. Martin believed education should not enable a man to become more efficient for their goal. The function of education was to be taught to

“Education is the most powerful weapon which you can use to change the world.” (qtd. in Quotes About Education” n.p.) “ Times have changed, higher education such as college is what most people need in order to have a successful career. Those who acquire higher education after high school tend to have a more successful career than those who do not acquire a higher education.

To begin the argument it should be known that society benefits from college educated individuals. One aspect of college that is repeatedly overlooked is how it can shape one’s mind and allows them to think in entirely new ways not only critically but creatively as well. In fact, according to a report issued by the College Board in 2007 states that “those with a bachelor’s degree, are more likely to volunteer, vote, exercise, and have health insurance and pensions.” (Lewin 18) These are all qualities that make a human being