The Purpose Of College Education

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.

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

In the essay “College Value Goes Deeper Than the Degree” author Eric Hoover claims a college education is important to one 's well-being so they can get a job and be productive in other parts of life. Promoters of higher education have long emphasized how beneficial college’s value and its purpose. Many believe the notion that colleges teach students are life skills to apply anywhere, they also work hard to earn a degree and learn specific marketable skills which they can use to get a good job. Though obtaining a college education and a degree is helpful in countless of ways, it is not necessary to pursue a college degree in world where a college degree is seen different now, people without turn out fine, the growing average of debt that students who attend college have to pay off and people without a degree can obtain many jobs that do not require college degrees.

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.

Andrew Delbanco’s essay “A college Education: What is its purpose?” gives three reasons why college still matters. Delbanco teaches at Columbia University, where he’s the director of American studies and has written several books on the meaning and benefits of college. Delbanco, begins his essay by discussing what college means to each individual student. He states, “For many more students, college means the anxious pursuit of marketable skills in overcrowded, under resourced institutions. For still others, it means traveling by night to a fluorescent office building or to a “virtual classroom” that only exists in cyberspace.” (1) Delbano successfully uses pathos to appeal to his audience’s emotions, his personal experience and anecdotal combine to persuade his readers to consider or realize the importance of receiving a college education, however his essay contains minor flaws that can counteract his claims.

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.

Higher education has a vast history; beginning in the early colonial period and spanning ten generations. With its wide range of history, aspects of higher education have changed as the ideals and reforms of society adjusted. Albeit, the missions and purposes of college have remained the same. In this paper, I will clarify the three main missions and purposes of higher education. Then, I will shift the focus of the paper to the area I would like to pursue in higher education and how it reflects those purposes.

In today’s society, most high school students have a common objective, which is to go to college. There is a significant number of people going to college, yet the issue of unemployment is still there even if one obtains a degree, which brings up the dilemma if college is really worth it. Although, college is expensive, it is worth the cost because college graduates are most likely to receive a high salary, and college helps students to find themselves as well as pursuing their passion.

At its very root a college education is an opportunity for young adults to further their education through critical thinking about a career field of their choice. Originally college was a way to separate the work force. When students graduated from high school they could join the labor force or continue education at a university. While most of these students’ families

A college degree is the trajectory to the growing jobs in today’s economic and global society. The future competitive job market will require workers to have earned more than a high school diploma. A college education is the only path to preparing graduates to meet the future demands in the labor market. This outlook puts tremendous pressure on high school graduates to attend college. With the rising costs of tuition, lack of financial assistance, and the reduction in state and local support of institution, students and families will be left with the responsibility to fund their own college education. This dilemma will leave countless students wondering if they should attend college, and if college is worth the debt? Before making a decision, students should research the costs, institutions, potential majors, financial aid, and future labor earnings. These are some of the factors that should be considered when examining whether or not a college education is worth the time and debt. The more informed students are about the costs of college, the more apt they are to make the best decision. Oreopouls and Petronijevic (2013), conceded that students who are well informed about postsecondary education are able to make the right decision about their college education. The federal government finances 90% of student loans in the United States. Have you ever wondered why? Well, they back these loans because, the more educated a society, then the less crime and health

College is an organized group of professional people with particular aims, duties, and privileges. Many people don’t attend college because they think they’ll be just fine with a high school diploma. The truth is you will always be much more qualified with a college diploma. Nowadays, most jobs require people who are well educated and have great job skills. Therefore, the people who want a good job have to study hard and at least graduate with a high education. Furthermore, as technology advances all over the world, more and more education is required from people. Most jobs overlook people with only high school diplomas, for example if they had to choose between two people one with a college degree and one without, the person with the degree would get the job. First, people say that getting a job is the first obstacle in life. The second obstacle is getting married and third is how to take care of your child or children. In order to pass the first obstacle, which getting a good job is the most important. The result of this first obstacle can impact the second and third obstacles. This expresses how important it is to get a job. College expresses how well organized you are and also how smart and what habits you have. Also, this means that the applicant has the potential to work hard and keep the work that the applicant is suppose to do.

What is the purpose of college? Collectively, most would posit it is to prepare young adults for life and to give them the necessary tools to succeed in whichever field they wish to pursue. Colloquially referred to as “real word skills”, there are some aspects of life that, historically, college hasn’t prepared students for. The administration at Xavier University keenly recognized this and decided to do something about it. Enter: Goa. Goa is a class designed to prepare college students for the aspects of life that typical college classes do not. Its goal is to prepare freshman for the real life challenges of college and beyond. This program, in theory, fills a seemingly much-needed gap in the education of twenty-first-century college students. As a student of Goa, I can say first hand that the university is well intentioned and that a class such as Goa may be needed; however, Goa falls short in its design and execution. It is because of this failure that Goa should be reevaluated and recreated to better suit the needs of incoming freshman.

Fifty years after World War II, higher education in the United States “triumphed” (Lazerson). Higher education was given a substantial amount of money from federal and state governments, which resulted in the realization of the societal benefits of equal educational opportunities (Lazerson). Similarly to today’s society, families reached into their savings accounts and went into debt so that their children could attend college (Lazerson). For the majority of Americans, college was the “route upward”, the route in which was going to make them achieve The American Dream. Jobs that were looking to become prestigious, began requiring higher education, which made it more difficult to obtain a reputable job without it (Lazerson). Although we are living in an era of “opportunity”, higher education is still more of a necessity, rather than a chance to succeed.

The pursuit of a college degree is, in fact, a significant element that can improve one’s life, which will relieve the government and improve the economy. The more people do not rely on government aid, the higher the chance the economy can get out of debt. A good majority of jobs in the job market require its employees to have some sort of college education: Associates Degree, Bachelor’s Degree, Master’s Degree, or a Doctoral Degree. Today, a Bachelor’s degree is not efficient enough to get or keep a job due to high amount of competition. Being that college is so expensive, people do not see the advantage of getting a higher education. Setting aside four or five years to only be unemployed or being paid a low salary is simply not worth it to some people. In order for institutions to function, colleges and universities need to consider the objection that many people face when making the decision to attend college.