The Wide Spread Of Higher Education Essay

People attend college or university for several reasons, including exploring hundreds of career opportunities, pursuing their passions, learning critical thinking skills, and achieving their maximum potential. According to Dr. Richard Vedder’s, “For Many, College Isn’t Worth It”, attending college or university is not worth the time, effort, or money – Dr. Richard Vedder wants to solely focus resources on private universities and institutions. Vedder describes how many graduates with Bachelor’s degrees do not even obtain jobs in their specific field and how they will never start a career in their area of academic study. In his article, Richard Vedder describes how there should be more stringent standards placed on college undergraduates; he believes that public universities are not necessary and only private, more elite universities should remain operational. I personally believe that obtaining a college degree from an accredited university is worth the risk and the money, not only for one’s self but for society as a whole. Instead of shutting down undergraduate universities, we should consider raising collegiate admission standards throughout the nation.

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.

In “Higher Education and the ‘American Dream’: Why the Status Quo won’t get us there” by Sara E. Keene asserts that in order to achieve a successful life, college should be able to make students become intuitive, studious and persistent . In Keene’s first attempts in college, she came to a conclusion that the “American Dream” has become unattainable to numerous amounts of students. The reason behind Keene’s statement is that most colleges do not challenge the minds of their students for the sake of saving students’ dignity in themselves. Therefore, these students can not achieve their full intellectual potential. They are not able to climb up the socioeconomic ladder of their careers, which subsequently harms their chances in obtaining the “American Dream.”

Recently there has been a lot of debate about the importance of college education. Students are asking if it’s worth the debt to attend a four year university or community college. Some are thinking what are the benefits of a degree is in the workforce. With college tuition increasing and state fundings lowering, low income students are struggling to attain a higher education. College institutions should have a role to provide students higher education and equal opportunity to students to increase social mobility yet intergenerational reproduction of privilege has produced inequality in education.

Colleges and university have slowly become one of the stepping stones into the working world today. People go to colleges for higher education with the intention of earning degrees in which they can use in their respective fields. Some example degrees that people pursue are Medical, Law, Business, Accounting, and Science Degrees. Through the years the idea of college was that it was optional and it was a door for better life and job. However in the modern times, it become a necessity. It all started when the colleges once single- gender institutions target specific students in their respective demographics. Today, the college market has now been divided into two major categories:

Colleges are struggling to adapt to society’s changing requirements for adults entering the work force. John Fawell laments this change and states that humans intrinsically desire to learn more for the purpose of knowing more. However, the focus has shifted away from this and has become more career-oriented. This shift is not well supported in the current college system. The education system is aware of this change and some have modified their programs, but they are too narrow and a broad college education is lost. Even though it has become almost mandatory in society, a college degree does not prepare students for a real-world work environment and is not necessary for most occupations. Many, such as lawyers or doctors, do require further education and a system that instructs them while also training the majority of the workforce would be an improvement.

Higher education has become a staple of American society. With over 20 million students attending over 4,500 degree granting institutions, the role that higher education has played on larger society is paramount (Thelin, 2017). However, despite the popularity of higher education institutions, the exact purpose of higher education has changed from century to century and may serve different purposes depending on who is asked. Higher education today is arguably both a public and private good. While state and federal governments have invested in a variety of higher education initiatives, as well as assisted thousands of students with attending college through loans and scholarships in hopes that students use their acquired skills and

In the essay, “Are Too Many People Going To College?” author Charles Murray addresses the issue of the increasing demand of college degree from all individuals, regardless of their abilities and talents. “Today, if you do not get a B.A., many people assume it is because you are too dumb or too lazy”(Murray, 253). Murray puts a strong argument against this kind of growing culture among people. He believes that a B.A. degree is not a gateway to success as different people have different ability in various fields, making them unique. Murray also emphasis instilling the liberal arts education in the minds of young students of this country. Furthermore, he explains that the development in technology and an increase in the availability of online

Researchers have found that a majority of workers with bachelor degrees or higher have higher salaries than those without. The downside of these statistics is that student debt has climbed to over 1.3 trillion dollars. Colleges have been working to aid students by cutting tuition costs and offering more scholarships, but the hopes of potential students look to be declining (Mitchell). From this journal, I learned that the value of a college degree is an opinion that varies among different social classes, social grounds, and political groups. When I read that less and fewer Americans are finding the value in a college degree, I decided that the next step in my research would be finding out the opinions of those who do see the value in a college degree.

Between the 1900s and 1975 the United States experiences growth in many areas of higher education (HE). Various publications, people, acts and legislation influenced change in thought, access, policy, practice, and assessment of HE. From the Civil War Era to the Mass Education Era we witnessed the struggle of African Americans that influenced important legislation, the Progressive Movement and the birth of the Wisconsin Idea, the publication and revision of the Student Personnel Point of View, the President’s Commission on Higher Education, and the passing of the Higher Education Act. All of which contributed to the growth of HE during this time period.

Obtaining a degree remains one of the most important pathways to economic and social class in the United States (U.S.), regardless of rising tuition costs and the value of having a higher education coming in to question. Of the 20.6 million students enrolled in a college or university, first-generation college students represents about one-third (The Institute for Higher Education Policy, 2012). These group of individuals are more likely to encounter academic, financial, professional, cultural, and emotional difficulties (Sanez, Hurtado, Barrera, Wolf, and Yeung, 2007).

About century ago, the United States had the most educated workforce in the world, thanks to the movement that made high school free and available for everyone, but today many nations exceeded that level. According to “Education at a Glance” report of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, U.S. college graduation rates rank 19th out of 28 countries studied by the OECD, twenty years ago the United States was first among OECD member countries, since that time more countries focus on increasing the number of college graduates; therefore, U.S. falls behind the competition (Weston.) This clearly indicates that the United States’ tertiary education needs a serious initiative like Obama’s plan to push up the college graduation

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.

Although holding a degree doesn’t have muchpower as it did decades ago, people who have a bachelor’s degree earn twice as more than peoplewith a high school diploma. Most students do not have the capability of enduring four moreyears of college, and furthermore indicate that not everyone should be able to attend highereducation.Higher education is supposed to be considered an essential component of a democraticsociety. It is almost a rite of passage to seek college after high school graduation. Societynowadays requires basic analysis of finance, education, and public health in order to prosper inAmerica. But due to low demand of motivation for college, students are highly discouraged on

Universities are largely composed of contingents of continuing-generation students and professors. This is especially true in elite universities where much of the professors have themselves graduated from elite universities. The same system of institutional stratification that beckons students also grants access to administrators who predominately hold desirable characteristics of the upper middle class . First-generation college students are underrepresented in elite colleges and are far more likely to attend community college than their continuing-generation counterparts . Research of first-generation college students at elite universities has recently begun to emerge in Sociology of Education. However, thorough examination of their path