To College or Not to College, that is the Question…

I have always thought that it was imperative to go to college.  From a young age I was conditioned to believe that success was synonymous with college.  The idea of going to college and getting a degree has been so drilled into my head by society and my family that I never thought otherwise.

However, a recent a controversial issue has been whether or not it is necessary to attend college.

Some people, like my parents, say that you have to go to college to learn and grow as a whole person and consider it to be an essential part of their learning process and success.  However, many other people believe that attending college is not necessary.  They argue that it’s costly, ineffective, and that it’s possible to be successful regardless of whether one has a degree or not.  Worst of all though, is that whether or not one attends college can cause social inequality.

Basically, the issue is whether to pay to go to college and experience a full and formative educational experience, or to not attend college and to simply start working towards a career and learn from that.

I honestly think that it’s not that important to attend college.  Although I realize that going to college is helpful because it takes a holistic approach to person’s education and helps them form a more well-rounded person, I still think that a person could learn what they need to in order to succeed through their job.

College is Not all it’s Cracked Up to Be 

It’s possible to become educated without attending college.  Just because you didn’t attend school for an extra 4+ years does not mean that you are not intelligent.  After all, there is a definite education that you get simply from going through every day experiences that life hands you, and an even more specific education through your job.  You can learn almost as much as others who attended college, but are looked down upon because you are just simply a “worker”.  However, you can learn infinitely more from working and real life experiences than you ever could from just sitting in a classroom because you are going to be dealing with actual problems as opposed to staged classroom situations.

Unfortunately, employers and society do not agree with this.  Professor and author Mike Rose has said,

“We reinforce this notion by defining intelligence solely on grades in school and numbers on IQ test.  And we employ social biases pertaining to a person’s place on the occupational ladder” (279).

According to this view, there are inherent biases on the people who do not attend college.  Society thinks of these people as lower class beings, only because they did not sit in a classroom for four years.  This is how education is turning into a problem of social inequality because in society’s eye, those who have been fortunate enough to receive a college education are supposedly “better” than those who have not.

They are viewed as more qualified, and now it seems as though employers only care if a student has a degree.

The B.A. that students, such as myself, work so hard towards and put so much effort into receiving is now just becomes a sort of screening device.  Basically if I were to apply for a job somewhere, a single sheet of paper would be enough for the employer to sum up my life, accomplishments, and worth.  The employer would look at me differently depending on what degree I received from whatever specific college I graduated from, and whether it is “prestigious” or not.  This is completely unfair and a total biased approach, but this is our new reality.

People who don’t Attend College aren’t Dumb

Today, if I did not receive a B.A., many would assume that is because I am too lazy or too dumb.  This is a false statement though, because there are many other issues that could go into my decision to attending college or not.  However, the biggest reason that people do not attend college is because of  financial issues.

College is becoming more and more expensive, and not all families can afford tuition.  Not only is tuition an obstacle, but also the fact that there is not always a big return to education.  You could manage to receive large student loans to help cover the cost of tuition, but if you do not make much money after you graduate, then it will be very hard for you to pay off these loans, and you may wind up with debt.  After all, the more money someone has to pay to attend college, the lower the net benefit of attending.

It may take years for students to pay off their loans, which is money that they could be earning, not losing, if they decided to go straight into the workforce instead of going to college.

But Maybe Going to College is a Good Thing?

While it is true that in many cases college graduates do earn more debt, they also earn more money than those who did not attend college.  However, not all the benefits that come with attending college are financial.  There are many non-monetary benefits that come with going to college, such as expanding your knowledge and escaping your socioeconomic status.  Author David Leonhardt explains that,

“…[a] force that can disrupt…inequality [is] education.  When a society becomes more educated, many of its less-wealthy citizens quickly acquire [a] crucial form of capital—knowledge—that can bring enormous returns” (546).

What Leonhardt is saying here is that these educated people will be able to move away from manual labor jobs into more skilled professions.  People won’t have to work long hours that cause strain on their body, but rather they’ll be able to move up to a comfortable managerial position.  Basically, education leads to people getting better jobs with higher wages, which allows them to have a better lifestyle.

So…Should I Go to College?

While there are good points and strong evidence backing the fact that attending college is an important thing to do, I still believe that it is not necessary.

After all, there are many negative aspects that come with attending college.  I mean, it’s a significant financial investment for a simple sheet of paper that society calls a “college degree”, that supposedly distinguishes one person from another.  I truly believe that it’s possible for those who didn’t attend college to learn just as much and be just as successful as those who did.  Although some might object that one receives a more of an official education in college, I would reply that an “official” education is unnecessary.  Most people just need to be educated and mentored in their specific field of work by others who have come before them in order to do well for themselves and be successful.  This idea of “being successful” only through a college degree is simply because of a societal standard to attend college.  However, it’s unnecessary that attending college or not causes these negative prejudices and class divisions.

I wholeheartedly believe that it’s important to abolish these stereotypes and the notion that it’s essential to go to college.  It’s better to just allow people to freely choose whether or not attending college is the right choice for them.

Works Cited

Owen, Stephanie, and Sawhill, Isabel. “Should Everyone Go to College?” They Say/ I Say: The
      Moves That Matter in Academic Writing, With Readings. Ed. Gerald Graff, Cathy Birkenstein,
and Russel Durst. New York: W. W. Norton & Company Incorporated, 2015. 208-223. Print

Rose, Mike. “Blue Color Brilliance.” They Say/ I Say: The Moves That Matter in Academic
      Writing, With Readings. Ed. Gerald Graff, Cathy Birkenstein, and Russel Durst. New York: W. W.
Norton & Company Incorporated, 2015. 272-283. Print

Leonhardt, David. “Inequality Has Been Going on Forever…but That Doesn’t Mean It’s
Inevitable.” They Say/ I Say: The Moves That Matter in Academic Writing, With Readings. Ed.
Gerald Graff, Cathy Birkenstein, and Russel Durst. New York: W. W. Norton & Company
Incorporated, 2015. 542-547. Print

Freedman, Josh. “Why American Colleges Are Becoming a Force for Inequality.” The Atlantic. The
Atlantic, 16 May 2013. Web. 9 Mar. 2016.

Kuper, Shaul. “Is a Bachelor’s Degree Still Worthwhile?” FoxNews.com. Fox News, 25 Apr. 2014.
Web. 9 Mar. 2016.

Images

Image 1: http://giphy.com/gifs/mic-education-michelle-obama-flotus-nnbyGJfJEp7zi

Image 2: http://giphy.com/gifs/AZMysyGs6X6yA

Image 3: http://www.davegranlund.com/cartoons/wp-content/uploads/College-tuition-costs.jpg

Image 4: http://www.brookings.edu/~/media/Research/Files/Blogs/2013/05/09-college-degree-investment-sawhill-owen/smart_investment.jpg?la=en

Image 5: http://giphy.com/gifs/college-workaholics-adam-demamp-4p4FaFkmulsU8