The Road To Success
From the beginning of our educational career, we are told that attending college is the best choice that we could make. Attending college is not only the best choice that we should make, it is also the only option for us, if we want to separate ourselves from the average person and be successful in this competitive world. Earlier notions that attending college was not a necessity, has almost gone away completely. Many view a college education as a priority and necessity in terms of reaching personal success and financial success.
Two prominent authors have written essays about the benefits of attending college. Liz Addison in her essay “Two Years are Better than Four” http://essay.blogs.nytimes.com/2007/09/26/two-years-are-better-than-four/?_r=0) and Isabel Sawhill along with Stephanie Owen in their essay, “Should Everyone Go to College?”, (https://www.brookings.edu/research/should-everyone-go-to-college/) all believe that the advantages of attending college far outweigh the disadvantages in most cases. The only differences might be that in their respective essays; Addison emphasizes that in many cases the value of a community college can be more beneficial than attending a four-year college initially and Sawhill & Owen argue that it is important to compare the return on investment in relationship to other variables.
Her Story
Unlike Sawhill & Owen, who both advocate attending a four year colleges and receiving a degree, Addison believes that community colleges also serves a purpose. Because of her personal experience, she is a strong advocate of the community colleges and the personal growth and awareness that can take place in such an environment even if you do not complete the full four years. According to Addison, college is the time in which you can “Enter on empty and leave with a head full of dreams?” She feels that college was the time in which she grew the most and that experience laid the foundation for a career path to follow.
It’s Not For Everyone
Although Sawhill & Owen are in agreement with Addison on the advantages of attending college, they admit that some people are better off not attending college. Unlike Addison, they see room for other options when they state that it would be “a mistake to unilaterally tell young Americans that going to college – any college is the best decision they can make.” It is all about assessing whether or not a four-year degree will significantly improve a student’s earning potential.
Don’t Judge A Book By It’s Cover
Assessing the value of attending a four-year college because of economic or possibly social conditions is more in keeping with Mike Rose’s essay “Blue Collar Brilliance.” In his essay he discusses through first-hand life experience, how his mother and uncle were both successful in mid level careers learning to achieve at levels that can only be achieved through time and experience. At a very young age Mike Rose would watch his mother wait tables at a local restaurant. There she would display skills that embodied years of on the job training. Being able to interact with a wide variety of people, ascertain their needs in a timely manor, walk into a room and in a single glance recognize who needed service now and who could wait, these were among the many requirements that were an everyday skill set for good waitress. Mike Rose saw first hand that the notion of “work requiring less schooling requires less intelligence” was completely wrong.
The ROI Of Attending College
The average return on investment (ROI) in obtaining a college degree has proven to be positive, however, this is not universal for all careers. As an example, a person could spend four years in college and possibly another two years obtaining a Masters degree in an effort to become a teacher and yet make less money than a chief-welder would, with only two years of training and apprenticeship. The difficulty in determining whether or not to go to college is magnified even more so when we take into account the social pressure that men and women face.
In reading the essay “What’s Gender Got to Do With It”, we are reminded that society places added pressures on all of us to achieve certain levels based on our gender. Some people believe that attending college is a must for men and sometimes not as important for women. Some families put just as much pressure on all of their children to attend college. Once again, social pressures play a significant role in everyone’s choice. The choice to attend or not attend college is not always based on monetary success. Very often the choice is also about our current economics, social conditions, the lifestyle that we want to pursue and the quality of life that is important to us now and in the future.
The Best Option
In closing, the decision to attend college is clearly the best choice for a multitude of benefits that far outweigh any of the downside. Benefits include higher annual income per year for those with a college degree, greater chance of getting a job, improved health, higher social status and better health care options. In addition to that the economic success and social status, attending college gives you a chance to network, improve your social skills, build a network, and expand your cultural activities and much more. I think it’s safe to say that attending college is the best choice. If you still need more information on this topic, here’s a link to a website that gives more information about the subject and should help you in your decision. (http://archive.star.txstate.edu/node/1162.html)
