Wednesday, November 11, 2015

College worth it or nah? (by anon)


Some say it’s the biggest decision of your life: picking higher education or live without. And we always hear how with the expanding world, job opportunities are becoming less and less. We’ve been told at a very young age that college is the only way to succeed. Is that necessarily true? Before coming to Whitewater I was unsure as well, but I figured while I have the opportunity I should take advantage of it. I don’t want to be 40 with kids and realizing I have to go back to college to improve my living situation. Because I am a college student, you most likely know my position on this topic.
         Let's start off with the opposing side. People who contest to college bring up arguments like unbelievably high loans, delays from saving for retirement, from buying a house, and from marriage. Most high school graduates convince themselves of their choice by referring to the saying, “many successful people never went to college.” What do they mean by successful? Are they successfully happy or are they successfully rich? This claim makes people more satisfied with their decision. Today, to have a decent income without a college degree one must either be an entrepreneur or involved with some sort of management. Even then, there is a major financial risk with that. Also, if college graduates are more likely to make bigger earnings then they would have a better time saving for retirement and a house. The advantage is that it could be a bigger house or bigger savings than one of a high school graduate. With marriage, it’s almost invalid because college graduates are more likely to develop better interpersonal skills and with that would they would make time to marry the person they love. Unlike high school graduates, they may be working more and have stressful financial situations which delays THEM to be married.
         I believe that college is worth it because of the fact that there are higher employment rates, bigger salaries, better work benefits, more likely to achieve a major milestone, produce healthier children, and better chance to live longer. It really makes sense. According to a study done by the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the more higher education you receive you make a higher income and have less of a chance of unemployment. The benefits go beyond earnings too. Almost all college grads with jobs in their field, receive medical and dental benefits at least. With that, they are likely to live longer because they have those benefits and can retire at a good age rather than working their whole life which wears on the body. College grads also produce healthier children not only because they have those benefits, but because with a higher income there is less stress on the family and that can affect the development of children. A major life milestone will happen because they have more going on in their life that they can achieve with the skills they learned from school.

1 comment:

  1. “Because I am a college student, you most likely know my position on this topic.” I am also a college student. I have been in college for about four years now, and I am unsure as to what I believe on this topic. Attending college does not dictate what your opinion is on this subject.
    “Today, to have a decent income without a college degree one must either be an entrepreneur or involved with some sort of management.” What is a ‘decent’ income? This isn’t necessarily a true statement. My dad, for example, works in construction and does not have a college degree. I don’t know the exact amount he makes per year, but he doesn’t have any outstanding debt, lives comfortable in a decent size house, and owns land up north to go hunting on. He also doesn’t have trouble helping me out financially when I need it. You should be careful about using ambiguous terms (“decent”) to make blanket statements like that.
    “With marriage, it’s almost invalid because college graduates are more likely to develop better interpersonal skills and with that would they would make time to marry the person they love. Unlike high school graduates, they may be working more and have stressful financial situations which delays THEM to be married.” This was a little hard to follow, but do you mean to say that since college graduates are more likely to develop better people skills that they would make time to marry the people they love? This doesn’t quite follow. There is no evidence proving that people who graduate college as opposed to those who only graduate high school are the ones who “make time” to marry who they love. In fact, a high school graduate could maybe even have MORE time to develop relationships than someone pouring in all those hours working towards a degree. Out of the people that I have known personally, those that did not attend college actually married sooner than those that did. And if you were trying to speak to the successfulness of romantic relationships working out due to whether or not one has a college degree… I would be interested to see any proof suggesting a correlation.
    “College grads also produce healthier children not only because they have those benefits, but because with a higher income there is less stress on the family and that can affect the development of children.” I think to say that a higher income would AFFECT the healthiness of children makes sense. However, I do not think it is right to say the higher the income, the healthier the child. To say “College grads produce healthier children” is certainly a generalization. There are so many others factors that need to be taken into account when discussing the producing and upbringing of children. Income is only one of (likely) hundreds of factors that influence this. Your statement is jumping the gun.
    I see what you are trying to get at here, but I think there are other perspectives on this issue that you are not considering.

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