The article “Should everyone go to college?” by Stephanie Owen and Isabel Sawhill is highly insightful to the understanding of the significance of college education. A college education cannot be rubbed off at any point. It is a major foundation for young people as they seek to pursue greatness in life. Different people have different views on college education as others have a view that it has been overrated, and some people have thought of it as the only option for successful living (Graff and Cathy 211). Therefore, to others, the college education may be confusion for what is the meaning for successful life.
It is so unfortunate that the society defines people by the level of education. Colleges have taken advantage to show the people that without education they are not equally competent (Graff and Cathy 214). The resources are shared in the line of qualifications. As such, the system has discouraged positivity in the livelihood of people. The negative attitude towards life has been nurtured by the creation of a notion that education is the only foundation for excellence in life.
It is wrong to measure to measure the relevance of education by the measure of the tangible returns of education. There are a number of values that come with the education, which may not be attached to the entire college system. The whole issue of focusing on the relevance of college education based on the income it would help one to generate is wrong and a waste of energy as great cannot be measured by the academic excellence alone. There are a number of elements that may arise from the college education, which may not be measured in monetary value. College education comes with extensive exposure, which prepares one for a number of activities in life. Through education one manages to deal with a wide range of people, which may be termed as the element of return.
However, if one must attend college a high-performance college will be most suitable. There is certain value that will come with learning in an outstanding college. Apart from the formal education which is certified at the end of the course the student gains knowledge on other activities, which may make him more competent than others in the society. Also, the status earned form the college is likely to attract higher salary than one who attended a lower class college.
The higher education that people chase in prestigious colleges does not matter more than the skills they obtain while in such well equipped colleges. There are skills that people may gain and explore them to achieve greatness in their performance in various activities. At some point, the highly qualified in academic scale, are less competent at work compared to the unlearned in terms of extra skills. Therefore, an equal measure should be devised instead of judging people on the basis of their performance and contribution at work.
On the other hand, the type of degree studied matters on the success of an individual. It is evident that people with different degrees are not likely to experience equal benefits. At some point, the education has been disregarded in terms of the degree that one has studied. However, different fields call for unique qualifications in terms of education. The higher the degree in terms of status the higher the salary it is likely to attract to the individual. Companies must seek to understand the relevance of education in regard to the level of education achieved by an individual.
The New Liberal Arts
According to the article “The New Liberal Arts” by Sanford Ungar, some degrees, especially in liberal arts, are better than the extensive specialization that people prefer in the modern days. It is untrue that the only education that people can access is career education. Liberal-arts degrees are still available and highly useful to the students (Graff and Cathy 227). They only require the effort and the willingness of the students to achieve the desired excellence. Liberal-arts offers an outstanding investment to performance and excellence at work as desired by the employer. Workforce development will highly depend on the level of education, making education a major requirement but the liberal arts more significant (Zeigler 517).
The liberal-arts degree has an extensive exposure for the student and prepares them for competent tasks. The individuals in this line of training are highly competent and willing to achieve more in their work. They are well exposed and interested in learning. The current hiring is not segregating the graduates in the liberal-arts degree, but the economic position does not allow the employers to hire massively (Bizzell 447). As such, most people remain unemployed, but the most competent regardless of their degree get employed.
It is wrong to disregard the liberal-arts degree as incompetent following lack of embracement of science, technology, engineering and mathematics (Graff and Cathy 229). The liberal-arts are highly significant and relevant to the modern society. Humanity and social relationships are highly useful in the definition of the status of society (Muscatine 38). Therefore, at some point liberal-arts degrees may be better than the modern degrees, which are thought to achieve better results or define excellence at work.
Liberal education in the form of political science and social science are highly useful to the definition of the wellbeing of the society. People living in a certain nation must be protected equally to ensure they receive proper consideration, and they become equal to all people. The modern society has to rely heavily on such forms of training like politics, which dictate the relationship between people in the society. Liberal-arts are helpful in understanding the approach of the people to the success of the society through training embedded to the wellbeing of the society (Bizzell, 447).
In practical analysis of the relevance liberal arts the United States has benefited exclusively following its masterly for the liberal-arts degrees (Graff and Cathy 230). The country has sustained an education system that embraces proficiency and accuracy in handling the tasks assigned to different people. From the argument, it is possible to conclude that the most important element of a degree is not its age or time of development. What is most important is the uniqueness of the application of the degree. When the society embraces change, the level of training does not matter as every degree becomes relevant (Zeigler 517).
Although, the liberal-arts degree may not offer exclusive impact to the productivity of the society, individuals become a major force in controlling the activities in the society (Graff and Cathy 232). They understand various systems and how they work towards the achievement of an exclusive society where education becomes a status and an element to help people in reasoning and acting together. People need to embrace the relevance of education without paying extensive attention to the values that do not necessarily matter (Muscatine 38). Education is an element for the dynamism of the society and not the irrelevant practices of the age of the education that the people wish to take at a particular time.
Are too many people going to college?
The article “Are too many people going to college?” by Charles Murray is highly educative or informative to the relevance of college education. However, some of the arguments made in the article are not extremely useful or significant to the definition of education in the modern age.
The education systems are not well developed to ensure full support for the students who wish to undertake courses that will add relevance to their lives (Graff and Cathy 234). Instead, the education system has focused on training students for the job market. They are not exposed to unique skills that would define their significance in the modern society (Zeigler 518). The education system is bringing in people in large numbers while the usefulness of the massive numbers is not evident.
However, an inclusive education system is highly relevant to the definition of the uniqueness of understanding the culture that surrounds certain people. At some point the modern education system may not support the definition of the cultural values that surround the society. People engage in education for the wrong reasons. When then educated individual cannot get a job, the system is regarded as irrelevant (Graff and Cathy 235). People do not find value in accessing the knowledge that would be highly useful outside the job environment.
It is relevant for the society to embrace core knowledge for all people (Graff and Cathy 236). It means the society has to remain keen on the accessibility of knowledge for the members than extensive college education that does not add value to the people. The relevance of an education system will only be based on the relevance of the knowledge gained in the transformation of the society. Therefore, knowledge is more relevant than academic training for the members of the society.
Works Cited
Bizzell, Patricia. "William Perry And Liberal Education". College English 46.5 (1984): 447. Web.
Graff, Gerald and Cathy Birkenstein. They Say / I Say. New York: W.W. Norton & Co., 2010. Print.
Muscatine, Charles. Fixing College Education. Charlottesville: University of Virginia Press, 2009. Print.
Zeigler, David. "Relevance In Education?". Evolution: Education and Outreach 1.4 (2008): 517-519. Web.
