Informative Speech
Specific Purpose: Informing the audience on why college education will go a long way in helping every individual in his or her social and work life.
Thesis: The education attained at the college level extends beyond the walls of the classroom, as aside from monetary benefits, the attitudes and ideologies gained in campus are significant in life.
Introduction
Attention getter: Frederick Douglass, a self-emancipated slave from the antebellum period, published a Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass a mere seven years after running away from his master. In the text, Douglass depicted what the lives of persons of African descent were like in the slave-holding States of the South and as a result informed his readers of the nature of slavery at the time. According to the man, education was the pathway to freedom just because the Caucasians forbade their slaves from getting any formal learning since they were afraid of what an educated colored individual might do to the slavery system. Now, what was so special about Douglass’ ideas? Well, a Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass was subject to an educated slave who relied on poor white children to teach him how to read and write.
Establishment of Ethos: Education has for years acted as the literal and figurative key to freedom, and claims to the irrelevance of college education downplay centuries of provable facts that show the contrary.
Thematic statement: The education attained at the college level goes beyond the walls of the classroom, as aside from monetary benefits, the attitudes and ideologies gained in campus are significant in life.
Preview of Main Points:
First, I will discuss the impact of college education on attitudes.
Next, I will acknowledge the arguments against its importance.
Finally, I will discuss the economic advantages of a college education.
Body
Unlike the other stages of education, at the college level, students experience an entirely different environment regarding cultures and ideas.
When going off to college, most students are legal adults and for that reason, have the option to choose learning institutions located far away from home where they gain accommodation within and outside the school compound.
Jeffrey J. Selingo writes that the new residential experiences help adolescents transition into young adults as they learn to be responsible for themselves (121).
As they live with different people and participate in new activities, they gain exposure to new cultures that go on to shape their adult lives.
Accordingly, a study conducted in 2004 revealed that an estimated seventy-three percent college graduates insisted on the importance of “understand the reasoning behind the opinions of others” while fifty-nine percent of high school dropouts agreed to the same (Baum and Ma, 28).
Transition: Now that we have learned the nature of college as a school of life itself, I will discuss the anti-college stand.
The main argument against college education revolves around the total cost of the same as tuition fees and living expenses continue to rise.
In the words of William John Bennett and David Wilezol, higher education has become “exorbitantly expensive and inefficient” (156).
Apparently, while the price of a college degree continues to rise, institutions have become “lax in enforcing academic standards’ lest they lose students and the money earned through tuition (Bennett and Wilezol 139).
In that sense, a college education becomes a “lose-lose” situation as parents give more money only to have sub-standard documents that claim their children's prowess in their areas of study.
Transition: With the given facts in mind, I will go on to argue that the economic advantages of a college education more than repays the monetary sacrifices made regarding better jobs.
Persons with college education gain have higher chances of getting well-paying work opportunities and are valuable enough to influence the salary rates in labor institutions.
In 2007, studies carried out in the United States revealed that a mere sixty percent of high school dropouts aged between sixteen and twenty-four years old gained employment in that year (Sum et al. 5). Concurrently, the same studies showed that between eighty-eight and eighty-nine percent of individuals with post-secondary schooling gained employment all year round (Sum et al. 5).
Additionally, employers that hired college graduates paid significantly higher salaries than those who accepted employees with lower education levels. Sandy Baum and Jennifer Ma discovered a 1.2 percent increase in the wages of populations with workers holding four-year college degrees (17).
Thus, there is a positive correlation between college education and high earnings for all persons, regardless of ethnicity and gender.
Conclusion
Summary and Thesis Restatement: Evidently, a college education has no pros than cons. After all, the point of seeking a higher education revolves around the financial securities in the future. A columnist for The New Yorker, Rebecca Mead, argues that all spheres of life demand an education degree that is higher than the one achieved in high school. From politicians to business owners, it is apparent that college education is central to success. After all, college education influences work opportunities and one’s perceptions in life.
Review of main points
First, I considered the abstract gains of a college education by focusing on attitudes.
Secondly, for fairness, I analyzed the main anti-college education idea, which happened to be money related.
Thirdly, I argued that money spent in college would reap more money in the future.
Ties to the Introduction: Frederick Douglass sought to escape slavery through education. What is slavery? Personally, I believe poverty is the modern form of slavery. When impoverished, people become targets of exploitation, and as long as they have no money, they cannot seek any justice or walk away from a bad situation. Frederick Douglass realized the reality of my claims in the nineteenth century.
Conclusion: It is not a matter of racial groups and gender anymore. It is all about qualifications. People will never rise above the constraints of culture and finances if they do not work for what they need. Gain that college education, and see what happens.
Works Cited
Sum, Andrew, Ishwar Khatiwada, Joseph McLaughlin, and Sheila Palma. The Consequences of Dropping Out of High School: Joblessness and Jailing for High School Dropouts and the High Cost for Taxpayers. n.d. Web. 5 April 2016. <www.americaspromise.org>.
Douglass, Frederick. Narrative Of The Life Of Frederick Douglass, An American Slave. Boston: Anti-Slavery Office, 1845. Print.
Ma, Sandy Baum and Jennifer. "Education Pays 2007: The Benefits of Higher Education for Individuals and Society." 2007. College Board. Web. 1 April 2016. <http://www.collegeboard.com/prod_downloads/about/news_info/cbsenior/yr2007/ed-pays-2007.pdf>.
Mead, Rebecca. "Learning By Degrees." The New Yorker 7 JUNE 2010. Web. <http://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2010/06/07/learning-by-degrees>.
Selingo, Jeffrey J. College (Un)Bound: The Future of Higher Education and What It Means for Students. Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2013. Print.
William David Wilezol, and John Bennett. Is College Worth It?: A Former United States Secretary of Education and a Liberal Arts Graduate Expose the Broken Promise of Higher Education. Nashville: Thomas Nelson Inc, 2013 . Print.
