There is a need to evaluate whether too many people are going to college or not. The answer requires consideration of colleges as a place where liberal education is acquired, rather than a place where the students gain knowledge that fit them in some special modes of earning a livelihood. This study considers colleges to be the four-year post-secondary institution. If colleges are viewed as a place which cultivates human beings, then college education should not be restricted to a few people. This is an argumentative essay on whether too many people go to college or not.
Arguments For
For one to secure a decent job in the country, he or she needs to have gone through post-secondary education and also have some credential. However, the credential does not have to be a college education, (Allen 26). Considering this fact, then too many people are going to college even those who are academically marginal. Most of them cannot even afford to pay their college loans after school since most graduates make $35,000 or less.
Allen (41) describes colleges as being oversold which makes it impossible to offer quality services to the students. Rather than choosing college education, half the college graduates would have been off if they wanted other post-secondary education. The large numbers of people who are joining colleges have made it difficult to make the education pay off.
A college education was considered to be a traditional path some few decades ago. However, the American colleges no longer function that way since the paradigm has collapsed. Rather than leading to straightforward well-paying jobs, a college education does not guarantee employment in today's society. The large numbers of people who fail to benefit from a college education are as a result of the failure to plan for the risks involved in it.
A college education was acquired by 7% of the students approximately fifty years ago, (Snyder et al. 820). Although not a written rule, a college education was for the academically elite only whose average IQ was 120. On the other hand, more than 45% of today's students join college which represents a substantial number, (Snyder et al. 817). Rather than getting the personalized attention that college students were traditionally getting from the professors, today's students are frequently dumbed down. This explains why more students are ending up in remedial courses, hence increasing the cost of college education.
There is an issue in the supply versus demand of college graduates. The 45% of secondary school graduates join the college with inadequate knowledge of the prevailing competition. More and more students are graduating from colleges with the expectation of securing a well-paying job. However, research has confirmed that the job market has been undergoing restructuring since the 20th century, (Allen 53). The job market is changing from the traditional workforce to a state whereby employees are greatly disenfranchised. Employees are currently experiencing less employment leverage, perks, as well as stability. The colleges produced about 15 million graduates over the period between 2005 and 2015, a period whereby 94% of the net job growth was in alternative categories rather than the traditional full-time employment.
A comparison of the job market and the current number of students who are going to college confirms that the number is too large. Allen (47) confirms that the ratio of jobs in the U.S. economy is 1:2:7 which mean that for every job that requires a master's degree, there are two jobs which need a college degree and seven other which require other forms of post-secondary education such as technicians. Rather than finding technical certification of choice, most high school graduates are joining colleges which lead to incompetent qualifications according to the job market needs. The current professional jobs are controlled by capitalism rather than academia. College graduates were good to go regardless of the kind of degree in the past. Prospective employers already have at least two suitable candidates with degrees for every job vacancy, (Snyder et al. 653).
Arguments Against
The number of high school graduates has been rising. For instance, 82% of high school seniors graduated in 2014 while statistics confirm that 81% graduated in 2013, (Settersten et al. 41). The increase has been attributed to the positive strides made in education by disadvantaged students as well as those who are from marginalized communities. Although this has led to an increase in the number of students who enroll for a college education, it is worth noting that they are not too many. Settersten et al. (37) suggest that the percentage of college graduates in 2013 were 66 while that of 2008 69.
With the need for competency in every field, taking the non-college path has become increasingly impractical in today's world. Although a college education is becoming more expensive, it is worth noting that the college wage premium has been increasing over the past few decades. There is, therefore, a rising cost of not going to college whereby one might prevent promotion at the workplace and also fail to acquire the people skills as well as the cultivation that college education offers. Young college graduates are currently outperforming their peers who have not gone through college education, (Cohen et al. 32). The difference is also evident between graduates and those who start but fail to finish their college education. The need for the skills, knowledge, and the abilities provided by college education raises the need for more students to go through it.
The main obstacle that has led to more secondary school graduates failing to enroll in a college education is limited information. Most students are not capable of connecting their position in the economy and the value of college education. Despite the increase in the number of college graduates, the percentage of high school graduates who possess college education has reduced. There is an excellent push among policymakers towards the adoption of information systems that encourage transparency on the return on investment on college education. The systems are aimed at encouraging more students to acquire a college education, hence confirming the fact that the people going to colleges are not too many.
Students often find the brick-and-mortar college to be progressively obsolete over the years. The physical infrastructure that attracted students to the four-year colleges in the past was founded on three reasons. To begin with, a sound library was a requirement for post-high school education, and colleges were the only institutions which afforded good libraries through economies of scale. This is not the case in today's world where learning materials can be obtained through the internet which has also made distance learning a reality. Secondly, colleges were essential in helping scholars realize physical proximity, a factor that has been overcome by the virtual interactions that take place through modern technology. Finally, interactions between professors and students would only take place in the college set-up traditionally, which means that one had to enroll for a college. The current world does not require one to enroll in a college to gain a higher education since there are many ways in which students can interact with their teachers. The fading of the rationale for the brick-and-mortar college has ensured that the students who enroll for college education are not too many.
Conclusion
Students enroll in colleges with the aim of securing a well-paying job which requires some credentials. Because these credentials do not need to be a college education, then too many people are enrolling for a college education. The high cost of college education with most graduates finding it hard or impossible to clear their student loans is a clear indication that too many students join colleges. The job ratio of the jobs that needs a master's degree, a degree, and a technical course is 1:2:7. The ratio does not correspond to the number of students who join the respective higher institutions since approximately 45% of high school graduates join colleges.
On the other hand, this study has succeeded in discussing arguments against the fact that too many students join colleges. To begin with, the college infrastructure that attracted students in the past such as libraries is increasingly becoming obsolete. The number of students who are graduating from high schools has increased, hence explaining the increase in the number of college graduates which does not necessarily translate into an increased percentage of students who join colleges. Having considered the arguments for and against, this study concludes that the people who are going to colleges are not too many. A college education is required not only for employment but also to cultivate the best out of people's ability and college graduates perform better than their peers who did not go to college in the job market.
Works Cited
Allen, I. Elaine, and Jeff Seaman. Going the distance: Online education in the United States, 2011. Sloan Consortium. PO Box 1238, Newburyport, MA 01950, 2011.
Cohen, Arthur M., and Florence B. Brawer. The American community college. John Wiley & Sons, 2003.
Settersten Jr, Richard A., and Barbara Ray. "What's going on with young people today? The long and twisting path to adulthood." The future of children (2014): 19-41.
Snyder, C. Richard, et al. "Hope and academic success in college." Journal of educational psychology 94.4 (2002): 820.
