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College is a Fraud
College is a Fraud
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JULY 04, 2020
College is a Fraud
College used to be the dream for every student in the United States. However, there has been a radical shift in thought about the usefulness of college in helping one achieve the American dream. Nowadays, most college students do not view a college education as a key to their future. Instead, self-acquisition of knowledge on their fields of choice and the accompanying relevant skills has taken the center of the debate. Various research studies conducted on this topic, among college students, have given countless reasons for this thought pattern. The studies mostly infer that, indeed, college is a fraud. College education takes more from the student than what the student gets in return. There are many explanations in support of this assertion.
First, a college education is unnecessarily costly. According to the National Center for Education Statistics, the total cost per full-time student for a bachelor’s degree in private institutions and public institutions was at $26,593and $19,488 respectively, for the academic year 2017-18. Apart from the tuition fees, there are other costs such as rent and textbook expenses for various course units where tutors often make particular recommendations for students in order to pass examinations. Statistics also show that these expenses have exponentially increased over the last decade at a rate of 31%. Whereas the key reason given for this increase is the financial inflation that the US economy has been experiencing over the period, I believe the commercialization of higher education has also significantly contributed to it. Most institutions, public and private, have shifted their focus to profits with considerable amounts of institutional revenues being channeled to marketing and public relations with the goal of admitting as many students as possible. This increases institutional expenses which translate to higher tuition fees. Consequently, students who get admission into college have to take up student loans to support themselves through college. In addition to that, high-paying job opportunities are not also a guarantee and most college graduates end up financially constrained due to the requisite loan repayments they have to make. In a nutshell, college students accrue huge amounts of debt on campus due to high tuition costs when they can cheaply learn the same thing through available resources over the internet.
Secondly, contemporary colleges are primarily profit-oriented rather than education-oriented thus making them unattractive for those seeking knowledge and skills. According to Educationdata.Org, the cost of education in the United States has skyrocketed between the years 1978-2019 by 1375%. As stated earlier, this is attributed to financial inflation and the profit-driven nature of colleges. This profit motive has led to bankruptcy and consequent shutting down of some institutions when institutional debts incurred in funding these business practices outweighed the institutions’ revenue. For instance, DeVry University had to pay $100 million settlement to its students in a Federal Trade Commission lawsuit for alleged complain of misleading advertisements on job placement rates and income levels for their graduates in various media outlets. This was the same case for Trump University which had to pay $25 million in settlement. The worst case was that of ITT Tech that had to shut down after being declared bankrupt in 2016. It had misleading job placement rates adverts, a lack of accreditation for some of its programs and expensive private loans to students. The marketing malpractices led to lawsuits which showed that the institution was actually surviving on federal government bailouts. These examples and many more show the greed that is currently driving commercialized college education which has consequently eroded the student’s trust.
Lastly, most employers no longer hire primarily based on college degrees but based on skills. According to statistics by the National Association of Colleges and Employers, nearly 98% of employers see the skills gap among most of their college recruits. It showed that 65% of college students were lacking in oral and written communication skills, application of knowledge and skills learned in school to real-world situations and critical thinking. Additionally, companies such as Tesla Inc., Google LLC, and Apple Inc. have openly stated that a college degree is not a prerequisite for recruitment in their organizations. The majority of employers need recruits to have relevant skills for a particular job before hiring them. This makes college education very unattractive. According to statistics by Educationdata.Org, the general drop-out rate of college students is approximately 40% and 30% are freshmen who drop-out before their sophomore year. Also, over half of all Americans between the ages of 25-35 years do not have any academic credentials beyond a high school diploma. This is a point to the fact that most Americans prefer going for pertinent self-taught skills that will make them employable after high school, rather than attending a college.
In sum, college education actually takes more from a student in terms of, time and money without giving equal returns in the form of relevant skills that leads to employability. Essentially, attending college is a tradeoff since one has to choose to either spend four years of their life in a classroom as well as thousands of dollars in tuition fees or to spend less time teaching themselves a skill and look for employment where the skill is relevant. Whichever the choice, one loses more with a college education than without.
College Essay for Application
College Essay for Application
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College Essay for Application
Two minutes left on the clock against our biggest rival at the championship, Clarkson High, but the score was still a tie, 3-3. My team kept pressing so much. Finally, our midfielder receives the ball, lifting it over Clarkston’s left midfielder. The crowd had already started cheering as our midfielder dribbled down the field. Each of our fans stood on tiptoes with their teeth clenched. Our midfielder reverse hits the ball to our right forward. Our competitor’s fans remained silent, wondering what was about to happen. Unfortunately, the ball rolled out of bounds, and a perfect goal-scoring opportunity was missed. The coaches seemed deflated. Before our defense has time to drop back, the ball is flying down the sideline, with only forty-five seconds left to play. Slotted across the 16-yard box, the ball glides out of reach for our defense. Bang-Goal! They rush to celebrate in a huddle; parents erupt in cheers. Zeros on the clock. We lost by one goal in the last moments of the match; we had lost the State Championship.
For a moment, there is a defining silence. Seconds later, the buzzer sounds, breaking the silence as the crowd erupts. Gloves, sticks, and helmets scatter the ice as our rival team jumps on the glass to celebrate their victory. Our dream had been to make it to the state tournament, but at this moment, our pride and dreams had been shattered. The loss was quite agonizing, and we could not bear it. It could be seen in my teammates’ eyes. Some of them cried uncontrollably after losing the match. However, we believed that lessons learned from this defeat would carry us underclassmen to work and try even harder the next season.
My hockey team, Detroit Country Day field hockey, had to prepare early enough for the next season. We had to endure several changes and a rough patch because some seniors were not returning the following year. Coach Geyman appointed me as the new captain in hopes of instilling a new team spirit. Our coach’s confidence in me made me believe in myself and took the position. Although it was my first time to be appointed a leader, I wanted to be a leader that left an impression on the underclassmen.
Being a first-time leader, it was not easy to deal with a team that had its pride and dreams shattered. I knew very well that the team required a patient leader with a vision and desire to succeed. However, I needed the training to become this type of leader. I enrolled in a coaching session to help me grow my leadership skills and make the best for my team. During the coaching, I learned that it is important to celebrate our efforts regardless of wins and losses, something that our team did not uphold when we lost the championship. I learned that celebrating what we have worked hard to learn is important, sometimes than the number of wins we get. Upon learning to appreciate our efforts, I stilled the same spirit in my team, and every team member seemed re-energized. Although we had not made it to the state tournament the previous season, we had improved our playing skills to higher levels. As a team, we gained appreciation of it.
Also, the coaching helped me learn much about what it takes to be a true leader. I learned that being a leader does not place a person above their teammates physically, morally, or mentally. Instead, it sets the leader as a guide to keeping the teammates on track. Therefore, as the captain, I focused more on giving my teammates directions and helping them achieve their goals. I also ensured that my teammates did not perceive me as a leader who felt superior to others. I embraced the spirit of democracy, where I considered all teammates equal, and I was always interested in listening to the views and opinions of each teammate. We would sit together as a team and devise a solution in case of any issue. Serving as a hockey team captain helped me develop my leadership skills and acquire the attributes of a great leader, which have served me incredibly well in developing teammates and other people to succeed. I hope to continue growing these skills and attributes so that I can become a better leader in the future.
College Education
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How College Education is Different for Millennials and Generation X
Introduction
Generation X refers to people born between 1965 and 1980, while millennials are individuals born between 1981 and 1996. Compared to their parents, the lives that millennials lead are entirely different from those their parents lived when they were their age. The college experiences have changed drastically over the years. It is no secret that current generations are more learned than all other preceding generations of people with the number of young adults holding a bachelor’s degree rising steadily from 1968. This text discusses the differences in education experience between millennials and generation X as regards the cost, diversity, religiousness and technological advancements.
College Education is More Expensive Today
One of the ways in which college education differs for generation X and millenials is that it is more costly than it was a few decades ago, between 1965 and 1980. According to statistics, the cost of college tuition has doubled in number since the 1980s. Worth noting, between the 1980s and 2018 academic year, the cost of attaining an undergraduate degree increased by 213% in public schools to adjust for inflation. Additionally, the annual public tuition fees were $1 490 compared to today’s exorbitant price of $9,970. When adjusted for inflation, private tuitions saw a 129% increase in tuition fees for the same period. On the other hand, during the 1980s, a private undergraduate degree costs $7 050 and equivalent of $15 160 in today’s currency. On the contrary, its costs an average of $34 740 to complete a Bachelor’s degree today. As a matter of fact, college education in the States is expensive to the extent that federal and local governments finance it. The majority of students who take up student loans to finance their college education graduate with student loans amounting to up to 40,000 dollars which they repay once they have graduated and found employment.
College Education for Millennials is More Technologically Advanced.
Secondly, another difference is that the current college education is more technologically advanced than that generation X experienced. Millennials enjoy great benefits of technology, such as the use of laptops, iPods, and mobile devices, which their parents never enjoyed because there was no internet at the time. Although electronic gadgets have made learning easier and convenient, they have their downside too because they distract students. The college education experience for millennials has completely revolutionized because if they happen to miss a class, most lectures provide them with recorded lectures (Enam and Karthik, 70). Additionally, desktops and typewriters have been replaced with laptops which they use to take notes in class. Furthermore, millennials are in a better position than generation X because they use computers instead of writing notes manually. Students also rate professors online and use social media to stay connected to each other. These are privileges that generation X individuals could not enjoy because back them technology was not as advanced as it is today.
Increased Ethnic and Culturally Diverse Student Population.
Diversity is the third factor that shows how different the college experiences for millennials were from those of their parents. Statistics drastically suggest that since 1970, the student population in colleges has transformed. 2018, a student research project carried out by Chegg, a renowned educational company, found a minority enrollment of 42% compared to 15% in 1970. This is after sampling a population of 1,000 students. It’s worth noting that females comprise more than 50% of the total student population compared to 1970 when they less than half. Moreover, millennials are also attending colleges while they are a bit older than before. Currently, 40% of millennial student populations are more than 25 years old in comparison to 28 years during the previous years.
Millennials are Not As Religious as Generation X
Religion is another aspect that shows the differences between college education between millenials and generation X. The Huffington Post posits that the number of college first years that do not identify with religion has risen from 16% in 2005 to 15% in 2014 (Kurz, Geng, and Daniel, 194). The research cited the University of California’s Cooperative Institutional Research programs, which surveyed over 150,000 full-time first-year students in over 200 universities and colleges. Additionally, the number of students in catholic colleges that do not identify with any religion rose by over 4% during the period in review. Moreover, the percentage of college students that do not associate with religion in religious institutions also rose. This is contrary to generation X, who were more religious than millennials.
Conclusion
In closing, the college experiences of generation X is very different from that of millennial. The cost of a college education has increased over the years, and college students’ composition has become more diverse. Moreover, Millennials are lucky as they currently employ technology in their learning, which generation X did not encounter because back- technology was not as advanced as today. Further, millennials are less religious than their generation X counterparts. Both generations had unique experiences in college education and while some are negative majority are positive.
Works Cited
Enam, Annesha, and Karthik C. Konduri. “Time allocation behavior of twentieth-century American generations: GI generation, silent generation, baby boomers, generation X, and millennials.” Transportation Research Record 2672.49 (2018): 69-80.
Kurz, Christopher J., Geng Li, and Daniel J. Vine. “Are millennials different?.” Handbook of US consumer economics. Academic Press, 2019. 193-232.