Persuasive/Higher Education - Essay Example

number Section Persuasive/Higher Education Introduction Higher education is the stage at which learning occurs in tertiary institutions. It is the stage of learning that happens in universities, colleges, academies and also in institutes of technology. Higher education also occurs in places that include schools that teach certain material such as certification material that is associated with a certain profession. Higher education is a level of education that individuals follow upon completion of secondary school education (Gutting, 03).

Higher education usually involves techniques that compose of teaching, researching, using the work extracted in the field to come up with a reasonable and final conclusion. It also involves dealing with the social activities that are present in institutions of higher learning (Edmundson, 01). Some support the need for higher education while others see it as a waste of time and resources. In this essay, attention will be directed towards higher education and its significance. Several people have written about higher education and its significance; Gary Gutting wrote, “What is College For”, Mark Edmundson wrote “On the Uses of Liberal Education and David Leonhardt wrote “Even for Cashiers, College pays off”.

In this essay, attention will be focused on the literature written by David Leonhardt. According to David Leonhardt, college education is essential in ensuring that individuals are successful in their careers (Leonhardt, 02). He goes on to say that a college education gives a person an added advantage in terms of jobs and the overall success of an individual. According to his article, college education brings about the difference between a person who completed school without any valid document and a person who completed school with a degree.

According to David, higher education is everything to an individual who wants to succeed (Leonhardt, 02). According to me, college education is not everything that a person has to depend on in order to succeed. College education, in my view, does not justify the success or failure of a person in life. My point is that college is not worth spending so much time. There are numerous opportunities that are available without the need to show a degree in order to show that one is past a certain educational level (Smart, 12).

Taking a look at college education, it is much overrated. Higher education is shown as the pillar at which success is based on. However, there is a need to understand one major thing that people undermine; college education is overrated, yet without the proper skills to go with that college education, then that college degree that one hold to their name is useless. Skills are what are required in order for one to succeed. Innovation does not require a degree, but in order to innovate something commendable, then there has to be a skill that is involved (Smart, 13).

People rush to take college education because members of their family have been through college, or because they are forced to go to college. It is true to state that knowledge is power, but one does not have to go to college in order to gain that knowledge that will give them power. Such misguidance should not exist, and in particular at this modern time where technology goes on improving; for example, the retailing sector. The industry has been a major success, yet it is a career choice that does not require one to succeed with a degree or even with experience (Dunne, Patrick, Robert, and James, 23).

This is a perfect example that what are needed in order for one to succeed are the skills. Without the skill set required to do a certain job or to pursue a certain career, even a degree is not useful since one will fail (Smart, 15). With the rising numbers of people who are going to college to get a degree, there are the risks that they will not get jobs, or that they will get jobs that they did not even take a course for. There are some individuals who dropped out of school or even make more money than those who completed school or even than those who have degrees.

Some of the people who attend college are influenced by their friends and family. They see that is they do not get a college degree they will be labeled as failures (Smart, 18). Then after completion of college, their degree does not help them in any way. There is no need for one to waste valuable time in college yet they have the skill, motivation and willpower to succeed. The thing that one does best is the one that is done from the heart, not from being influenced or coerced. One enjoys more benefits that accrue from their skill and their passion rather than those done because the returns comprise or large amounts of money.

Taking a look at business owners, most do not own a college degree. Some dropped out of school and others did not attend school in any way (Smart, 19). Yet with all this setbacks, they have managed to become successful in their business world. They make annual returns that would make those with college degrees envious. The bottom line of higher education is that; college education is overrated, but skills are not. Works Cited Gutting, Gary. What is College For? Web. February 13, 2012. Available at Dunne, Patrick M, Robert F.

Lusch, and James R. Carver. Retailing. Mason, OH: South-Western Cengage Learning, 2011. Print. Edmundson, Mark. The Uses of Liberal Education. Web. February 13, 2012. Available at Leonhardt, David. Even for Cashiers, College pays off. Web. February 13, 2012. Available at Smart, John C. Higher Education: Handbook of Theory and Research. Dordrecht: Springer, 2009. Print.