A Degree is Worth Much Less to Some Students - Research Paper Example

A Degree is Worth Much Less to Some Most people in America are losing confidence in education because it does not seem to offer what it promises. The worth of a degree has caused a controversial debate for some time now. Nemko and Murray have been writing critical essays concerning the issue. According to them, higher education is slowly becoming valueless in the American society. Each one of them backs his or her opinion adequately. Their essays have been causing a stir in society. This leads to the unanswered question on whether the quality of college education is worth the cost. American students spend a good fortune to pay for the highly coveted bachelor’s degree. However, there are varying opinions on whether the benefits of college of education surpass the cost. A critical analysis of the system indicates that college education does not guarantee students a better future and a great career. On the contrary, some graduates end up in desperation after college and the degree does not seem to help them maneuver their way out to success. I support Murray’s assertion that students have varied learning abilities. College education does not take notice of this fact but rather admits all willing students for degree programs. Although colleges consider basic academic qualifications, the selection criterion admits some students who end up struggling to cope with the four-year system. These spend more than the required four years in college because they retake some parts of the contents. After struggling for a long time, they still graduate without an honor’s degree. Since they do not excel, the many years investment does not bear any fruit (Nemko 1-3). University education promises students too much than it can offer. There is an emphasis that university education has the potential to offer students promising opportunities and that will enable them earn more than high school dropouts do. However, statistics indicate that the opposite is true. College students graduate and search endlessly for jobs they will never find. They end up in jobs that do not utilize the extra qualification they got from college. It is satirical that most of their bosses and workmates are but high school dropouts. These students feel wasted by the university education because it does not keep its promise in offering them better opportunities. American higher education is expensive and students joining higher education institutions such as colleges and universities part with a good fortune in order to obtain a degree or diploma. Some students get loans and grants to be able to pay for their tuition fees. These loans and grants are payable, most of the time with interest. Some students take more than four years in higher education courses, translating to an increased spending. Students take the risk of getting study loans because they believe that a degree will place them in a better position in society. However, the truth is that graduates do not always get good jobs. Therefore, they cannot repay their loans and they remain in debt. Situations compel such students to alter lifestyle preferences in order to be able to repay the loans. At this point of their lives, the only returns from college education are regrets and desperation. Bright students coming from rich families are the only ones who do not feel the pinch of the rising cost of education. After a long struggle to cope with the degree curriculum, some students decide to quit. Quitting marks an end to the career path they were trying to establish. After having wasted funds probably from a loan or the family’s savings, the individual quits. Funds and time wasted in a lost battle depress the individual. He or she has to start to start from scratch to rebuild their lives. The reasons for quitting lie in the nature of the university education system. The system practically drains some students. The courses are too demanding and the students cannot put up with the pressure of exams in higher education institutions. A few bright students manage without much difficulty but the bottom 40% of performance in high school ends up struggling in universities and colleges. The higher education curriculum does not provide a practical approach to careers. Statistics from some employers indicate that graduates are not adequately proficient. The curriculum is exam-oriented and this why some students quit. An exam-oriented curriculum denies the students an opportunity to express their creativity. It compels students to focus on passing the exams and not on the practical applications of the courses they are undertaking (Nemko 1-3). On graduating, these students lack competence in the job market. They have the papers but apparently, they cannot deliver up to the required standards. After wasting four of their years, they lack the potential to tackle real life situations. Statistics indicate that only a small percentage of students get good jobs on graduating. The American higher education does not address the issues it should in preparing the students to face the competitive world (Altbach et al 2). Higher education should equip students with knowledge and skills that prepare them to lead the country in driving the economy both economically and democratically. The National Report Card on Higher Education in 2004 indicated that the higher education curriculum was not doing its best in addressing the current demands of the nation (Hunt and Tierney 3). There is an increased rate of dropouts in the system. There is a continued worry that the quality and content of education students receive does not make a positive impact in the work force. This depicts that for some students, college and university education does not prepare them adequately for the workplace. According to the assessments, a good number of students who lack the potential to apply what they learn in carrying out tasks as they appear in the workplace. In 2004, the National Report Card on Higher Education established that only minority of students proved proficient in verbal and quantitative literacy (Miller and Ewell 17) Nemko and his supporters argue that higher education institutions are business-oriented and this assertion draws its evidence from a critical analysis of the situation. Most of the institutions do not care about student welfare. On the contrary, they collect tuition fees from the students but do not seek to assess the benefits of the education system to the students. Some institutions will allow students to waste funds paying tuition for extra years while they realize that the course is beyond a student’s ability. These institutions only care about the profits they make and not about the loss incurred by the students. In addition, some institutions do not improve curriculums to suit the emerging issues. In the end, these institutions produce graduates who are unable to keep up with the pace of the world ( Nemko 1-3). In addition, some higher education institutions lack to motivate professors and lecturers to improve on teaching methods. Only an interactive teaching style can benefit the students. However, this is not the case in many institutions. Assessments project that many professors cannot predict whether what they teach helps students after graduation (Miller and Ewell 7). They lack motivation from administrations that recognize lecturers who indulge in research that earns the institution money. Lecturers who transform students to become autonomous individuals who can contribute positively to the nation’s growth receive no credit. Lack of motivation for lecturers affects their teaching style negatively. They end up doing it like a routine but not with an objective of opening up the student’s minds. These students graduate without sufficient skills and knowledge for application in the outside world. This reduces the value of higher education. The degree courses offered in universities lack the roundedness they should have. The design of degree programs should have relevance in all aspects of an individual’s career (Hunt and Tierney 7). For example, biotechnology students in higher education institutions should undertake rigorous laboratory experiments and graduate with the potential to come with research projects that can benefit society. It is unfortunate that some of graduates from this field only have theoretical information that they cannot apply to build a career path in research work. Unless institutions take the assessment programs seriously and improve the quality of education, a degree will hold not value in society. Some of the students in high school have expressed their dissatisfaction with the curriculum in degree courses. Students lament that it is far below their expectations. While students join universities with high expectations of a four-year course that will prepare them for their career interest, find a seemingly irrelevant course outline. Students have to handle the resulting disappointment that affects them negatively. Some choose to persist while others drop out of school (Moss 120). Even those who persist lack the focus and zeal they had when joining college. On graduation, they realize that the degree course and time they wasted in school was not worth it. This explains why a large number of graduates would take a degree course if they had to make the choice again. Currently, there is crowding in higher education institutions. Because of this, there is a great influx of graduates into the job market. These graduates compete for the few job placements for graduate positions. Increased competition makes some students settle for less than they deserve in the job market. Even bright students with good papers are doing jobs that do not match their qualifications. It is disheartening for the individual and a loss to society. The individual feels underutilized while the society is sitting on potential instead of utilizing it positively. In comparison to students who join vocational training institutions or take up short certificates after high school, graduates earn much less in real life. Some certificates taken after high school equip an individual with skills that enable them to establish self-employment. These skills include mechanics, catering, and welding as well as others in certificate programs. While graduates struggle to find jobs, the certificate lot gets an easy absorption in the job market and makes more money. This makes degrees seem so valueless. Obtaining a bachelor’s degree may prove beneficial to some individuals in society. Those who are lucky manage to graduate with good degrees that land them good jobs. However, the percentage of those gaining benefits from a degree keeps going down. To majority of the graduates, the degree does not bring a major difference to their lives. Most of them only cite social benefits but in terms of career development, the higher education department fails greatly (Hunt and Tierney 8). Nemko argues that the bachelor’s degree has received overrating from society. This assertion is critical and reveals that while many students and society expect a lot from the bachelor’s degree but that is not what they get in return. A bachelor’s degree remains beneficial to a few students in America. Most of the students complain that high school did not prepare them efficiently for the degree program. Only students who portray the ability to learn manage to sail through university and benefit from it (Nemko 1-3). Murray argues that majority of the students are below average in ability and placing them in university will waste their lives. Although America targets to have an all inclusive education system that not all students can cope with the procedure of obtaining a degree, will improve the system. These students will be better off in vocational training because taking up a degree course will drain them leaving them with the feeling that they are failures. It is evident that the four years spent in obtaining bachelor’s degree may turn out to be a waste of time. Some students incur debt to pay for the tuition fees expecting a good and a good pay but instead thy end up in ordinary jobs. They earn little from these jobs such that they remain in debt for the bigger part of their life. In addition, institutions are offering low quality degrees that do not equip students with sufficient skills and knowledge in the workplace. As indicated above, a degree offers too little while in essence it is too expensive. A degree remains worthwhile to only a few students. To the majority of graduates, it has little worth. Work Cited Altbach, Phillip. et al. American Higher Education in the Twenty-First Century: Social, Political, and Economic Challenges. Maryland: JHU Press, 2011. Print. Hunt, James and Tierney, Thomas. American higher education: how does it measure up for the 21st century? Web, Mar. 22 2012. Miller, Margaret and Ewell, Peter. Measuring up on college-level learning. Web, Mar. 22 2012. Moss, Mark. Education and Its Discontents: Teaching, the Humanities, and the Importance of a Liberal Education in the Age of Mass Information. New York: Lexington Books, 2011. Print. Nemko, Marty. The all-in-one college guide. New York: Barron's Educational Series, 2004.Print. Read More