Critical Analysis of College is a Waste of Time and Money - Article Example

?Critical analysis of College is a Waste of Time and Money: This paper is primarily based on presenting a critical/argumentative analysis of the article written by Caroline Bird which definitely caused huge uproar both in the intellectual and student circles. This article, as the name implies, attempts to introduce a very different approach to the issue of if students should go to college for learning or not and manages in shocking many parents, students, and teachers who strongly defend the conventional or traditional method of learning. It is clearly identifiable from the article that Bird has not expressed her views about college based learning for shock value merely, rather she actually has a firm conviction at heart that colleges in majority of the cases turn out to be a mere waste of wads of cash and many hours and she actually makes every effort in her article to defend this viewpoint. Though this article managed in satiating the minds of many thinkers out there who believe that earning a bachelor’s degree by making big commitments to the colleges in terms of time and money is an ineffective and rather clumsy way to get the real training, still many teachers and students themselves have reacted strongly negatively to Bird’s take on college based learning which is quite understandable. Now, there are two important things worth considering before getting all judgmental in this regard. First, if we think about the established reality which projects that the kind of role played by a teacher or scholar holds monumental importance and value for behavioral modification and general wellbeing of a student, the approach used by Bird to assess the importance of colleges immediately gets discarded. Next, it cannot be said that Bird’s article should be totally condemned or agonized since it lacks ground because concerning the common practice active presently among parents and students to waste wads of cash only after colleges’ or universities’ names, the possibility of a college to turn out to be a waste of cash and time may arise. This is because many times the real purpose of learning is lost when more attention is paid to the college’s name than on a student’s individual personality. It is an undeniable reality that a student who has the tendency to maintain lazy or defiant attitude and bad habits will remain just the same and behave as pathetically as a student even if he/she be enrolled at some of the most prestigious institution. In such cases, going to college does turn out to be a futile effort and a college definitely becomes a waste of time and money for such students, but Bird does not antagonize the conventional method of college based learning on this basis alone as she is seen going to different lengths in her article to nullify the concept of colleges for acquiring knowledge. Now, a college is seen by the vast majority of people as the central pillar or the support system upon which the whole building of learning could be supported. Bird disagrees openly from all such thinkers here. The argument used by her to antagonize the established thinking approach is that most of the students enrolled at different colleges in the present times have absolutely no sense of purpose as to why they are there in the college in the first place. This means that a student personally rarely ever has any strong motivation about staying in a particular college to learn. Most of them are just there because their mothers or fathers wanted them to be there or because their families wanted to show off to other relatives or friends about their son or daughter learning in some prestigious institution. Now, this can be passed off as a justified point brought up by Bird because students should personally be strongly motivated for going to colleges to learn and not only should they acknowledge this motivation but should also know how to defend their choice of going to colleges for learning. Next major point addressed by Bird in her article is that special attention should be paid to the real reason behind the parents’ motives to send their children to colleges to acquire knowledge about different fields of subjects. She stresses that in majority of the cases, parents have only vocational motives for sending their children to colleges. They want their children to go to college, learn something, get a respected degree from the institution so that they could then start some lucrative career. The purpose of parents and students to join colleges for learning becomes vocational thus so that money could be earned consequently. The point is that whether this vocational motive or purpose ever gets fulfilled concerning the nature of the course of studies which most colleges have to offer? Bird claims that the course of studies designed and offered by colleges largely serves only the liberal education which was a popular mode of education in the past times and does not coincide with the present learning motives which are about going to colleges to learn in order to make money. It is stressed in the article that if the curriculum practiced in colleges mirrors the classical learning objectives which set in huge contrast with the modern learning objectives, then how such a course of studies can be expected to be of any real value to the students of the present age who want to learn so that they could set up lucrative businesses or careers. Bird’s arguments cannot be believed to be purely valid or authentic as there are many colleges out there which offer the best and the most credible course of studies to the students. Students graduating from some of the most high end educational institutions are acknowledged by many high profile recruiting agencies and companies as the best learners who could be trusted with brilliant jobs. According to Bird, as the real purpose or motives of parents and students for joining college remain unaddressed by the type of educational approach considered by educational authorities, so college turns out to be a mere waste of time and money in the end result. If colleges are merely a waste of cash and time then why is it that there is more competition for getting admission in highly prestigious universities like Oxford, Cambridge, Harvard, and Stanford etc. than for many other less prestigious colleges? It is not merely because of the name of the college but due to the fact that students graduating from good colleges really have good employment opportunities waiting for them and some of them even have their jobs guaranteed by the time they finish their final exams. This proves that colleges do serve the vocational purpose also and Bird’s arguments are not foolproof. Summing up, this much remains clear from the above discussion that Bird attempts to persuade the readers through hear article that presently the colleges are fraught with students who do not belong there as either they do not know why they are there because they are sent by their parents to the colleges or the colleges do not it in their capacity to follow the right course of studies which would serve the vocational motives of the students who join colleges so that that they could make good money in the end. Now, this much remains clear if the basic purpose of the article is scrutinized that some ends or purposes might not be met ever if a college is supposed to be a means of time and money wastage. Among those basic purposes, the most important are personal grooming and certification. Also, joining college has many other benefits also like a teacher can actually help a student learn faster and develop better understanding about a certain subject in addition to the benefit of community learning. Read More