A College Education: What Is Its Purpose - Essay Example

College Education: What Is Its Purpose? The motive behind most people getting admitted to college is simply to make them more saleable to the prospective job providers. Today people having greater degree are more favored by the employers. However the purpose of college education is not just making a person job-ready but also to enhance their skill and knowledge. It is the foundation block for the rest of their days and will help building better sense of responsibility, awareness and humanity that will transform the entire perspective of the person.

It will help the person to look at the bigger picture and take proper decision in advance. During the school days a person remains immature and thus it keeps them away from all the serious matters of the society as well as within their home. But as these people enter the college, they are regarded as “adults” by the society and they are considered to be responsible citizens. Therefore college education makes the student to think thoroughly, solve issues innovatively, interact efficiently, have a width of perception entrenched in knowledge along with cultures and ideas diverse than the person’s own notions, and ultimately it helps a person to recognize the means of learning for life (Margaret 2013).

The cynicisms about the worth of college education continue mainly among pundits, number crunchers and politicians. "It's time to drop the college-for-all crusade," states the fiscal contributor Robert J. Samuelson. "Do too many young people go to college?" was the question asked by a Wall Street Journal article in which specialists argued "whether a numerous students would get benefitted by spending their money and time on some other domain." There was a controversial statement by an economist from George Mason University: "How many college-educated janitors do we need?

" (Carlson 2013) Mills states that life consists of so many facets like family, friends, society, profession, colleagues, environment etc. and college education not only makes a person prepared for their professional life but also for the other aspects which are equally important. The knowledge imparted through college education is an asset for the entire life and not just for fetching good salary. However in this regard Spayde stated that formal education is a vital necessity but at the same time power and class simultaneously plays significant role in the sector of college education (Spayde 1998).

For instance, the graduates from world class universities like Stanford and Harvard would be offered the designations at workplace to prepare the work schedules for those who have acquired their degree from a not so famous, regional college. Thus in the modern era, college education has become much like a status symbol which makes the person detached from the society and their community if they do not possess it. A survey based on the comparison between the earnings of a college graduate and a high school graduate states that a particular college graduate receives an estimated amount of $650,000 additional than a general high school graduate person, over the duration of a work life of 40-years.

The illustration below shows a more specific calculation- Source: Pew Research Social & Demographic Trends 2011 We can conclude the discussion with the report by Charles Murray. It has been discussed by Murray that Barack Obama has put forth 2 potential ideas for developing the post-secondary education by increasing the use of public colleges and the educational taxes but for making these happen, a broader platform is required. Further Murray states that college education is for the rich and for the people attracted towards higher education.

However most of the students attend college with the mindset of learning how to get a handsome pay package. According to Murray, “For most of the nation’s youths, making the bachelor’s degree a job qualification means demanding a credential that is beyond their reach.” However the actual purpose of college education i.e. to impart knowledge for a lifetime gets neglected to a large extent (Murray 2008). The author considers that a large portion of the students are not intellectual enough to carry out the college level education and they join colleges just for the sake of getting those credentials.

The author puts forward a simple solution for this issue. He argues that “discarding the bachelor’s degree as a job qualification” would prove to be beneficial in dealing with this issue and the degrees and credentials could always be substituted with certification tests that will prove the applicant’s ability right on the spot. Works Cited Spayde, Jon. "Learning In The Key Of Life." Utne Reader (87500256) 87 (1998): 44. Academic Search Complete. Web. 21 Oct. 2013. FOSTER, MARGARET.

"College's Raison D'etre." American Scholar 82.3 (2013): 120. Academic Search Complete. Web. 21 Oct. 2013. CARLSON, SCOTT. "How To Assess The Real Payoff Of A College Degree." Chronicle Of Higher Education59.33 (2013): A26-A32. Religion and Philosophy Collection. Web. 21 Oct. 2013. MURRAY, CHARLES. "Should the Obama Generation Drop Out?." New York Times 28 Dec. 2008: 9. Academic Search Complete. Web. 21 Oct. 2013.