College...is it enough these days???

              

                 Is college good enough? For some people this is a question that they have asked them self’s many, many times. Then are some people who honestly think that, that question isn't a question at all! They believe that college is an absolute, nonnegotiable part of life that must happen. As college gets more and more accessible to every young adult in America, we honestly do need to ask ourselves if we need to attend college.

             The first main topic that comes up when discussing if college is enough, is the very real issue of debt after college. This is a problem that people need to deal with personally, not a topic that should be answered for everyone as a whole, because the fact of the matter is, that not everyone will be able to handle debt after college. In the words of John Lawrence , “I challenge the conventional wisdom that with a college degree you will be better off in the long run. For one thing that debt can never be discharged in bankruptcy. It will follow you the rest of your life. Even social security checks can be garnished to pay it. Student loan debt has more than quintupled since 1999. Earlier this year American collective student loan debt passed the one trillion dollar mark, more than the nation’s collective credit card debt.” It all depends on the career you pursue, as you might recall from my previous blog, if you project that you will have student loans of $10,000 dollars a year, then you will need to find a job with a beginning salary of $40,000. So, all in all it is a personal problem that you need to discuss with yourself and the people you trust the most.

             

                 Another reason of concern is if a regular bachelors degree is good enough for a job these days. This a very touchy subject just by the fact that for some careers is it perfect, for some its not enough, and also for some it might even be over qualified. If your wanting to go into areas of occupation in the form of the medical field then it is a given that you would need to pursue a masters, and in many cases a doctorate. On the other hand if you are wanting to become a construction worker or for some reason a waiter/waitress, then pursuing more than a bachelors would be overqualified and in a way it would be pointless. In the case of the majority of the job market in this day and age, a bachelors degree is plenty enough for a good job. Let me add also that for all of the jobs you apply for after college, there is likely to be a numerous amount of people putting in applications for that very same job. So I would take in to account the words of David Dunkerley who addressees the question about a bachelors degree being good enough, “There is no straightforward answer to this question, although with the competition for jobs being fairly intense there is little doubt that people with higher qualifications will have the edge in many cases.” So whatever you can do to increases your chances of getting the certain job that you want, and you feel that the risk is worth the reward, then do it! Whether it is getting a good grade point average, or being in a certain club, if you feel it will help you, then there is no reason not to pursue something that will benefit you in the long run.

            

                  I recently read a very thought provoking comic about college, one part in particular got me thinking, “You are here to do whatever for three to five years in order to get a piece of paper that is essentially a claim check for twenty percent more life-time earnings. Meanwhile, enjoy these free novelty hats.” The minute I read this I starting thinking, and the more and more I read it, the more and more I agreed with what was said. There are so many different degrees of study in so may different areas that you really can do whatever you want. Its amazing how many different degrees are available in college. There are some we don't even know about yet. Like my teacher, Tanya Sasser, said in class one day, “Just think, the jobs that will be needed the most in the future haven't even been created yet.” That my friends is crazy to think about.

        

           My final topic on the question is college enough, is that college is actually becoming easier. Based on many studies done by Zoesvg, the most commonly given grade in college is an A, and is that just cause we are smarter or we study more? The sad fact is no, we are not smarter and we don’t study more. In 1961 the average student studied 40 hours a week, as of 2006 the average student studies only 27 hours a weeks. The most shocking fact that they found was that in 1961 only 15% of the grades given out were A's, but now they make up an astonishing 45% of the grades.

I hope you enjoyed this blog!

God Bless!