David Wolf

Prof. Presnell

Engl. 1102

11 April 2012

College: Is It Worth It?

While 26-year-old former chemistry major Michael is cleaning tables at

Applebee’s, 17-year-old Thomas cannot stop thinking about how fun the next four years

at college will be. Is Michael right for being mad that college was not what he envisioned

and is Thomas wrong for looking forward to something that can potentially not meet

expectations?

The answer is neither of them is wrong or right, and they both have good reasons

to be thinking the way they are. A high school kid anticipating the parties, females, and

freedom at college is quite normal. Unfortunately, it is becoming more normal for college

graduates to regret their decision to attend school and wonder about their employment

status. The percentage of people who are forced to get a job outside of their study has

risen to 18 %, according to a CNN article written by Chris Isidore. This percentage

doesn’t even include people who refuse to look for other jobs and are persistent about

finding a job that relates to their major. This epidemic of college graduates not being able

to find jobs is causing all kinds of problems and raising several issues.

One of the biggest problems for college students who aren’t able to find jobs in

their major is it is beginning to affect high school graduates and high school dropouts

who want to get a job. When college graduates are forced to lower their expectations for

jobs, respective employers are being forced to raise their expectations when interviewing

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potential employees. If college graduates are starting to apply to and settle for low level

jobs, such as working as clerk at Blockbuster, it is becoming normal for these employers

to hire them. For example, if Chili’s is seeing that college graduates are applying, then

they would rather hire them as opposed to a high school graduate. In no way, shape, or

form, is a college degree going to help you do your job as a waiter at Chili’s. However, if

the choice is between a high school dropout or an English major with a bachelor’s degree,

who are they going to choose?

For instance a newspaper writer, Mitchell Byars from Boulder, Colorado, wrote

an article about this problem, noting that “competing with older, often more-qualified job

seekers from the University of Colorado can leave Boulder high school students such as

Bernard unable to find work.” Bernard is referring to Calypso Bernard, a 16-year-old

high school student at Boulder High School. In the article by Byars, Bernard is quoted as

saying, “I just turned 16 and it’s been difficult finding a job, especially here you have

college kids and they definitely take a lot of jobs.” This example shows that college kids

who are having trouble finding jobs is affecting the job economy as a whole.

Let’s say a college student is working a job that they easily could have gotten out

of high school. They majored in English and are now working as a cashier at Radio

Shack. Does this necessarily mean that college was wasted? Meeting new friends,

maturing as a person, dealing with responsibilities, and learning how to manage money

are all things that you learn in college, in addition to what you learn in academic courses.

When a parent is paying college tuition, are they doing it so you can hear lectures or so

you can learn about yourself? Many students, including myself would admit that they

learned many more things that will stick with them outside the classroom than they

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learned inside the classroom. Learning all types of things about yourself and society is

definitely a benefit to deciding to spend four years in college.

With college graduates unemployment becoming more prominent, and more

college graduates being forced to settle for lower paying jobs, who suffers? Sure, the

students are suffering by not being able to find jobs but you would think parents would be

angry they spent a lot of money just so their kid could go to parties. This was my theory

on a parent’s point of view, so to see if I was right I interviewed my father. As a parent

who may be dealing with a college kid not being able to get a job in four years he has a

very good perspective. My father was very adamant that he made the right decision to

send his two youngest sons off to college. He went as far to say, “Next to love, the most

important thing a parent can give a child is the opportunity of a college education” He

explained that college is a big part of being happy and successful in life and said “paying

college tuition is the best possible way for a parent to spend money on their children.” As

an undeclared freshman, it is very comforting to hear that my father is adamant about

supporting me and thinks it’s a good decision to send me to college.

A challenge for some parents is because they were raised in a different

generation , they may not understand what they are spending all this money on. However,

my father understands the difference in college today and college thirty years ago. He

was taking notes by hand back then and openly said “I think the biggest change is

technology.” He explained that due to this technology, college was more useful and he

expressed that “today’s college student is more mature and probably learns faster and

more efficiently than students of my generation.”

College students are also realizing that it’s not just about your degree or even

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about how hard you work. It’s about networking and often about simple luck. In an

article in the NY Times written by Catherine Rampell, a college student was quoted as

saying “I have friends with the same degree as me, from a worse school, but because of

who they knew or when they happened to graduate, they’re in much better job.” This

quote explains the significance of networking. How you present yourself in interviews

and having connections can be far more important than the prestige of your diploma.

A huge part of a college graduate’s job search depends on their major and how

useful it is. For example, a study done by the newspaper The Daily Tar Heel concluded

that a major such as Education has proven to be incredibly efficient. Schools will always

exist and teachers will always be needed, so a high percent of kids with an Education

major get jobs. On the contrary, the same study proved that a major such as “Fine Arts”

has a very high unemployment percentage. The article points out that it is harder for

certain majors than for others. As Kate Caison writes “Many students with Liberal Arts

majors have found themselves facing a tough job market.” Another article written by

Josipa Roksa and Tania Levey states the significance of having a major that focuses on a

particular job as they write “some fields such as education provide specific occupational

training as well as requite state certification of skills, creating a particularly tight

connection between the educational credential and the labor market.” This article also

explains how it can hurt a student to pick a major such as sociology due to the lack of

specificity it has.

The main point is that each student must decide if college is worth it. Is your

major going to help you get a job after college and will the classes you are taking benefit

you in the long run? Are you learning valuable information that can help you in life

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outside of class and taking full advantage of the college experience? What are your plans

for after college?

Maybe if Michael had thought more about his future before college then he would

not be cleaning tables. On the other hand, it would be helpful for Thomas to do less

talking about the fraternity parties he is going to attend and pay more attention to his

potential major and job opportunities. The lack of good jobs is a serious problem, and it’s

not just for college students or high school graduates. While a job can’t be guaranteed for

everyone, and getting one sometimes amounts to luck, being educated about the process

can be a huge help. College is just the beginning, and my father described it best when

he said “College is just one step on a long path and most people with big ambitions can’t

get where they are going without taking that first step.”

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Works Cited

Byars, Mitchell. “Competing with college students, Boulder teens hit hard by job crunch” Daily Camera 5 November 2011. 2. April 2012

Caison, Kate. “Will Your Major Get You A Job?” The Daily Tarheel [Chapel Hill, NC] 19 Jan 2012. Print.

Isidore, Chris. “The Great Recession’s lost generation”. CNN. 17 May 2011. 27 Feb 2012.

Kelly, Brian. "Is College Still Worth It?." U.S. News & World Report 147.8 (2010): 6. MAS Complete. Web. 4 Mar. 2012.

Rampell, Catherine. “Many With New College Degree Find the Job Market Humbling” New York Times 18 May 2011. 29 Feb. 2012

Roksa, Josipa, and Tania Levey. "What Can You Do With That Degree? College Major And Occupational Status Of College Graduates Over Time." Social Forces 89.2 (2010): 389-415. Education Full Text (H.W. Wilson). Web. 6 Mar. 2012.

Wolf, Thomas. Email Interview. 20 Mar. 2012.

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Reflection

1. The hardest part of putting the sources together was knowing which

source to use at what time and how to incorporate it. It was not very

difficult for me to do research and gain information and facts. However

it is difficult when you are writing a paper and you don’t know where to

put in certain facts that you want to incorporate. I also struggle with

knowing when to paraphrase or when to quote.

2. My favorite thing about what I’ve done is learn. This paper had a lot to

do with me because I’m a college student struggling with what I want to

do. This helped me decide which majors I shouldn’t take and know

which are more beneficial for me. It was also neat learning about the

economy and the way the high school graduates have been affected by

college. It was ultimately just fun to learn.

3. My favorite activity was the coloring activity. I didn’t realize how little

I quoted and how often I paraphrased. I ended up going back and

putting more quotes in the second draft of my paper just because I

realized the lack of them. This exercise was extremely helpful. The

class peer review was also very helpful. It is good when the reviewer is

anonymous so they are more honest. It is very helpful to have a student

my age review an assignment they are doing as well.

4. I learned that it is very helpful to have a first person part in a research

essay. I had always thought that essays were supposed to be all third

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person but using first person made my essay a lot better. The primary

research was also something I had never done before. I always just used

google to research, I had never used a friend or in my case, a parent.

Doing an interview was very and also helpful. I have learned how to quote

things better and how to research better. I know how to research more

efficiently now. This project got me better as a writer.

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