how necessary is a college education argumentative essay

Is a college degree necessary? Essay

Introduction, argument against college degrees, a case for college degrees.

The educational system of a society is fundamental for the development and ultimate advancement of the entire community. Governments all over the world have acknowledged that educational policies can have a significant impact on economic and social outcomes of their citizens. It is for this reason that so much emphasis is placed on the educational process by all the relevant stakeholders.

Over the past few decades, there have been considerable drives towards having more students attain college education. The current Obama regime has especially prioritized on having even more students graduate from college.

To achieve this, more effort has been put towards encouraging students to go to college which is advertised as being the key to a high paying job and as such a brighter future. Such sentiments completely ignore the importance that vocational training has to our economy and society at large. This paper sets out to argue that while the benefits of a college education are monumental to the society, a college degree is not necessary for all students.

The importance of vocational training in school cannot be understated for it is though such training that skilled blue collar workers are produced. These professionals such as mechanics, welders and carpenters to name but a few do not require a college education to be adept at their jobs. As such, insisting that everyone enroll in college would result in such professions lacking new apprentices. This would result in a situation whereby our society ran out of skilled blue collar workers.

Sadly, the united states is moving towards such a state where the demand for skilled blue collar workers far exceeds the supply. Such a society would be dysfunctional for these professionals play a very important role in not only the country’s economy but also the everyday functioning of our lives.

Different students have different ambitions and not all of them can be fulfilled though a college education. As such, while college education is important, it should not be focused on at the expense of other forms of education. Some students do not require a college education to gain the skills they need to make a living in future and be productive members of the society.

This is a fact that other prosperous Western countries have taken into consideration by implementing systems that demonstrate that college education can be focused on without neglecting vocational training.

The two track system that these countries have implemented has proved to be a success since students who do not fit into the college category have taken up the trades system. Such a system is beneficial to all classes of students regardless of their profession of choice.

Insisting that college degrees are a necessity for all students results in truancy and dropping out of school by some students who feel that the education is not relevant in their lives. Such students therefore view college education as a waste of time and are not receptive to it.

It the same were exposed to vocational training or other forms of education which gave them practical skills that they could apply to make a living, it is perceivable that the same students would be more receptive to the education system.

College education is therefore not universally necessary since different people possess different skills and aspirations and while college may help some people fulfill their dreams, it may impede the fulfillment of the dreams of other students.

College education and by extension a college degree is also greatly beneficial to the country. College education results in the creation of experts who are required in certain fields such as engineering, biology and medicine to name but a few. These are important members of the society and they can engage in research work which results in great inventions which benefit the society as a whole.

In addition to this, the work that is done by these professionals gives our nation an edge over other nations. Also, people who have a college education can be used as expatriates in other nations therefore benefiting our economy even further.

This paper set out to argue that a college education is not necessary for all the students. To reinforce this assertion, this paper has demonstrated that there are many professions which require skills and proficiency that one cannot gain through a college education.

This being the case, having every student go to college would result in a lack of skilled personnel to fill in these important jobs without which the society cannot function properly. Also, the paper had shown that some people deem college education as irrelevant and as such, forcing them to go through college results in them being truants and causing trouble.

However, the paper has shown that college education is necessary since it provides professionals who play a critical role in society. From this paper, it can be stated that while a college degree is beneficial and necessary for some students, it is not necessary for all students and as such it should not be emphasized on at the expense of vocational education.

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IvyPanda. (2019, October 9). Is a college degree necessary? https://ivypanda.com/essays/is-a-college-degree-necessary/

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Bibliography

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Table of Contents

• 1. Changes in the American workplace
• 2. How Americans assess the job situation today and prospects for the future
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An extensive body of research has argued that obtaining a college diploma is a good deal for graduates on almost any measure – from higher earnings to lower unemployment rates. By the same token, those without a college degree can find their upward mobility in the job market limited by a lack of educational credentials: This survey finds that one-third of Americans who lack a four-year college degree report that they have declined to apply for a job they felt they were qualified for, because that job required a bachelor’s degree.

But despite the potential benefits and opportunities available to college graduates – and the potential challenges faced by those who lack a college diploma – Americans have somewhat mixed attitudes about the effectiveness of traditional four-year colleges and other higher education institutions. On a personal level, many college graduates describe their own educational experience as having a generally positive impact on their personal and professional development. Roughly six-in-ten (62%) college graduates with two- or four-year degrees think their degree was very useful for helping them grow personally and intellectually, while roughly half think it was very useful for opening up job opportunities (53%) or for providing them with useful job-related skills and knowledge (49%).

Yet even as many college graduates view their own educational experience in positive terms, the public as a whole – including a substantial share of college graduates – expresses reservations about the extent to which various higher education institutions prepare students for the workforce more generally. Just 16% of Americans think that a four-year degree prepares students very well for a well-paying job in today’s economy, and 51% say this type of degree prepares students “somewhat well” for the workplace. Some 12% think that a two-year associate degree prepares students very well (46% say somewhat well), and 26% feel that certification programs in a professional, technical, or vocational field prepare students very well (52% say somewhat well).

The purpose of college: Americans view workforce-relevant skills and knowledge as more important than personal and intellectual growth

Americans’ views of what a college education should be tend to prioritize specific, workplace-related skills and knowledge rather than general intellectual development and personal growth. Half of Americans say that the main purpose of college should be to teach specific skills and knowledge that can be used in the workplace, while 35% think its main purpose should be to help students grow and develop personally and intellectually and 13% volunteer that these objectives are equally important. The public’s views on this issue have shifted slightly in favor of skills development since the last time Pew Research Center asked this question in 2011. At that point, 47% said main purpose of college should be to teach specific skills and knowledge and 39% said it should be to promote personal and intellectual growth.

Americans who have engaged in additional schooling beyond a bachelor’s degree are especially likely to say that the main purpose of college should be personal and intellectual growth, rather than the acquisition of specific skills and knowledge. Some 47% of those with a postgraduate or professional degree think the main purpose of college should be personal and intellectual growth, while 35% think it should be teaching workplace-relevant skills.

In contrast, those with limited college experience (or no college experience at all) are more likely to prioritize the development of specific skills over general intellectual improvement. For instance, 56% of Americans with a high school diploma or less say college should be primarily a place to develop specific work-oriented knowledge and skills, while just 31% see it primarily as a place for personal and intellectual growth.

There is also a partisan element to these views, with Republicans and Democrats expressing highly differing opinions on the purpose of college. Democrats (including Democratic-leaning independents) are about evenly split on which of these objectives is more important: 42% say colleges should prioritize personal and intellectual growth, while 43% say they should prioritize the development of workforce-relevant skills. But among Republicans and Republican leaners, 58% say that the main purpose of college should be teach specific skills – while just 28% feel that the main purpose should be general personal and intellectual growth.

These partisan differences hold true even after accounting for differences in educational attainment. Democrats and Democratic leaners with high levels of educational attainment are more likely to prioritize personal and intellectual growth relative to Democrats and Democratic leaners with lower levels of educational attainment.

But Democrats and Democratic-leaning independents at all educational levels are more likely than Republicans and Republican-leaning independents with similar levels of education to believe that personal and intellectual growth should be the main purpose of college.

Along with Democrats and those who have progressed beyond a bachelor’s degree, younger adults (those ages 18 to 29) are more likely than older adults to feel that personal and intellectual growth should be the primary purpose of college: some 43% of 18- to 29-year olds feel this way, compared with roughly one-third of those in older age groups.

In addition, Americans who themselves work in the education field tend to place a greater emphasis on personal and intellectual growth as the primary purpose of college: 46% believe that this should be the main purpose of a college degree, while 35% believe that college should mainly be a place to develop specific skills and knowledge (19% of those who work in the education industry consider them equally important).

Most college graduates regard their college experience as very useful for intellectual growth; views are more mixed when it comes to job opportunities and marketable skills

When asked to assess certain aspects of their own educational experience, about six-in-ten (62%) college graduates (including those who graduated from a two-year degree program) feel that their time in college was very useful in helping them grow personally and intellectually. About half say their college experience was very useful in helping them access job opportunities (53%) or in helping them develop skills and knowledge they could use in the workplace (49%).

The further people have progressed in their college career, the more likely they are to consider their experience very useful. Those with a postgraduate or professional degree are more likely to say that their college education was very useful in each of these respects compared with four-year degree holders, who are in turn more likely than those with a two-year associate degree to say that their education was very useful across each of these measures. For example, while two-thirds of those with a postgraduate or professional degree say their college education was very useful in opening doors to job opportunities, 56% of those with a four-year degree, and an even smaller share (40%) among those with a two-year degree, say the same. And while 57% of those with more than a bachelor’s degree say college was very useful in helping them develop marketable skills, about half or a smaller share among those with a four- or two-year degree hold this view (49% and 43%, respectively).

When it comes to helping them grow professionally and intellectually, majorities of those with a postgraduate or professional degree (77%) and those with a bachelor’s degree (64%) say college was very useful, compared with 46% of those with a two-year college degree.

Americans have mixed views about the extent to which college prepares students for a well-paying job in today’s economy

When asked a broader set of questions about the impact of college more generally, the public expresses somewhat mixed views about the extent to which a college education prepares students for success in the workforce.

Two-thirds of Americans (67%) think that a traditional four-year degree prepares students for a well-paying job in today’s economy at least somewhat well, but just 16% think it prepares them very well, and 29% think it does not prepare them well. A somewhat smaller share of Americans (58%) think that a two-year community college degree prepares students for a well-paying job either very (12%) or somewhat (46%) well, while 38% think that these programs do not prepare students well.

Interestingly, Americans with a four-year college degree are generally no more positive – or negative – than those with less education about the relationship between a four-year degree and a well-paying job: 13% of those with a bachelor’s degree or more education say a four-year degree prepares people very well, as do 11% of those with a two-year associate degree, 12% of those with some college experience but no degree, and 17% of those with a high school diploma. Among those who did not complete high school, however, 40% believe that a four-year college degree does a very good job of preparing people for a well-paying job.

When it comes to assessments of a two-year college degree, about one-in-six (16%) Americans who hold this type of degree say it prepares workers very well for a well-paying job. This is considerably larger than the share of those with at least a bachelor’s degree (7%) who say a two-year degree prepares people very well, but not necessarily more positive than the views of those with less education.

Blacks and Hispanics are more likely than whites to say four- and two-year degrees prepare people very well for a job in today’s economy. For example, about three-in-ten (29%) Hispanics and about a quarter (24%) of blacks say this about a four-year degree, compared with 12% of whites. And while about one-in-five blacks and Hispanics (18% each) say a two-year associate degree prepares people very well, one-in-ten whites share this view.

These findings are consistent with previous Pew Research Center surveys that found that black and Latino parents view college as more essential for their children’s success than do white parents.

A substantially larger share of the public has positive attitudes towards certification programs in a professional, technical or vocational field in the context of workforce development. Some 78% of Americans think that these programs prepare students well for a job in today’s economy, including 26% who think they prepare students very well. Just roughly one-in-five (19%) think they do not prepare students well. It is important to note, however, that respondents were not asked about the effectiveness of certification programs instead of a college education.

Positive assessments of certificate programs as a way to prepare workers for jobs in today’s economy are particularly widespread among those who did not complete high school; 44% in this group say these types of programs prepare people very well, compared with about a quarter (27%) of those with a high school diploma and a similar share of those with some college, but no degree (22%), a two-year degree (28%), or a four-year degree or more education (22%). Certificate programs are also particularly well-regarded among Hispanics, 39% of whom say they prepare people very well for a good job in today’s economy. About a quarter of blacks (25%) and whites (23%) say the same.

One-third of Americans without a bachelor’s degree have elected to not apply for a job they felt they were qualified for because it required a four-year degree

Recent research has argued that there is a “ credentials gap ” in today’s workforce, as employers increasingly require a bachelor’s degree for positions that did not demand this level of schooling in the past. And the survey finds that 33% of Americans who do not have a four-year college degree report that they have declined to apply for a job they felt they were qualified for, because it required a bachelor’s degree.

Americans who have engaged in some type of formal education beyond high school (short of obtaining a bachelor’s degree) are particularly likely to believe they’ve been adversely affected by credentialing requirements as they work their way up the educational ladder. Some 25% of Americans with a high school diploma or less and no additional schooling beyond that have not applied for a job because of a bachelor’s degree requirement. But that figure rises to 34% among those with a high school diploma plus additional vocational schooling, to 38% among those with some college experience but no degree, and to 44% among those with a two-year associate degree. Put somewhat differently, as people receive additional formal education without actually obtaining a bachelor’s degree, they may develop relevant skills without the on-paper credentials to match.

In addition, adults younger than 50 are much more likely than older adults to have refrained from applying to a job they felt they were qualified for because they didn’t meet the formal educational requirements. About four-in-ten non-college graduates ages 18 to 29 (41%) and ages 30 to 49 (44%) say this has happened, compared with 31% of those ages 50 to 64 and just 12% of those 65 and older.

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College Education: Arguments For and Against

“Should every student go to college?” is a debatable question. The heated “How essential is a college education” debate against and in favor of the question became very common. This essay analyzes both the reason why not to go to college and why college education is important.

College Education Arguments: Introduction

College education: arguments for, how essential is a college education: debate against, how necessary is a college education: argumentative essay conclusion, works cited.

A college education is important, yet its cost has become an issue. Some feel that the cost is too high, and the returns very low. Many people from parents, students, the press, and the public have all voiced their concern over the cost of a college education.

Due to the high cost charged in tuition, room, as well as board prices college, has become out of reach to many people. This paper will endeavor to discuss the reason why college is worth students’ time and money in spite of the high cost.

Many people wonder if college is worth it. More and more young people are enrolling in college in the twenty-first century in spite of the high cost.

There is “evidence to suggest that in an increasingly knowledge-intensive society, the value of a college education- at least as measured by the difference in earning capacity afforded by a college degree- is continuing to increase” (Duderstadt 23). This has led many people to seek higher education in the twenty-first century.

A college education is worthwhile because it has become a trend in society today. There is increased value for advanced education because “one’s knowledge is the key in determining personal prosperity and well being” (Duderstadt 23).

In addition, courses in technology-intensive areas such as information technology, medicine, engineering, and others cost more, but students who enroll in them are more likely to get a job because of the high demand for knowledge in those areas. Therefore, students get jobs, and the jobs are well paying; thus, their living standards improve.

There is a demand for people with higher education in the job market. Economists explain that there is a “correlation between ability and earnings” (Smart, 29).

Becker urges that there is a higher demand for higher ability represents higher returns because” persons who produce more human capital from a given expenditure have more capacity or ability” (124). In addition, Mincer (56) agrees, “differences in levels of demand curve represent individual differences in productivities or abilities. Economists agree that an individual’s ability is related to their level of education.

People with a college degree earn more than those without. According to the Census Bureau, people who only have a high school diploma earn an average of about $1.2 million in their adult working life while those with college degrees earn an average of about $1.6 million. There is a difference of $ 400,000 due to the lack of a college degree.

Therefore, a college degree is worthwhile because it enables one to earn a higher income. In addition, “college graduates also enjoy benefits beyond increased income” (Lougheed 137).

A 1998 report published by the Institute for Higher Education Policy showed that college graduates enjoy higher savings levels, have increased professional as well as personal mobility. They are able to provide a higher quality of life to their offspring. College graduates are also able to make better consumer decisions and enjoy more leisure and hobbies activities (IHEP 1).

College learning equips an individual with paramount reasoning, communication, reflection, and tolerance skills. These skills are very important in problem-solving as well as resolving conflicts that one encounters ” in the course of personal or professional life” (Benefits of College Education 1).

Moreover, college education helps one to “understand other people’s viewpoints, and learn how to disagree sensibly” (Benefits of college Education 1). Therefore, one is able to lead a satisfying life, depending on how they learn to resolve crises and conflicts. It is important to note that these skills can be learned without attending college, but the college environment enhances their development.

College graduates get an opportunity to expand their “social horizons” (Benefits of college Education 1). This happens because they get a chance to meet new people and make friends in colleges. Colleges comprise of people from different backgrounds and countries.

This gives them a chance to share information with other people and hence learn about different cultures. Through these interactions, the college students get a chance to network- that is, sharing of information.

Many college students have been able to secure jobs through the contacts they made in college. Many college students say the networks formed in college helped them to “expand their horizons from the tribal village to the global village” (Benefits of college Education 1).

Apart from the monetary gains, college students have non-monetary gains, as shown by a report published by Carnegie Foundation. They have the tendency to be more open-minded, more consistent, and more rational; they also become less authoritarian. Due to these qualities that they acquire, they tend to have more fulfilling relationships as well as careers. Moreover, they pass these qualities on their offspring.

College attendance has shown to “decrease prejudice, enhance knowledge of world affairs, and enhance social status while increasing job and economic security for those who earn a bachelor’s degree” (Lougheed 137-8).

Furthermore, research has shown that there is a positive correlation between the completion of “higher education and health” of an individual as well as one’s children (Lougheed 138). Parents who have completed higher education are able to provide and maintain good health status for their children, and there is a lower mortality rate among their children in any give given brackets (Lougheed 138).

College education leads to social benefits. The majority of the research conducted has revealed that there exists a strong correlation between economic growth, cultural values, and family. Highly educated parents, especially women, spend more time with their children, and during this time, they “prepare their children for the future” (Cohn and Geske 263).

This raises the IQ of the children. The mothers are aware of the benefits of a college education and therefore invest more in education for their children. “When children have opportunities to inherit or adopt this information and these values, insights, beliefs, and perspectives from their parents, they acquire an early form of human capital” (McMahon 30).

Children from such advantaged backgrounds have an opportunity to get a higher education because their parents understand the value of advanced education. Moreover, “college graduates appear to have a more optimistic view of their past and future personal progress” (Cohn and Geske 267-9).

College education leads to public benefits. People who attend college pay more taxes; thus, the government is able to collect more revenues. The revenues are, in turn, used to finance government expenditure. College graduates have increased workplace productivity hence higher outputs.

In addition, due to their higher earnings, college graduates have increased consumption. Thus, they contribute to economic growth. They also reduce reliance on the government for support. The government can, therefore, use the money it would have used on them to do other things.

Conversely, there are people who feel that the cost of a college education is too high and thus a waste of time and money due to low returns. Some college students are in school not because they want to “be or because they want to learn” (Bird 147).

Some are there because going to college is a trend, their parents wanted them to go, or simply because “college is a pleasant place to be; because it is the only way they can get parents or taxpayers to support them without getting a job they do not like” (Bird 146). This leads to a waste of money spent on such students by their parents and the state because they do not learn.

To them, college is a social place to meet friends and have no time for classwork. Most such students end up dropping out of college anyway. Therefore, the money invested in these institutions of learning is wasted when not used in the right way.

The cost of a college education is very high, and the high cost makes colleges inaccessible to many students. Those who stay on and finish feel that going to college was not worth as one student put it during an interview “in two years, I’ll pick up a diploma, and I can honestly say it was a waste of my father’s bread” (Bird 150).

The high cost of a college education has led universities to develop packages to attract students and keep their finances solvent. There is a debate about the quality of education offered in some colleges. Many feel that education has been reduced to and become like products to be sold in a market.

The packages developed are commercially built and promise students a wonderful life during their study while focusing less on the curriculum. Thus, a question arises about the quality of college degrees.

The other argument against college education is the high numbers of unemployed college graduates. Doing a translation from college to employment is difficult these days. This has led to high levels of unemployment among college graduates. “Somewhere between the nursery and the employment office, they become unwanted adults” (Bird 179).

In conclusion, there is no doubt that the cost of a college education is high and continues to rise, and this is problematic, especially to students who fall under the lowest income brackets. This becomes a financial burden; however, the long-term benefits to an individual and the society are numerous and far outweigh the high cost.

Therefore, everyone should strive to get a college education because it improves the quality of one’s life hence adding value. Parents and the state should put more effort into providing a college education. The parents should encourage their children to acquire higher education because, in the world of today, many jobs available require some form of post-high school education.

The government, on the other hand, should increase funding to colleges to make the tuition fee affordable to students from low-income levels. The government’s support will help to cushion students against inflation that has led to the skyrocketing of college education cost.

On the other hand, the value of college education cannot be underestimated because it leads to financial rewards. Moreover, it is easier to change careers with a college education. For sure, college education has value and is worth the time and money of a student.

Becker, Gary Stanley. Human Capital: A Theoretical and Empirical Analysis with Special Reference to Education. 2 nd ed. Chicago: university of Chicago press, 1993.

“Benefits of a college Education.” University of Maryland College n.d.

Bird, Caroline. The Case against College. Colorado: D. McKay Co, 1975.

Cohn, Elchana and Geske, G Terry. The Economics of Education. 3 rd ed. Oxford: Pergamon Press, 1990.

Duderstadt, J James. A university for the 21st century. Michigan: University of Michigan Press, 2000. ISBN0472110918, 9780472110919

Institute for higher education Policy (IHEP). Reaping the Benefits . IHEP, 8 Apr. 1998.

Lougheed, Lin. Barron’s How To Prepare for the IELTS (International English Language Testing System). New York Barron’s Educational Series, 2006. ISBN0764179357, 978076417935.

McMahon, W Walter. ”Why Families Invest in Education.” In S.Suydman & MA Spaeth (eds), The Collection And Analysis Of Economic and Consumer Behavior Data: in memory of Ferber (pp 75-91). Urbana, IL: Bureau of Economic And Business Research, University of Illinois.

Mincer, Jacob. The Distribution of Labor Incomes: A Survey in J Mincer(ed), Studies in Human Capital: collected essays of Jacob Minces. Brookfield, VT: Edward Elgar, 1993.

Smart, C John. Higher Education: Handbook of Theory and Research. New York: Springer, 2008. ISBN1402092806, 9781402092800

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Miscellaneous

You'll no doubt have to write a number of argumentative essays in both high school and college, but what, exactly, is an argumentative essay and how do you write the best one possible? Let's take a look.

A great argumentative essay always combines the same basic elements: approaching an argument from a rational perspective, researching sources, supporting your claims using facts rather than opinion, and articulating your reasoning into the most cogent and reasoned points. Argumentative essays are great building blocks for all sorts of research and rhetoric, so your teachers will expect you to master the technique before long.

But if this sounds daunting, never fear! We'll show how an argumentative essay differs from other kinds of papers, how to research and write them, how to pick an argumentative essay topic, and where to find example essays. So let's get started.

What Is an Argumentative Essay? How Is it Different from Other Kinds of Essays?

There are two basic requirements for any and all essays: to state a claim (a thesis statement) and to support that claim with evidence.

Though every essay is founded on these two ideas, there are several different types of essays, differentiated by the style of the writing, how the writer presents the thesis, and the types of evidence used to support the thesis statement.

Essays can be roughly divided into four different types:

#1: Argumentative #2: Persuasive #3: Expository #4: Analytical

So let's look at each type and what the differences are between them before we focus the rest of our time to argumentative essays.

Argumentative Essay

Argumentative essays are what this article is all about, so let's talk about them first.

An argumentative essay attempts to convince a reader to agree with a particular argument (the writer's thesis statement). The writer takes a firm stand one way or another on a topic and then uses hard evidence to support that stance.

An argumentative essay seeks to prove to the reader that one argument —the writer's argument— is the factually and logically correct one. This means that an argumentative essay must use only evidence-based support to back up a claim , rather than emotional or philosophical reasoning (which is often allowed in other types of essays). Thus, an argumentative essay has a burden of substantiated proof and sources , whereas some other types of essays (namely persuasive essays) do not.

You can write an argumentative essay on any topic, so long as there's room for argument. Generally, you can use the same topics for both a persuasive essay or an argumentative one, so long as you support the argumentative essay with hard evidence.

Example topics of an argumentative essay:

• "Should farmers be allowed to shoot wolves if those wolves injure or kill farm animals?"
• "Should the drinking age be lowered in the United States?"
• "Are alternatives to democracy effective and/or feasible to implement?"

The next three types of essays are not argumentative essays, but you may have written them in school. We're going to cover them so you know what not to do for your argumentative essay.

Persuasive Essay

Persuasive essays are similar to argumentative essays, so it can be easy to get them confused. But knowing what makes an argumentative essay different than a persuasive essay can often mean the difference between an excellent grade and an average one.

Persuasive essays seek to persuade a reader to agree with the point of view of the writer, whether that point of view is based on factual evidence or not. The writer has much more flexibility in the evidence they can use, with the ability to use moral, cultural, or opinion-based reasoning as well as factual reasoning to persuade the reader to agree the writer's side of a given issue.

Instead of being forced to use "pure" reason as one would in an argumentative essay, the writer of a persuasive essay can manipulate or appeal to the reader's emotions. So long as the writer attempts to steer the readers into agreeing with the thesis statement, the writer doesn't necessarily need hard evidence in favor of the argument.

Often, you can use the same topics for both a persuasive essay or an argumentative one—the difference is all in the approach and the evidence you present.

Example topics of a persuasive essay:

• "Should children be responsible for their parents' debts?"
• "Should cheating on a test be automatic grounds for expulsion?"
• "How much should sports leagues be held accountable for player injuries and the long-term consequences of those injuries?"

Expository Essay

An expository essay is typically a short essay in which the writer explains an idea, issue, or theme , or discusses the history of a person, place, or idea.

This is typically a fact-forward essay with little argument or opinion one way or the other.

Example topics of an expository essay:

• "The History of the Philadelphia Liberty Bell"
• "The Reasons I Always Wanted to be a Doctor"
• "The Meaning Behind the Colloquialism ‘People in Glass Houses Shouldn't Throw Stones'"

Analytical Essay

An analytical essay seeks to delve into the deeper meaning of a text or work of art, or unpack a complicated idea . These kinds of essays closely interpret a source and look into its meaning by analyzing it at both a macro and micro level.

This type of analysis can be augmented by historical context or other expert or widely-regarded opinions on the subject, but is mainly supported directly through the original source (the piece or art or text being analyzed) .

Example topics of an analytical essay:

• "Victory Gin in Place of Water: The Symbolism Behind Gin as the Only Potable Substance in George Orwell's 1984"
• "Amarna Period Art: The Meaning Behind the Shift from Rigid to Fluid Poses"
• "Adultery During WWII, as Told Through a Series of Letters to and from Soldiers"

There are many different types of essay and, over time, you'll be able to master them all.

A Typical Argumentative Essay Assignment

The average argumentative essay is between three to five pages, and will require at least three or four separate sources with which to back your claims . As for the essay topic , you'll most often be asked to write an argumentative essay in an English class on a "general" topic of your choice, ranging the gamut from science, to history, to literature.

But while the topics of an argumentative essay can span several different fields, the structure of an argumentative essay is always the same: you must support a claim—a claim that can reasonably have multiple sides—using multiple sources and using a standard essay format (which we'll talk about later on).

This is why many argumentative essay topics begin with the word "should," as in:

• "Should all students be required to learn chemistry in high school?"
• "Should children be required to learn a second language?"
• "Should schools or governments be allowed to ban books?"

These topics all have at least two sides of the argument: Yes or no. And you must support the side you choose with evidence as to why your side is the correct one.

But there are also plenty of other ways to frame an argumentative essay as well:

• "Does using social media do more to benefit or harm people?"
• "Does the legal status of artwork or its creators—graffiti and vandalism, pirated media, a creator who's in jail—have an impact on the art itself?"
• "Is or should anyone ever be ‘above the law?'"

Though these are worded differently than the first three, you're still essentially forced to pick between two sides of an issue: yes or no, for or against, benefit or detriment. Though your argument might not fall entirely into one side of the divide or another—for instance, you could claim that social media has positively impacted some aspects of modern life while being a detriment to others—your essay should still support one side of the argument above all. Your final stance would be that overall , social media is beneficial or overall , social media is harmful.

If your argument is one that is mostly text-based or backed by a single source (e.g., "How does Salinger show that Holden Caulfield is an unreliable narrator?" or "Does Gatsby personify the American Dream?"), then it's an analytical essay, rather than an argumentative essay. An argumentative essay will always be focused on more general topics so that you can use multiple sources to back up your claims.

Good Argumentative Essay Topics

So you know the basic idea behind an argumentative essay, but what topic should you write about?

Again, almost always, you'll be asked to write an argumentative essay on a free topic of your choice, or you'll be asked to select between a few given topics . If you're given complete free reign of topics, then it'll be up to you to find an essay topic that no only appeals to you, but that you can turn into an A+ argumentative essay.

What makes a "good" argumentative essay topic depends on both the subject matter and your personal interest —it can be hard to give your best effort on something that bores you to tears! But it can also be near impossible to write an argumentative essay on a topic that has no room for debate.

As we said earlier, a good argumentative essay topic will be one that has the potential to reasonably go in at least two directions—for or against, yes or no, and why . For example, it's pretty hard to write an argumentative essay on whether or not people should be allowed to murder one another—not a whole lot of debate there for most people!—but writing an essay for or against the death penalty has a lot more wiggle room for evidence and argument.

A good topic is also one that can be substantiated through hard evidence and relevant sources . So be sure to pick a topic that other people have studied (or at least studied elements of) so that you can use their data in your argument. For example, if you're arguing that it should be mandatory for all middle school children to play a sport, you might have to apply smaller scientific data points to the larger picture you're trying to justify. There are probably several studies you could cite on the benefits of physical activity and the positive effect structure and teamwork has on young minds, but there's probably no study you could use where a group of scientists put all middle-schoolers in one jurisdiction into a mandatory sports program (since that's probably never happened). So long as your evidence is relevant to your point and you can extrapolate from it to form a larger whole, you can use it as a part of your resource material.

And if you need ideas on where to get started, or just want to see sample argumentative essay topics, then check out these links for hundreds of potential argumentative essay topics.

101 Persuasive (or Argumentative) Essay and Speech Topics

301 Prompts for Argumentative Writing

Top 50 Ideas for Argumentative/Persuasive Essay Writing

[Note: some of these say "persuasive essay topics," but just remember that the same topic can often be used for both a persuasive essay and an argumentative essay; the difference is in your writing style and the evidence you use to support your claims.]

KO! Find that one argumentative essay topic you can absolutely conquer.

Argumentative Essay Format

Argumentative Essays are composed of four main elements:

• A position (your argument)
• Your reasons
• Supporting evidence for those reasons (from reliable sources)
• Counterargument(s) (possible opposing arguments and reasons why those arguments are incorrect)

If you're familiar with essay writing in general, then you're also probably familiar with the five paragraph essay structure . This structure is a simple tool to show how one outlines an essay and breaks it down into its component parts, although it can be expanded into as many paragraphs as you want beyond the core five.

The standard argumentative essay is often 3-5 pages, which will usually mean a lot more than five paragraphs, but your overall structure will look the same as a much shorter essay.

An argumentative essay at its simplest structure will look like:

Paragraph 1: Intro

• Set up the story/problem/issue
• Thesis/claim

Paragraph 2: Support

• Reason #1 claim is correct
• Supporting evidence with sources

Paragraph 3: Support

• Reason #2 claim is correct

Paragraph 4: Counterargument

• Explanation of argument for the other side
• Refutation of opposing argument with supporting evidence

Paragraph 5: Conclusion

• Re-state claim
• Sum up reasons and support of claim from the essay to prove claim is correct

Now let's unpack each of these paragraph types to see how they work (with examples!), what goes into them, and why.

Paragraph 1—Set Up and Claim

Your first task is to introduce the reader to the topic at hand so they'll be prepared for your claim. Give a little background information, set the scene, and give the reader some stakes so that they care about the issue you're going to discuss.

Next, you absolutely must have a position on an argument and make that position clear to the readers. It's not an argumentative essay unless you're arguing for a specific claim, and this claim will be your thesis statement.

Your thesis CANNOT be a mere statement of fact (e.g., "Washington DC is the capital of the United States"). Your thesis must instead be an opinion which can be backed up with evidence and has the potential to be argued against (e.g., "New York should be the capital of the United States").

Paragraphs 2 and 3—Your Evidence

These are your body paragraphs in which you give the reasons why your argument is the best one and back up this reasoning with concrete evidence .

The argument supporting the thesis of an argumentative essay should be one that can be supported by facts and evidence, rather than personal opinion or cultural or religious mores.

For example, if you're arguing that New York should be the new capital of the US, you would have to back up that fact by discussing the factual contrasts between New York and DC in terms of location, population, revenue, and laws. You would then have to talk about the precedents for what makes for a good capital city and why New York fits the bill more than DC does.

Your argument can't simply be that a lot of people think New York is the best city ever and that you agree.

In addition to using concrete evidence, you always want to keep the tone of your essay passionate, but impersonal . Even though you're writing your argument from a single opinion, don't use first person language—"I think," "I feel," "I believe,"—to present your claims. Doing so is repetitive, since by writing the essay you're already telling the audience what you feel, and using first person language weakens your writing voice.

For example,

"I think that Washington DC is no longer suited to be the capital city of the United States."

"Washington DC is no longer suited to be the capital city of the United States."

The second statement sounds far stronger and more analytical.

Paragraph 4—Argument for the Other Side and Refutation

Even without a counter argument, you can make a pretty persuasive claim, but a counterargument will round out your essay into one that is much more persuasive and substantial.

By anticipating an argument against your claim and taking the initiative to counter it, you're allowing yourself to get ahead of the game. This way, you show that you've given great thought to all sides of the issue before choosing your position, and you demonstrate in multiple ways how yours is the more reasoned and supported side.

Paragraph 5—Conclusion

This paragraph is where you re-state your argument and summarize why it's the best claim.

Briefly touch on your supporting evidence and voila! A finished argumentative essay.

Your essay should have just as awesome a skeleton as this plesiosaur does. (In other words: a ridiculously awesome skeleton)

Argumentative Essay Example: 5-Paragraph Style

It always helps to have an example to learn from. I've written a full 5-paragraph argumentative essay here. Look at how I state my thesis in paragraph 1, give supporting evidence in paragraphs 2 and 3, address a counterargument in paragraph 4, and conclude in paragraph 5.

Topic: Is it possible to maintain conflicting loyalties?

Paragraph 1

It is almost impossible to go through life without encountering a situation where your loyalties to different people or causes come into conflict with each other. Maybe you have a loving relationship with your sister, but she disagrees with your decision to join the army, or you find yourself torn between your cultural beliefs and your scientific ones. These conflicting loyalties can often be maintained for a time, but as examples from both history and psychological theory illustrate, sooner or later, people have to make a choice between competing loyalties, as no one can maintain a conflicting loyalty or belief system forever.

The first two sentences set the scene and give some hypothetical examples and stakes for the reader to care about.

The third sentence finishes off the intro with the thesis statement, making very clear how the author stands on the issue ("people have to make a choice between competing loyalties, as no one can maintain a conflicting loyalty or belief system forever." )

Paragraphs 2 and 3

Psychological theory states that human beings are not equipped to maintain conflicting loyalties indefinitely and that attempting to do so leads to a state called "cognitive dissonance." Cognitive dissonance theory is the psychological idea that people undergo tremendous mental stress or anxiety when holding contradictory beliefs, values, or loyalties (Festinger, 1957). Even if human beings initially hold a conflicting loyalty, they will do their best to find a mental equilibrium by making a choice between those loyalties—stay stalwart to a belief system or change their beliefs. One of the earliest formal examples of cognitive dissonance theory comes from Leon Festinger's When Prophesy Fails . Members of an apocalyptic cult are told that the end of the world will occur on a specific date and that they alone will be spared the Earth's destruction. When that day comes and goes with no apocalypse, the cult members face a cognitive dissonance between what they see and what they've been led to believe (Festinger, 1956). Some choose to believe that the cult's beliefs are still correct, but that the Earth was simply spared from destruction by mercy, while others choose to believe that they were lied to and that the cult was fraudulent all along. Both beliefs cannot be correct at the same time, and so the cult members are forced to make their choice.

But even when conflicting loyalties can lead to potentially physical, rather than just mental, consequences, people will always make a choice to fall on one side or other of a dividing line. Take, for instance, Nicolaus Copernicus, a man born and raised in Catholic Poland (and educated in Catholic Italy). Though the Catholic church dictated specific scientific teachings, Copernicus' loyalty to his own observations and scientific evidence won out over his loyalty to his country's government and belief system. When he published his heliocentric model of the solar system--in opposition to the geocentric model that had been widely accepted for hundreds of years (Hannam, 2011)-- Copernicus was making a choice between his loyalties. In an attempt t o maintain his fealty both to the established system and to what he believed, h e sat on his findings for a number of years (Fantoli, 1994). But, ultimately, Copernicus made the choice to side with his beliefs and observations above all and published his work for the world to see (even though, in doing so, he risked both his reputation and personal freedoms).

These two paragraphs provide the reasons why the author supports the main argument and uses substantiated sources to back those reasons.

The paragraph on cognitive dissonance theory gives both broad supporting evidence and more narrow, detailed supporting evidence to show why the thesis statement is correct not just anecdotally but also scientifically and psychologically. First, we see why people in general have a difficult time accepting conflicting loyalties and desires and then how this applies to individuals through the example of the cult members from the Dr. Festinger's research.

The next paragraph continues to use more detailed examples from history to provide further evidence of why the thesis that people cannot indefinitely maintain conflicting loyalties is true.

Paragraph 4

Some will claim that it is possible to maintain conflicting beliefs or loyalties permanently, but this is often more a matter of people deluding themselves and still making a choice for one side or the other, rather than truly maintaining loyalty to both sides equally. For example, Lancelot du Lac typifies a person who claims to maintain a balanced loyalty between to two parties, but his attempt to do so fails (as all attempts to permanently maintain conflicting loyalties must). Lancelot tells himself and others that he is equally devoted to both King Arthur and his court and to being Queen Guinevere's knight (Malory, 2008). But he can neither be in two places at once to protect both the king and queen, nor can he help but let his romantic feelings for the queen to interfere with his duties to the king and the kingdom. Ultimately, he and Queen Guinevere give into their feelings for one another and Lancelot—though he denies it—chooses his loyalty to her over his loyalty to Arthur. This decision plunges the kingdom into a civil war, ages Lancelot prematurely, and ultimately leads to Camelot's ruin (Raabe, 1987). Though Lancelot claimed to have been loyal to both the king and the queen, this loyalty was ultimately in conflict, and he could not maintain it.

Here we have the acknowledgement of a potential counter-argument and the evidence as to why it isn't true.

The argument is that some people (or literary characters) have asserted that they give equal weight to their conflicting loyalties. The refutation is that, though some may claim to be able to maintain conflicting loyalties, they're either lying to others or deceiving themselves. The paragraph shows why this is true by providing an example of this in action.

Paragraph 5

Whether it be through literature or history, time and time again, people demonstrate the challenges of trying to manage conflicting loyalties and the inevitable consequences of doing so. Though belief systems are malleable and will often change over time, it is not possible to maintain two mutually exclusive loyalties or beliefs at once. In the end, people always make a choice, and loyalty for one party or one side of an issue will always trump loyalty to the other.

The concluding paragraph summarizes the essay, touches on the evidence presented, and re-states the thesis statement.

How to Write an Argumentative Essay: 8 Steps

Writing the best argumentative essay is all about the preparation, so let's talk steps:

#1: Preliminary Research

If you have the option to pick your own argumentative essay topic (which you most likely will), then choose one or two topics you find the most intriguing or that you have a vested interest in and do some preliminary research on both sides of the debate.

Do an open internet search just to see what the general chatter is on the topic and what the research trends are.

Did your preliminary reading influence you to pick a side or change your side? Without diving into all the scholarly articles at length, do you believe there's enough evidence to support your claim? Have there been scientific studies? Experiments? Does a noted scholar in the field agree with you? If not, you may need to pick another topic or side of the argument to support.

#2: Pick Your Side and Form Your Thesis

Now's the time to pick the side of the argument you feel you can support the best and summarize your main point into your thesis statement.

Your thesis will be the basis of your entire essay, so make sure you know which side you're on, that you've stated it clearly, and that you stick by your argument throughout the entire essay .

#3: Heavy-Duty Research Time

You've taken a gander at what the internet at large has to say on your argument, but now's the time to actually read those sources and take notes.

Check scholarly journals online at Google Scholar , the Directory of Open Access Journals , or JStor . You can also search individual university or school libraries and websites to see what kinds of academic articles you can access for free. Keep track of your important quotes and page numbers and put them somewhere that's easy to find later.

And don't forget to check your school or local libraries as well!

#4: Outline

Follow the five-paragraph outline structure from the previous section.

Fill in your topic, your reasons, and your supporting evidence into each of the categories.

Before you begin to flesh out the essay, take a look at what you've got. Is your thesis statement in the first paragraph? Is it clear? Is your argument logical? Does your supporting evidence support your reasoning?

By outlining your essay, you streamline your process and take care of any logic gaps before you dive headfirst into the writing. This will save you a lot of grief later on if you need to change your sources or your structure, so don't get too trigger-happy and skip this step.

Now that you've laid out exactly what you'll need for your essay and where, it's time to fill in all the gaps by writing it out.

Take it one step at a time and expand your ideas into complete sentences and substantiated claims. It may feel daunting to turn an outline into a complete draft, but just remember that you've already laid out all the groundwork; now you're just filling in the gaps.

If you have the time before deadline, give yourself a day or two (or even just an hour!) away from your essay . Looking it over with fresh eyes will allow you to see errors, both minor and major, that you likely would have missed had you tried to edit when it was still raw.

Take a first pass over the entire essay and try your best to ignore any minor spelling or grammar mistakes—you're just looking at the big picture right now. Does it make sense as a whole? Did the essay succeed in making an argument and backing that argument up logically? (Do you feel persuaded?)

If not, go back and make notes so that you can fix it for your final draft.

Once you've made your revisions to the overall structure, mark all your small errors and grammar problems so you can fix them in the next draft.

#7: Final Draft

Use the notes you made on the rough draft and go in and hack and smooth away until you're satisfied with the final result.

A checklist for your final draft:

• Formatting is correct according to your teacher's standards
• No errors in spelling, grammar, and punctuation
• Essay is the right length and size for the assignment
• The argument is present, consistent, and concise
• Each reason is supported by relevant evidence
• The essay makes sense overall

#8: Celebrate!

Once you've brought that final draft to a perfect polish and turned in your assignment, you're done! Go you!

Be prepared and ♪ you'll never go hungry again ♪, *cough*, or struggle with your argumentative essay-writing again. (Walt Disney Studios)

Good Examples of Argumentative Essays Online

Theory is all well and good, but examples are key. Just to get you started on what a fully-fleshed out argumentative essay looks like, let's see some examples in action.

Check out these two argumentative essay examples on the use of landmines and freons (and note the excellent use of concrete sources to back up their arguments!).

The Use of Landmines

A Shattered Sky

The Take-Aways: Keys to Writing an Argumentative Essay

At first, writing an argumentative essay may seem like a monstrous hurdle to overcome, but with the proper preparation and understanding, you'll be able to knock yours out of the park.

Remember the differences between a persuasive essay and an argumentative one, make sure your thesis is clear, and double-check that your supporting evidence is both relevant to your point and well-sourced . Pick your topic, do your research, make your outline, and fill in the gaps. Before you know it, you'll have yourself an A+ argumentative essay there, my friend.

What's Next?

Now you know the ins and outs of an argumentative essay, but how comfortable are you writing in other styles? Learn more about the four writing styles and when it makes sense to use each .

Understand how to make an argument, but still having trouble organizing your thoughts? Check out our guide to three popular essay formats and choose which one is right for you.

Ready to make your case, but not sure what to write about? We've created a list of 50 potential argumentative essay topics to spark your imagination.

Courtney scored in the 99th percentile on the SAT in high school and went on to graduate from Stanford University with a degree in Cultural and Social Anthropology. She is passionate about bringing education and the tools to succeed to students from all backgrounds and walks of life, as she believes open education is one of the great societal equalizers. She has years of tutoring experience and writes creative works in her free time.

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4.7: Argumentation

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Learning Objectives

• Examine the purpose, structure, and style of an argumentative essay

Argumentative Essays

When you hear the word “argument,” what do you think of? Maybe you think of a shouting match or a fistfight? Well, when instructors use the word “argument,” they’re actually referring to is a position supported by the analysis; they’re talking about defending a certain point of view through writing or speech. Usually called a “claim” or a “thesis,” this point of view is concerned with an issue that doesn’t have a clear right or wrong answer (e.g., four and two make six). Also, this argument should not center around personal opinion (e.g., I really like carrots). Instead, an argument attempt to convince the reader about the validity of the author’s point of view (e.g., gun control should be imposed because it will eliminate school shootings). The argumentative essay (sometimes called a persuasive essay) is one of the most common types of essays you’ll encounter in college courses. People can and often do disagree with the argument you make in an argumentative essay, which is precisely why so many instructors find this type of assignment so useful—it makes you think.

What distinguishes an argumentative essay from a descriptive essay or “report” is that the argument must take a stance; if you’re merely summarizing “both sides” of an issue or pointing out the “pros and cons,” you’re not really writing an argument. For example, “Stricter gun control laws will likely result in a decrease in gun-related violence” is an argument. In contrast, “A survey of research studies indicates that gun control laws may decrease gun-related violence” is a discussion of research that does not center on persuasion. In the latter example, the writer might disagree with the quality of the research studies, but the task is to discuss, not persuade.

Key Takeaways

While argument essays usually “articulate an opinion,” this opinion is always carefully defended with good reasoning and supported by plenty of research. Part of learning to write effective arguments is finding reliable sources (or other documents) that lend credibility to your position. It’s not enough to say “capital punishment is wrong because that’s the way I feel.”

We will examine techniques for writing argumentative essays more closely when we learn about argumentation in more detail, but for now, look at these options for organizing an argumentative essay. Remember, the discussion below is to help you think about how to get started; it is not the only way to think about approaching an argumentative essay. In college, we always want to strive for organic rather than formulaic writing.

Argumentative Essay Organization

The two most common organization methods for the argument essay are as follows: the block method, with arguments supporting your position, then a rebuttal at the end, or an essay that includes the rebuttal throughout. The block example is shown below:

• Background information on topic: t his section is necessary for solution arguments but sometimes unnecessary for position arguments. Here you could give details about the history of the death penalty, definitions, or the severity of the problem. This is sometimes included in the introduction or introduced following the introduction.
• Statement of your position on the topic (thesis)
• Overview of arguments to be presented (structure)
• First claim: For death penalty because it will stop overcrowding
• Give statistics on overcrowding
• Give statistics on future problems if no solution is provided
• Explain how the process will help
• Explain how/if appeal process is limited this will further help the situation
• Concluding sentence – link to next paragraph
• Give statistics on repeat offenders who commit murder
• Give statistics if this is not stopped
• Explain how the process would work if implemented
• Explain how this would also stop overcrowding because repeat offenders would not be imprisoned
• These follow the same structure for as many arguments as you wish to put forward in support of the topic.
• List a few of the opposition’s counterarguments (three)
• Take each one, one at a time, and supply statistics to prove it wrong, example would be to prove that innocent people won’t be executed
• #2 Rebuttal: No other democracy uses it, their side, your side with statistics to prove them wrong
• #3 Rebuttal: Death penalty cheapens the value of life: their side, your side with statistics to back it up.
• Summary of the main points of the body
• Call to action

Remember, the template above is suggested to help you organize your thinking. An organic approach to an argumentative essay does not have to follow this exact formula!

SAmple Argumentative Essay

In this student paper, the student makes a persuasive case for the value of technical high schools in Georgia. As you read, pay attention to the different persuasive devices the writer uses to convince us of her position. Also note how the outline gives a structure to the paper that helps lead the reader step-by-step through the components of the argument.

Elizabeth Lamoureux Dr. X English 1101 Honors April 25, 2019

Thesis: Technical high schools should be established in every county in Georgia because they can provide the technical training that companies need, can get young people into the workforce earlier, and can reduce the number of dropouts.

• Education can focus on these specific technical fields.
• Education can work with businesses to fill these positions.
• Apprenticeship programs can be a vital part of a student’s education.
• Apprenticeship programs are integral to Germany’s educational program, providing a realistic model for technical high schools in Georgia.
• Students train during their high school years for their chosen profession.
• Students begin to work in a profession or trade where there is a need.
• Students will become independent and self-supporting at the age of eighteen when many of their peers are still dependent upon their parents.
• Students can make more money over the course of their lifetimes.
• Students are more motivated to take courses in which they have an interest.
• Students will find both core and specialized classes more interesting and valuable when they can see the practical application of the subjects.
• Students would be able to earn a living wage while still taking classes that would eventually lead to full-time employment.
• Students would learn financial skills through experience with money management.

Student Essay

The Value of Technical High Schools in Georgia’s Business Marketplace

Businesses need specialized workers; young people need jobs. It seems like this would be an easy problem to solve. However, business and education are not communicating with each other. To add to this dilemma, emphasis is still put on a college education for everyone. Samuel Halperin, study director of the Commission on Work, Family, and Citizenship for the W. T. Grant Foundation, co-authored two reports: “The Forgotten Half: Non-College Youth in America” and “The Forgotten Half: Pathways to Success for America’s Youth and Young Families.” Halperin states: “While the attention of the nation was focused on kids going to college . . . the truth is that 70 percent of our adults never earn a college degree” (qtd. in Rogers). According to an article in Issues in Science and Technology, the Bureau of Labor Statistics projects that there will be more need for skills obtained through “community colleges, occupational training, and work experience” (Lerman). As Anne C. Lewis points out, although the poor job situation is recognized as detrimental to American youth, President Bush tried to get rid of career and technical education (CTE) and “promote strictly academic programs.” Luckily, Congress did not support it (Lewis 5). The figure for U.S. teen joblessness in October 2009 was 27.6 percent, the highest since World War II (Karaim). According to Thomas E. Persing, Americans are “disregarding the 50 percent who enter college and fail to graduate. . . .” Since everyone does not want or need to go to college, young people need an alternative choice, namely, technical high schools. Technical high schools should be established in every county in Georgia because they can provide the technical training that companies need, can get young people into the workforce earlier, and can reduce the number of dropouts.

Technical high schools provide students with the technical training that companies need. By getting input from businesses on exactly what their specialized needs are, school systems could adapt their curricula to accommodate the needs of businesses. According to an article in Issues in Science and Technology, “employers report difficulty in recruiting workers with adequate skills.” The article goes on to say that “the shortage of available skills is affecting their ability to serve customers, and 84% of the firms say that the K-12 school system is not doing a good job preparing students for the workplace” (Lerman). Education can work with businesses to provide them with the workforce they need, and students can learn the skills they need through apprenticeship programs.

Businesses can be further involved by providing these apprenticeship programs, which can be a vital part of a student’s education. Currently, Robert Reich, economist and former Secretary of Labor, and Richard Riley, Secretary of Education, have spoken up for apprenticeship programs (Persing). In these programs, not only do students learn job-specific skills, but they also learn other skills for success in the workplace, such as “communication, responsibility, teamwork, allocating resources, problem-solving, and finding information” (Lerman). Businesses complain that the current educational system is failing in this regard and that students enter the workforce without these skills.

The United States could learn from other countries. Apprenticeship programs are integral to Germany’s educational program, for example. Because such large numbers of students in a wide array of fields take advantage of these programs, the stigma of not attending college is reduced. Timothy Taylor, the Conversable Economist, explains that most German students complete this program and still have the option to pursue a post-secondary degree. Many occupations are represented in this program, including engineering, nursing, and teaching. Apprenticeship programs can last from one to six years and provide students with a wage for learning. This allows both business and student to compete in the market place. According to Julie Rawe, “under Germany’s earn-while-you-learn system, companies are paying 1.6 million young adults to train for about 350 types of jobs. . . .”

A second important reason technical high schools should be promoted in Georgia is that they prepare students to enter the workforce earlier. Students not interested in college enter the workforce upon high school graduation or sooner if they have participated in an apprenticeship or other cooperative program with a business. Students train during their high school years for their chosen profession and often work for the company where they trained. This ensures that students begin to work in a profession or trade where there is a need.

Another positive factor is that jobs allow students to earn a living upon graduation or before. Even though students are considered adults at eighteen, many cannot support themselves. The jobs available to young people are primarily minimum wage jobs which do not provide them with enough resources to live independently. One recent study indicates that the income gap is widening for young people, and In March 1997, more than one-fourth of out-of-school young adults who were working full-time were earning less than the poverty line income standard of just over $16,000 annually for a family of four” (“The Forgotten Half Revisited”). Conversely, by entering the workforce earlier with the skills businesses need, young people make more money over their lifetimes. Robert I. Lerman considers the advantages:

Studies generally find that education programs with close links to the world of work improve earnings. The earnings gains are especially solid for students unlikely to attend or complete college. Cooperative education, school enterprises, and internship or apprenticeship increased employment and lowered the share of young men who are idle after high school. Young people can obviously profit from entering the workforce earlier.

One of the major benefits of promoting technical high schools in Georgia is that they reduce the number of dropouts. According to an article in the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, the figure for dropouts for the Atlanta metro area is about thirty-four percent (McCaffrey and Badertscher A16). The statistic for Germany’s dropout rate is less than nine percent (Rawe). As Rawe maintains, students stay in school because they cannot get the job if they do not have the diploma. Beyond the strong incentive of a job, students are more motivated to take courses in which they have an interest. In addition to the specialized career classes, students are still required to take core classes required by traditional high schools. However, practical application of these subjects makes them more interesting and more valuable to the students.

Another reason students drop out is to support their families. By participating in a program in which they are paid a wage and then entering that job full time, they no longer need to drop out for this reason. It is necessary for many students to contribute financially to the family: by getting a job earlier, they can do this. Joining the workforce early also provides students with financial skills gained through experience with money management.

The belief of most Americans that everyone needs to have a college education is outdated. The United States needs skilled employees at all levels, from the highly technical to the practical day to day services society needs to sustain its current standard of living. Germany is doing this through its apprenticeship programs which have proven to be economically successful for both businesses and workers. If the State of Georgia put technical high schools in every county, businesses would get employees with the skills they need; young people would get into good-paying jobs earlier, and schools would have fewer dropouts.

Works Cited

“The Forgotten Half Revisited: American Youth and Young Families, 1988-2008.” American Youth Policy Forum. N.p., n.d. Web. 21 Apr. 2019.

Karaim, Reed. “Youth Unemployment.” CQ Global Researcher 6 Mar. 2012: 105-28. Web. 21 Apr. 2019.

Lerman, Robert I. “Building a Wider Skills Net for Workers: A Range of Skills Beyond Conventional Schooling Are Critical to Success in the Job Market, and New Educational Approaches Should Reflect These Noncognitive Skills and Occupational Qualifications.” Issues in Science and Technology 24.4 (2008): 65+. Gale Opposing Viewpoints in Context. Web. 21 Apr. 2019.

Lewis, Anne C. “Support for CTE.” Tech Directions 65.3 (2005): 5-6. Academic Search Complete. Web. 11 Apr. 2019.

McCaffrey, Shannon, and Nancy Badertscher. “Painful Truth in Grad Rates.” Atlanta Journal-Constitution 15 Apr. 2012: A1+. Print.

Persing, Thomas E. “The Role of Apprenticeship Programs.” On Common Ground. Yale-New Haven Teachers Institute, Fall 1994. Web. 16 Apr. 2019.

Rawe, Julie. “How Germany Keeps Kids From Dropping Out.” Time Magazine U.S. Time Magazine, 11 Apr. 2006. Web. 16 Apr. 2019.

Rogers, Betsy. “Remembering the ‘Forgotten Half.'” Washington University in St. Louis Magazine Spring 2005. Web. 21 Apr. 2019.

Taylor, Timothy. “Apprenticeships for the U.S. Economy.” Conversableeconomist.blogspot.com. Conversable Economist, 18 Oct. 2011. Web. 16 Apr. 2019 < http://conversableeconomist.blogspot.com/2011/10/apprenticeships-for-us- Economy.html >.

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Should Everyone Go to College?

By Natalie Proulx

• Jan. 16, 2019

What do you plan to do after high school? Do you plan to go to college, take a gap year, start a training program, begin working or something else?

Do your parents, classmates and teachers support your plan? Have they helped guide you toward your post-high school goals? Or have you mostly had to figure them out on your own?

In “ The Misguided Priorities of Our Educational System ,” Oren Cass writes that the United States spends a disproportionate amount on college-bound students and much less on those who seek an alternative path:

Consider two high school seniors — one who exhibits strong academic talent and one who does not. For one, December marks the homestretch of a yearslong effort, intensively supported by his school, to prepare the perfect college application. For the other, December is just another month on the path to, well, whatever might come after graduation. The former will likely proceed steadily toward a bachelor’s degree; the latter is unlikely to finish college if he enrolls at all. To whom does our education system owe what? That second student, to be clear, has done nothing wrong. He probably clawed his way through his town’s standard college-oriented curriculum, though it neither targeted his interests and abilities nor prepared him for work force success. Looking ahead, he faces a labor market in which he may need to work harder than his college-bound counterpart for lower pay, with fewer options and slower advancement. Yet we celebrate the first student and lavish taxpayer funds on his education. To the second student, we offer little beyond a sympathetic “Sorry.” Our education system has become one of our nation’s most regressive institutions. After high school graduation, the first student can access more than $10,000 annually in public funds to support his college experience. Federal funding for higher education has grown by 133 percent in the past 30 years; combined with tax breaks , loan subsidies and state-level funding , the annual total exceeds $150 billion. That funding will cover not only genuine instructional costs, but also state-of-the-art gyms, psychiatric and career counseling services, and whatever social programming the student-life bureaucracy can conceive. At Ohio State, students living off campus get free fire alarms . The second graduate likely gets nothing. Annual federal funding for a non-college, vocational pathway, at both the high school and postsecondary levels, totals $1 billion . Certainly, he will need to buy his own fire alarm.

Students, read the entire article, then tell us:

— Do you think everyone should go to college? Or should our society offer students more alternatives to higher education? Why?

— Is what Mr. Cass describes in this Op-Ed article true in your school? Is it mostly focused on preparing students for college — by, for example, emphasizing academic achievement, providing college counselors, offering trips to college campuses and giving application help? Is there any support for students who don’t plan to attend college? Or are they mostly on their own in figuring out what they will do after high school?

— Mr. Cass writes, “We spend too much money on college students and not enough on everyone else.” Do you agree with this statement? Why or why not?

— Mr. Cass offers one idea for a non-college pathway that includes a combination of traditional high school, a vocational program, a subsidized internship and paid work. What do you think of this model? If you were to design a high school that prepared students for the range of post-high school options, not just college, what would it look like? What classes, extracurricular activities, work opportunities and other resources would the school offer and why?

— One reader wrote in a letter to the editor regarding this Op-Ed article:

Few, if any, parents who send their children to elite private schools do so with the expectation that they will not go on to college. These parents fully understand the economic advantages that a college degree confers and the social capital that the college experience helps to build. Why should this be any different for students from less privileged backgrounds? We have an obligation to ensure that every one of our children has the very same opportunities. And our expectation should be that all students, regardless of background or circumstance, graduate from high school prepared for success in college and with at least one acceptance letter in hand so that college is a genuine option for them. This is an equity issue, even more than an economic or social one.

Do you agree with this argument? Is a college degree a key to social mobility? If there were more alternatives to college, do you believe it would make society more or less equitable? Why?

Students 13 and older are invited to comment. All comments are moderated by the Learning Network staff, but please keep in mind that once your comment is accepted, it will be made public.

Home — Essay Samples — Education — College Education — Should College Education Be Free: Persuasive Paper

Should College Education Be Free: Persuasive Paper

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How Important is the College Essay?

What’s covered:, factors that impact the importance of college essays, final thoughts, where to get your essay edited.

You know it’s important to have a high GPA, strong standardized tests scores, and extracurricular activities for your college application. But what about the essay? Just how much does it really matter to your overall academic profile? 

The essay is always important, but just how much it will influence your overall application varies by the school to which you are applying, as well as your individual profile. We’ll break it down further in this post.

At the top 250 schools, your essays generally account for 25% of your overall application. This is only slightly behind the 30% for extracurriculars. Essays are actually ahead of the 20% for grades and coursework, 15% for test scores, and 10% for recommendations and interviews. 

Now that many schools are going test-optional or test-blind , however, this breakdown changes slightly. In these situations, test scores no longer account for 15%, meaning that other portions of your application, including essays, are given more weight and consideration.

You might be surprised to learn that essays are that important, but keep in mind that at top schools, there are at least 4 academically-qualified candidates for every open spot. To truly assess an applicant’s fit with the school, admissions officers need the essays. Essays are your one opportunity to share your voice, your unique experiences, and your perspective.

While there is a general breakdown as to how important essays are, their actual influence will vary based on several factors:

1. School size and type

Huge public schools tend to have more applicants than private schools, as well as limited resources with which to evaluate candidates. State schools tend to screen candidates first using GPA and test scores, before reviewing extracurricular activities and essays. At these schools, essays matter less if you have particularly strong academics. The more selective the school, however, the more important essays are. For instance, essays likely matter more at UC Berkeley and the University of Michigan compared to the University of Nebraska or University of Arizona. This is because more selective schools often have more qualified applicants, so essays are used kind of as a tie-breaker. 

In contrast, smaller colleges, especially liberal arts schools, tend to take a more holistic approach to evaluating candidates, since these colleges tend to be more self-selective and receive fewer applications. Therefore, they can devote more time and resources to each individual application.

Top private schools like the Ivies and similar-tier colleges also prefer to use a holistic approach when evaluating students, seeking to understand the candidate and their background as a whole. At top-tier colleges, many of the candidates are already excellent students who have stellar grades, test scores, and extracurricular activities, so essays provide an additional way to differentiate candidates and understand their entire profiles and personalities. As a result, essays are extremely important at these schools, even for those with stellar academics.

2. The strength of your profile

If you are a “borderline” candidate, with good but less-competitive grades and test scores, a strong essay could push you into the admitted pool. However, your essay is unlikely to compensate for grades and test scores that are too far below average, since academics are the primary basis of evaluation.

For the student who otherwise presents an outstanding profile, with a high GPA, competitive test scores, and stellar extracurricular activities, the essay may have a smaller impact on your overall application, because you have already demonstrated your ability to succeed. However, you should still aim to write a strong essay, especially if your dream colleges are highly-selective. 

Under no circumstances should you ever “blow off” your college essay. Even if the rest of your profile makes you a top candidate for competitive colleges, your essay always matters. In fact, your essay could end up hurting an application for an otherwise strong candidate if it appears hastily written or not well thought-out.

3. Your intended major

Factoring in your particular interests, talents, and intended major makes the importance of the essay even more nuanced. If you intend to study a humanities subject such as Journalism, Creative Writing, or English, and list writing-oriented extracurricular activities (such as your school newspaper) on your application, your essay needs to reflect your talent and chosen major. If colleges see that your focus is writing and receive a poorly-written or uninspired essay, they will be confused — and may wonder how well you understand your own strengths.

On the other hand, if your focus is clearly on a subject in which writing personally and creatively is not as essential, such as STEM, admissions committees may provide a little more leeway and judge your essay a little less harshly. You still need to present a well-written and carefully-considered essay, of course. If you know writing is somewhat of a weakness, have teachers, guidance counselors, friends, and family members read it and offer feedback. However, colleges will generally understand that your talents lie elsewhere.

4. Test-optional/Test-blind policies

When colleges go test-optional or test-blind , standardized test scores are given less or no consideration in the admissions process. This means that the other aspects of your application will be more important. So, if you’re planning on applying to schools with test-optional or test-blind policies, keep in mind that your essays will be given even more consideration. Alternatively, if you’re applying to a school where standardized tests are required, your essays may be weighted slightly less.

In either case, you should be making sure your essays are as strong as possible. As schools are increasingly turning test-optional and test-blind in light of the COVID-19 pandemic, admissions processes are constantly changing in unpredictable ways. Your essays are the most personalized part of your application and are your chance to tell admissions officers your unique story. So, make sure that your essays are in great shape and are conveying your personality in an authentic and interesting way.

Essays are an extremely important part of the college admissions process. While certain factors may impact the relative influence of essays, you should always put in your best effort. 

If you’re looking for more help on how to write a strong essay, check out these posts:

How to Write the Common App Essays (with Examples!)

How to Write the “Why This Major” Essay

How to Write the “Why This College” Essay

Want help with your college essays to improve your admissions chances? It’s always useful to have another set of eyes look at your essays to make sure they are in great shape. No matter where you are in the writing process, you can check out our Peer and Expert Essay Review to get some insight into how to improve your college essays! 

With our free peer review, you can have others take a look at your essay and provide useful feedback. You can also improve your own writing skills by reviewing other students’ essays. Alternatively, try out our paid expert essay review to get expert advice and detailed tips on what to improve in your essays!

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Persuasive Essay: Why is Education Important in Our Society?

Introduction.

Education is more than just learning from books, and it is a shame that a lot of schools do not see that it is more than just a curriculum and school score. A good education can teach a child how to learn so that the child may take up independent learning as an adult. Education may also teach a child how to reason so that a child does not grow up to be ignorant.

I will show you the two best reasons why education is important in our society.

Persuasive point 1

The biggest selling point for education in our society is the fact that it helps people learn “how” to learn. It is not about the knowledge they accumulate, it is the way a child is taught how to “learn” things. A child may come away from school not knowing a lot of the course, but if that child has been taught how to learn, then that child may become an adult that learns everything he or she needs in life. Otherwise, that child may grow up to be a person that cannot see the obvious because he or she cannot reason and consciously learn new things.

Persuasive point 2

Education teaches people how to reason, and if they are taught how to reason well, then they help subdue their own thoughts of ignorance. For example, there are lots of posts and websites on the Internet about childhood vaccinations and how dangerous they are. Ignorant people than never learned how to reason will look at them, believe them and support them. If a person is taught how to reason then he or she will know how to recognize empirical evidence.

That person would look at all the people in the US that have had childhood injections (most of them) and then look at all the people with autism. They would reason that if childhood vaccinations caused autism then most of the people in the US would have autism. If a person is taught how to reason then that person may see how people that smoke seem more likely to develop emphysema than people that do not smoke. They would then reason there is a link between smoking and emphysema. This sort of reasoning can be taught in schools, and if children are not taught it then they walk around risking their children’s lives by not vaccinating them, and walk around smoking because their daddy smoked for years and it never hurt him.

If education is not seen as important, then one day it will just be all about school scores and hitting the factors of a curriculum. There will be a day when children start to hate learning because school put them off it for life (this already happens in some cases). Plus, without education teaching people how to reason things out and teaching them how to separate what is fact from what is faulty evidence, then our society will become more and more ignorant until a smarter country simply marches over and takes our country from under out ignorant noses.

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Argumentative essay: Is college education important?

• By Research Team
• on May 15, 2020
• in Sample Papers
• Argumentative essay: Is colleg...

Instructions:

The paper will be between 5 and 7 pages long, and should incorporate at least 5 sources. it must be argumentative – meaning, again, you’ll have to take a side on a controversial topic and devote your paper to substantiating your stance, with active incorporation of authoritative sources. I want to see not only you building your argument, but also actively rebutting the other side of the argument. So, essentially, I want to how you’ve developed your approach following your experiences with the argumentative essays, how you’ve progressed in choosing substantial sources for your work, and how you’ve strengthened your sense of structure, strong thesis statements, and development.

Richard Branson, Mark Zuckerberg, Charles Culpepper, Steve Jobs, Walt Disney, Bill Gates, Dave Thomas, David Green,  Larry Ellison,  Michael Dell, just to name a few, are hugely successful, albeit without a college education. Mark Zuckerberg, for instance, dropped out of college to start Facebook, one of the most successful social media platforms today while Steve Jobs is the founder Apple, one of one of the most valued technology companies in the world. Their huge success, coupled with changing economic times that have rendered many college graduates jobless, or even doing work that doesn’t  relate to their professions, have fuelled the discussion on the relevance of college education in modern times.

The most common arguments against college education are centered on the premise that there are not many jobs for college graduates as economic crises bite most nations and states. The high cost of college education, most of which is financed through students loans makes matters even worse.  As of 2016, there were some 42 million Americans who owed close to $1.3 trillion in student debt, with a majority of them saying that college education was not worth it. In fact, close to 10% of all college graduates in the US graduate with a debt of over $40,000. Other arguments center on the issue of unemployment and under-employment, with statistics from the Bureau of labor statistics (2014) indicating that as of 2016, over 25 million college graduates worked in positions that did not require college education such as parking attendants, janitors, bartenders, taxi drivers etc.

While these arguments are valid, there are much stronger reasons why a college education is important and cannot be substituted.  This paper takes the position that the advantages of going to college by far outdo the challenges facing college education. The section below supports this argument.

College graduates make more money

While it’s true that college education fees are exorbitant, statistics from the Labor department indicate that the average income for a college graduate was significantly higher compared to that of high school leavers. In 2016 for instance, the average income for a high school graduate was $35,615 that of bachelor degree holders was $65,482 while holders of advanced degrees averaged about $92,525. In 2011, the median income for a family that was headed by a college graduate was $100,096, which was more than double the income for those families headed by people with high school education (Carnevale, Smith & Strohl, 2016). Clearly, this indicates that in the longer run, college education graduates make a lot more money than high school graduates, net of the amounts spent to attain their education. Such statistics also serve as a stark reminder that while it’s true that there are a few characters that have made significant wealth and contribution to the society without proper education, the role of education in the growth and development of our societies still reigns supreme.

More jobs require college degrees now, more than ever before.

As the United States moved from the agrarian revolution and the industrial revolution, more and more menial jobs were shed off in favor of white collar jobs. Since the advent of what is commonly known as the service revolution where more and more businesses are becoming service based, there has been a key increase in the need for a college education to support these sectors. In 2017 for instance, only 34% of American jobs require a high school diploma or less, compared to approximately 72% in the 70’s, according to Bureau of Labor Statistics (2014). According to a study carried out in June 2016, 99% of jobs growth in the last 6 years went to workers in possession of college degrees, associate degrees or advanced level degrees. Job projections by the University of Georgetown University, in 2018, about 63% of all jobs in the US will require some degrees. Besides the above statistics, it’s important to note that some professions strictly demand that one must have a college education. Take medicine, for instance, there is not a single medical doctor in the world without a college education. This means that without a college education, some professions would be done with, at the dire expense of the suffering population. There are more and much better employment opportunities for college graduates

According to a 2015 survey, 85.2% of college freshman said that they were motivated to get a better job. A previous 2013 study noted that rate of unemployment for college graduates stood at 3.6% compared to about 5.0 % for holders of associate degrees while unemployment rate for high school graduates was 7.5% and 11.4% for high school dropouts (Autor & Price, 2013) This clearly indicates that contrary to popular belief that college education presents no real opportunities, on the contrary, college degrees present a myriad of opportunities for a better job, work environment and life in general. College degree holders, for instance, are more likely to seek employment opportunities outside their states or countries that would high school graduates or dropouts since there are more likely to be networked and with a greater world view than high school graduates who are less attractive and innovative.

Opportunity for learning other life skills such as interpersonal, communication and people skills

In the past, employers were mostly concerned about the academic papers for candidates and mostly technical know-how. As long as a candidate had met the minimum employment requirements, then they got hired.  Interviews were merely a confirmation of the candidate’s technical ability to deliver in a given position. Modern human resource best practices go beyond that. Things have since changed, and employers are now more concerned about candidates attitude, personality and soft skills such as communication, teamwork, interpersonal and social skills (Deming, 2015). According to a recent employment study, employers explained that soft skilled ranked higher up than technical know-how in their recruitment process. College education curriculum presents many opportunities for a student to demonstrate and horn their skills in these areas which not only makes them highly innovative and employable but also makes them adaptable and generally responsible members of their societies.

Productive members of their society

Bieanan, the president of  North Western University recently posited that college education results in “greater productivity, lower crime, better health, [and] better citizenship for more educated people’’ His arguments are supported by a 2009 study which found that high school dropouts were 63% more prone to engage in crime and be incarcerate than those with college education or higher. The bureau of Labor Statistics in 2008 reported that 43% of graduates did volunteer work compared to only 19% of high school graduates or the 27% reported for adults in general. These are indicators that the society generally stands to gain significantly if most of its population attained a basic college education.

College education presents opportunities beyond employment.

Colleges have presented opportunities for the formation of some of the best brands in the world today. While some of these founders may still have dropped out, such great ideas were mooted during their college years. This can be attributed to the fact that colleges serve as incubation centers for business ideas that can be transformed into life-changing innovations. The networks that students gain during their college years are also useful in their future lives.

Expansion of mental faculties

 Education and especially higher education expands ones, mental faculties. Some of the best thinkers, engineers, doctors must have at least college education.  The more educational opportunities that one has, the more skills and knowledge they are likely to obtain. College education exposes students to a variety of people, experiences, topics and challenges. This leads to growth in areas such as reasoning, expression, decision making, analytical skills, and creativity. It also provides an opportunity to socialize, network and make new friends. This enables them to embrace diversity and mature in their cultural perspectives. These are necessary life skills and lessons that are scarce to most people with little education levels.

Carnevale,A.P, Smith, N & Strohl, J (2016) Recovery: Jobs growth and education requirements through 2020.  Center on education and the Workforce. Available at: https://cew.georgetown.edu/wp-content/uploads/2014/11/Recovery2020.ES_.Web_.pdf

Bureau of labor statistics (2014) Education level and jobs: Opportunities by the state. Retrieved from: https://www.bls.gov/careeroutlook/2014/article/education-level-and-jobs.htm

Autor, D. H & Price, B. (2013). The changing task composition of the US labor market: An update of Autor, Levy, and Murnane (2003), MIT Working Paper, June.

Deming, D. J. (2015). The growing importance of social skills, NBER Working Paper 21473, National Bureau of Economic Research, Cambridge, MA.

Huffingpost  (2016) Just How Important Is A College Education These Days?. Retrieved from: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/gabrielle-pfeiffer/just-how-important-is-a-c_b_11437210.html

College education is an important and controversial topic in today’s society. On one hand, some argue that a college degree is essential for success in today’s job market, as it can provide access to higher paying and more fulfilling careers. Others argue that the high cost of tuition and student loan debt make it difficult for many individuals to justify the investment in a college degree. In this paper, I will argue that college education is indeed important, and that the benefits of earning a degree far outweigh the costs.

One of the main arguments in favor of college education is that it can lead to higher paying jobs. According to the National Center for Education Statistics, the median annual earnings for individuals with a bachelor’s degree were $65,482 in 2019, compared to just $38,376 for those with only a high school diploma. This is a significant difference, and it demonstrates the potential for higher earning potential with a college degree. Additionally, college graduates are more likely to have access to a wider range of career opportunities, as many jobs now require at least a bachelor’s degree.

Another argument in favor of college education is that it can provide a more fulfilling career. Many college graduates report higher levels of job satisfaction, as they are able to pursue careers that align with their interests and passions. In a survey conducted by the Pew Research Center, 75% of college graduates reported that their current job was “very meaningful” or “somewhat meaningful,” compared to just 45% of those with only a high school diploma. This suggests that college education can lead to more fulfilling and satisfying careers.

There are also numerous personal and societal benefits to college education. For example, college graduates tend to be more civically engaged and involved in their communities, as they have been exposed to a variety of perspectives and ideas through their education. College education can also lead to improved mental and physical health outcomes, as it has been linked to lower rates of obesity, smoking, and substance abuse.

While it is true that college education can be expensive, the long-term benefits of earning a degree far outweigh the costs. For example, the average return on investment for a bachelor’s degree is 14%, which means that the average college graduate will earn $1.4 million more over the course of their lifetime than someone with only a high school diploma. Additionally, there are numerous financial aid options available to help students pay for college, including scholarships, grants, and loans.

Of course, it is important to note that college is not for everyone, and there are many successful individuals who have not pursued a traditional four-year degree. However, for those who are able to attend college, the benefits of earning a degree are significant and long-lasting. In conclusion, college education is an important investment in one’s future, and the benefits far outweigh the costs.

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Is A College Degree Necessary To Success Essay Example

In the past, college was the path that most individuals took to have a successful future. Not only was college encouraged, but for some, it had previously been considered one of the only ways of living successfully. As the job market changed, individuals found themselves pursuing other paths that better fit their interests. The rise of technology and social media are two examples that provided other opportunities to succeed without a college degree which raises potential questions: Is a college degree no longer necessary for success, especially after the Covid-19 Pandemic, and is the payoff or result worth it?  

In the New York Times, Shannon Doyne, a professional writer, exclaims, “Because of levitating costs, college these days is a luxury item. What’s more, it’s a luxury item with newly uncertain returns.” Doyne’s conclusion brings money into the perspective of this issue, as most students cannot afford the demanding costs of college for a possible successful job in the future. The unemployment rate associated with individuals with college degrees is astonishing. However, the rise in technology and social media can possibly allow young adults to make a living for themselves, giving them different opportunities for success compared to earlier eras.  

During the Covid-19 Pandemic, many started their businesses from their homes to make up for unemployment and lost wages. The pandemic changed the necessities for many individuals. Kairos played a significant role in this issue. The timing of the pandemic contributed to the issue by adding more questions to whether college at this time is explicitly worth it. It limited many students to online education, while including the same grueling costs of in-person learning. The change in the job market left some who had college degrees struggling to find jobs.  

The problem of college being a tough choice for some is primarily because of the grueling cost. The rise of tuition is a significant problem for many, especially those who pay for their education. The pandemic has made finances tough on many, especially on students. Although college is a choice, some do not have the privilege to go to college due to financial needs. The financial need could stop a brilliant student from attending school due to the simple fact that it is too expensive or the unknown payoff is questionable. This underlying issue can be seen without a resolution because college has a different meaning to each student. Each student must make their own decision and decide whether college is worth the time, money, and effort spent in obtaining a degree.   

On the contrary, in the New York Times, Susan Dynarski, an economist states, “The lifetime payoff to earning a college degree is so very large, in health and wealth, that it dwarfs even high tuition costs. College is an especially smart choice during a terrible job market.” Dynarski makes an excellent observation stating that although some may have been able to find jobs well enough to support themselves before the pandemic, most of those jobs have been deemed unnecessary. Restaurants, entertainment, and bars are just a few examples of places that many without a college degree had relied for employment. These have since been seen as privileges since the pandemic shut down these options. Dynarski continues to explain how many with a college degree have much better opportunities in these trying times. For example, compared to a high school degree, individuals with college degrees stand out in the job market, essentially creating a better opportunity of obtaining employment. 

Furthermore, the past and present stakeholders are students who recently earned their degrees and students who graduated high school and decided whether college is the right path. Students who completed their college degrees are now in the job market, competing for jobs. The competition for well-paying jobs is fierce, with companies only having limited positions open. Students who have decided to enroll and obtain a college education must adjust to the new learning environment the pandemic has set for them. The central conflict of interest is student’s futures. The idea of college may not be for some, but most believe that college is still necessary for the present day. Although media and family can influence students, ideally, the end decision is their own. Students need to figure out whether pursuing a college degree is the right choice for their circumstances and interests.

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Here’s How Ivy League Schools Evaluate Student GPAs

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One of the main gates on the Brown University campus, decorated with the University crest. (Photo by ... [+] Rick Friedman/Corbis via Getty Images)

A stellar GPA is one of the building blocks of a successful Ivy League application, and as the school year winds down, many students are anxiously seeking to give theirs a final boost. While most students and families understand the importance of a 4.0, few are aware of how top colleges evaluate student GPAs or what they look for when reviewing student transcripts. Though your GPA may seem to be a simple metric, nothing could be further from the case—colleges consider more than just the number, accounting for complexities such as diverse grading systems across schools, trends in grade inflation, and level of course rigor.

Here are three important facts to keep in mind about your GPA as you choose your courses:

1. Your GPA doesn’t directly compare to that of students at other schools.

One common misconception among college applicants is that they can compare their GPAs with those of students attending different schools. However, the GPA is not a universal metric but rather a reflection of an individual's academic performance within their specific educational environment. As a result, comparing GPAs from different schools is like comparing apples and oranges. For instance, some schools offer a plethora of AP, IB, and honors courses, while others may have limited options or offer none at all. Additionally, the weight assigned to AP versus honors versus regular classes varies from school to school. So, your GPA may not hold the same weight as those of your peers at different schools, even if you all have 4.0s.

Admissions officers understand that schools vary in their rigor, curriculum, and grading policies. Therefore, they evaluate your GPA in the context of your high school, considering the courses offered and the academic challenges presented. Instead of fixating on how your GPA compares to your friends’ from other schools, focus on challenging yourself and taking advantage of all the opportunities available to you at your school.

2. GPAs across the country are inflated—and colleges know it.

The last few years have seen surges in high school student GPAs nationwide. While GPA inflation has been on the rise over the last decade, average ACT composite scores are steadily declining. “For the 1.4 million ACT test-takers in the high school class of 2023, the average composite score on the exam was 19.5 out of 36, the lowest score since 1991,” according to The New York Times . The parallel differences, coupled with academic differences across schools, suggest that GPA must be considered in tandem with multiple other factors. Simply put, an A no longer means what it used to on a transcript.

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Ivy League and other top colleges are well aware of this trend and evaluate student GPAs alongside other metrics such as standardized test scores and AP exam scores in order to better understand a student’s academic skill sets. While some Ivy League and other top schools remain test-optional , they still place emphasis on course rigor and the context offered by your high school profile in order to understand the grades on your transcript.

3. Colleges will recalculate your GPA.

Given the abundance of variables in GPA calculations, colleges often recalculate the metric to create a standardized baseline for comparison between students across different schools. The recalibration may involve adjusting for variations in grading scales or the weighting of honors, International Baccalaureate (IB) or Advanced Placement (AP) courses. The University of California system, for example, calculates students’ UC GPAs by converting grades to grade points (an A is equivalent to 4 points, a B to three points, etc.) for classes taken between summer after 9th and summer after 11th grade, and adding one point for each honors class, and dividing by total classes taken to yield final GPA.*

Other colleges also take additional factors that impact academic performance into consideration, and envelop GPA into a broader, holistic consideration. For instance, the Harvard University lawsuit over affirmative action revealed that Harvard rates students on a scale of 1–6 (with one being the most desirable) in academic, extracurricular, athletic and personal categories. A student’s GPA and test scores are folded together into an academic score which “summarizes the applicant’s academic achievement and potential based on grades, testing results, letters of recommendation, academic prizes, and any submitted academic work.”

This process aims to provide a fair and equitable evaluation of students from different educational backgrounds. Keep in mind that Harvard considers not only your grades, test scores, and academic rigor in this score, but also “evidence of substantial scholarship” and “academic creativity,” which can make the difference between a 1 and a 2 in the scoring system. These systems underscore the importance of taking advantage of every opportunity, showcasing your unique personality and creativity, and seeking to maximize opportunities to improve your performance within the academic landscape of your institution.

By understanding the complex way by which colleges evaluate students’ GPAs, you are better equipped to present a comprehensive and competitive picture of your academic achievements on your transcript and stand out in the competitive Ivy League admissions landscape.

*Variations exist for in-state versus out-of-state students and by high school. Be sure to calculate your GPA following the UC issued guidelines.

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