Ever since we were able to comprehend right from wrong, most of us
were taught that if you went to college, got a
good education you would get a
good job & make lots of money. That may have been true twenty years ago
when my mother got her degree, but times are completely different now. The
concept of college is set up, administered and enforced by the very people
who stand to benefit from a student enrolling in college, which are not the
students but the academic institution and the federal government. Think
about it.
Student’s work their brains for four years only to pay to take a test
called the SAT’s that basically tells them which school they smart enough to
apply. The next step is for these unsuspecting college hopefuls to shell out
anywhere from thirty to fifty-five dollars to attach to a college application
that now state, eighty percent of college graduates will not find a job in the
field of which obtained their degree. Nevertheless, colleges willingly accept
hundreds of college applications and application fees only to accept the “best
of the best”. The thing that I never understood was why should I have to pay
to go to a place that “accepted me” in the first place? This is where the
institution benefits.
Statistically college tuition is rising up to twenty percent every year,
forcing more than ever, for more students to take out Federal Student Loans.
Six months after graduation whether a
graduate lands that “dream job” they
were tricked into believing would be waiting for them or not, Uncle Sam
wants to collect on the hundred thousand plus dollars he put up for a
students education with an interest higher than most credit card
companies.
If the graduate is unable to pay once they do land a job their wages get
garnished. This is where the Federal Government benefits. I ask, where is the
student benefiting?
What happened to all the companies that were supposed to be lined up
to offer degree holders this great job that pays enough money for the big
house and the Mercedes? It’s not realistic. The fact of the matter is that in
this day and age a Bachelor’s degree is now equivalent to a high school
diploma and now companies are demanding more education and that comes
with a bigger price tag. The average college graduate will make about thirty
thousand dollars they first two years after paying almost three time that
amount in college. This doesn’t even out.
Ok, think about this. A high school graduate takes a retail job at the
bottom level and learns the ins and outs of the company and eventually
works his or her way up to management. By the time the student who attends
college graduates, the student that took the retail job is already making more
money than the college graduate and also has more experience. So it is not
necessary true that college graduates make more money than people that
didn’t go to college. Having a college degree doesn’t ensure job stability.
When big companies and corporations so belly up, the first to go is the
people at the bottom, not the VP’s. Eventually that degree holder will end up
at that retail job anyway.
In my opinion, the concept of college is a set up. It’s a set up by the
government to instill debt, which is a way to control the economy and to
determine how much money a person makes per year. Personally, it doesn’t
matter if you graduate college or not. It should be a decision that a student
should make based on the fact they are going to acquire knowledge, not to
acquire wealth. In an article by Leon Botstien he states “by the time those who
graduate from high school go onto college and realize what really is at stake
in becoming an adult, too many opportunities have been lost and too much
time has been wasted”. The idea of college and education is just not set up
that way. It is not set up to benefit the student, it never was.