Cordner 1

Mason Cordner

Mrs. Layton

English 1010

20 February 2018

Get a B.A. or Get a Job?

Introduction

In the world today getting your B.A. is thought to be absolutely necessary. But statistics

show that many people do not graduate. What options are there? Blue collar jobs are still a pillar

in the global economy and offer options for these who have run out of options and if our schools

are really preparing students for a automated future.

In the article “Are Too Many People Going To College,” Charles Murray, the W. H. Brady

scholar at the American Enterprise Institute, argues that because so many young people are going

to college, having your B.A. no longer offers a substantial advantage in finding a high paying

job. Murray also states that almost a third of those who enter college wanting a B.A. leave

without one.

Murray makes the argument that “too many people are going to college,” isn’t the same

as saying that average students do not need to know about history, science, art, music, and

literature. He says that students need to know even more than they are learning currently. He

then states that we should not wait for college to teach it.

Murray asserts that there is no longer many viable excuses for not getting your B.A.

today. Murray says that people either think you are lazy or dumb if you don’t get a B.A.
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However, Murray said, if someone decides to get an apprenticeship to be an electrician he will,

on average, make more money faster than if he had gone to school and got his B.A.

In the article “Blue-Collar Brilliance” Mike Rose expresses his opinion that blue collar jobs

require a large amount of skill and coordination. He claims that just because someone did not get

a college education to qualify them for their job they are no less intelligent than the person who

got an official education. Going with a similar theme that Murray asserted that there is no longer

many viable excuses for not getting your B.A. and that people either think you as irresponsible

slothful if you don’t get a B.A..

Rose uses the example of his uncle who never graduated high school to illustrate that

even though many blue collar workers do not get an education from a school, they make up for

it, because there work becomes their school. Rose says that “A significant amount of teaching,

often informal and indirect, takes place at work.” Rose describes his uncle as a bright individual

whose unique ideas, ingenuity, and ability to adapt, helped his company save money and become

more efficient. He definitely does not sound like a mindless gorilla wielding a pipe wrench.

There are options outside of a traditional B.A. that can be very beneficial. As Murray said, if

someone decides to get an apprenticeship to be an electrician he will, on average, make more

money faster than if he had gone to school and got his B.A.. Roses uncle got his training on the

job, and in some instances workplace experience can sure beat a piece of paper with a few fancy

signatures on it.
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Rose concludes, “If we think that whole categories of people—identified by class or

occupation—are not that bright, then we reinforce social separations and cripple our ability to

talk across cultural divides.” with this statement Rose point out the flaw and consequence of our

culture's puffed up opinion that people with a higher education are more intelligent.

Rose tells the story about his mom and her career as a waitress. He recalls watching her being

able to perform many tedious tasks, like remembering who ordered what dish, balancing mounds

of food trays, and meeting individual customers needs and moods. He states what he learned

from this “what I observed in my mother’s restaurant defined the world of adults, a place where

competence was synonymous with physical work. Like anyone who is effective at physical

work, my mother learned to work smart, to make every move count.” using his family's story

Rose expresses that blue collar jobs need to be filled with smart, competent, and hardworking

individuals.

In The article “​Are colleges preparing students for the automated future of work?​” Jeffrey J.

Selingo scrutinizes the modern education system and discuss whether or not our schools are

preparing students for failure, or the future. Selingo tells how more and more middle class jobs

are being lost to machines. He also asserts that we need to be teaching students how to fill the

jobs of the future.

Selingo bring to our attention the peril that many of our middle class jobs are really in, “While

robots… operating machines on a factory floor make for attention-grabbing headlines, nearly

half of American jobs are at risk of being taken over by computers within the next two decades.”

With this statement Selingo brings us to the realization that the world is changing very fast.
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Selingo asserts that unless we train the rising workforce to work with the rapidly advancing

technology than we may live a nightmare where millions of people are unemployed. He states

that we need to teach students how to be original and flexible thinkers to fill jobs that only

humans can do that require judgment skills, ethics, and critical thinking. Selingo says that they

know the steps they have to take, they just have to do it. People like Roses uncle and mother may

one day become invaluable assets in the modern workforce.

Compared to the Murrey and Rose, Selingo’s article adds to the theme that our higher education

system is in need of renovation. If colleges are really worried about the future of their students

they need to make movements in the direction that Selingo pointed out. Without that we look

towards a very bleak future in which machines replace hard working people. With thousands of

talented people who struggled to get a college education unemployed and in need of work.

Is College Still Worth The Cost ?

Major Debates and Commentary

In the world today getting your B.A. is thought to be absolutely necessary if you want a

good job. But statistics show that many people do not graduate. Blue collar jobs are still a pillar

in the global economy and offer options for these who are sick of taking classes that have

nothing to do with their aspired career.

In the article “Are Too Many People Going To College,” Charles Murray, the W. H. Brady

scholar at the American Enterprise Institute, argues that because so many young people are going
 Cordner 5

to college, having your B.A. no longer offers a substantial advantage in finding a high paying

job.

Murray asserts that there is no longer many viable excuses for not getting your B.A. today.

Murray says that people either think you are lazy or dumb if you don’t get a B.A. However,

Murray said, if someone decides to get an apprenticeship to be an electrician he will, on average,

make more money faster than if he had gone to school and got his B.A.

Brooke Berger replies to this in her article “the price of success”, she tells us that a lot

more people are going to college . But that a lot more of the public is starting to question whether

it's worth going. She states that In 2008, 81 percent of adults thought college was a worthwhile

investment. But that this year, 57 percent thinks so. The information that Berger produces shows

how drastically the people's faith in the B.A. has fallen from the sky. (Berger)

Rona Wilensky’s words in the article ​“For Some High-School Students, Going to College

Isn't the Answer”​ is similar to Murray’s claim. She starts by telling how her college teaching

position after graduate school was at a competitive New England liberal-arts college. And that

her students were bright, and most of them learned what she tried to teach them. But that she

quickly discovered that despite their strong skills, there was an enormous gap between her and

her students They didn't care at all about what she, as a college professor of economics, cared

about. They weren't interested in the ideas that led her to enter and complete graduate school and

that were at the heart of her discipline and her research. For the most part, she thinks that, they

were preoccupied with each other, and with the non academic careers for which they needed the

prestigious college degree they were earning. (Wilensky) Wilensky’s experience is one
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experienced all over the nation. College students are required to take generals classes that they

have no drive to do well in, because they are simply not interested. Like Wilensky said their

dreams and inspirations are in a non academic career. And they are being forced to take many

non applicable classes which leads to discouragement, and students dropping out. And then on

the other end you have the kids who skip years of inapplicable classes in school and go straight

to the workplace for their education.

Michelle R.Davis brings with himself a unique perspective to the area of debate in his

article “COLLEGE SUCCESS RATE” states that many parents and students believe getting

college degree is needed for success. When in fact only one in three students who enroll in

college eventually earn their degree. Davis states that according to a policy brief from the

Education Commission of the States “The commission examined state and federal research

studies and found that students and parents believe a college degree is necessary for success,

many were not well informed about what it takes to prepare for college.” (Davis) This is in part

due to the flawed structure of the education systems of our public schools. But this problem

doesn’t end there, Brooke Berger states “when we talked to managers and employers, only 16

percent said the people they hire are ready for the workforce.” (Berger) So why pray tell, do we

waste tens of thousands of dollars sending kids to school when it doesn't help prepare them for

the real world like we are told it will?

In the article “Blue-Collar Brilliance” Mike Rose expresses his opinion that blue collar jobs

require a large amount of skill and coordination. He claims that just because someone did not get

a college education to qualify them for their job they are no less intelligent than the person who

got an official education. Going with a similar theme that Murray asserted that there is no longer
 Cordner 7

many viable excuses for not getting your B.A. and that people either think of you as irresponsible

or slothful if you don’t get a B.A..

Rose uses the example of his uncle who never graduated high school to illustrate that

even though many blue collar workers do not get an education from a school, they make up for

it, because there work becomes their school. Rose says that “A significant amount of teaching,

often informal and indirect, takes place at work.” Rose describes his uncle as a bright individual

whose unique ideas, ingenuity, and ability to adapt, helped his company save money and become

more efficient. He definitely does not sound like a mindless gorilla wielding a pipe wrench.

There are options outside of a traditional B.A. that can be very beneficial. As Murray said, if

someone decides to get an apprenticeship to be an electrician he will, on average, make more

money faster than if he had gone to school and got his B.A.. Roses uncle got his training on the

job, and in some instances workplace experience can sure beat a piece of paper with a few fancy

signatures on it.

Rose concludes, “If we think that whole categories of people—identified by class or

occupation—are not that bright, then we reinforce social separations and cripple our ability to

talk across cultural divides.” with this statement Rose point out the flaw and consequence of our

culture's puffed up opinion that people with a higher education are more intelligent.

On the other end of the spectrum Mary Daly and Leila Bengali answer the question is it still

worth going to collage. They say that earning a four-year college degree is still a worthwhile

investment for the average student. They use data from U.S. workers to show that the benefits of

college in terms of higher earnings still outweigh the cost of the degree itself, as long as it is

measured as tuition, plus wages lost while attending school. They say that the average college
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graduate paying annual tuition of somewhere in the ballpark of $20,000 can make up the costs of

their education by age 40. They state that after that point, the difference between earnings will

continue such as that the average graduate earns over $800,000 more than the average high

school graduate by retirement age.(DALY) Bengali and Daly try to show that the benefits greatly

outweigh the costs of a degree. But it is still up to us to decide whether or not it's what we want

to chase after.

In the world today getting your B.A. is thought to be absolutely necessary. But statistics show

that many people end up not finishing their degrees. Blue collar jobs are still a pillar in the global

economy and offer options for these who are sick of taking classes that have nothing to do with

their aspired career.

The community college craze

Areas of Further Inquiry

Another area of inquiry is the thought that local community colleges are a better solution for

people to get their BA. Or are they a superior solution over the large schools for people who

struggle in a large university environment, or lack the experience to really move forward. For

some people the community college is the solution to all our problems, and for others it still

lacks the structure that is really needed.

Accordingly María Miranda, in her article “The Old Community College Try” states that "Rural

folks created community colleges because they did not have sufficient access to the ... four-year

system," … Over time, people from all sorts of backgrounds have utilized the community college

because they felt that they weren't getting sufficient opportunities in a traditional setting.”
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(Miranda) from what Miranda stated it could be inferred that Students who find the larger

schools to crowded or fell they are not getting the support they need. Community colleges can

provide a cheaper and smaller way to get a transferable 4 year degree.

Moreover, President Obama thought that community colleges could be the answer. In the article

“Workforce for the future” Peter Galuszka State and quotes that “In his State of the Union

message on Jan. 20, President Obama … urged lawmakers to make community college "as free

and universal in America as high school is today" by providing for two years of free tuition.”

Well, that would probably help solve a lot of peoples problems. But notwithstanding, there is

another dimension to this discussion that comes back in Miranda’s paper.

Miranda draws upon resources that illustrate that not even community colleges are safe from

agendas in quoting that "People tend to put the bottom half [of students] into vocational or

technical programming so they go on and make a living and get into the labor market quicker,"

Does this mean that community colleges aren't really trying to help us, but instead trying to help

advance the economy? It could be, Miranda comes crashing in quoting that "in the last few years,

the recognition that we may have too few skilled employees to fill the labor market has caused

policymakers to perhaps overreact by pushing vocational and career training too far, … I think

there has also been a tendency to push minorities into that vocational and technical training." By

inferring to this, Miranda helps us realize that Minority and low income students who may be

feeling like the community colleges care for them, may be being hustled through the system only

to fill the job vacuum in the workforce, not to help Students implement their dreams.

Galuszka infers in his article that employers “ require graduates to be certified as competent in

jobs that call for more advanced education than high school but not college. Typically, these may
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be for industrial skills… in 2018... Some 1.5 million jobs will be created in ... a decade, and more

than half will need some form of credentialing but not degrees… but highly skilled blue-collar

workers are retiring in large numbers. Workers often don't have the skill sets most needed by

employers, so… well-paying and sustainable jobs often go lacking.” And thus we see that there

are other jobs available without effectuating their B. A., we just need to be alright with getting

our hands dirty.

This of inquiry is the thought that local community colleges are a better solution for people to get

their BA. Or are they a better solution over the big schools for people who struggle in a large

university environment, or lack the experience to really move forward. For some people the

community college is the solution to all our problems, and for others it still lacks the structure

that is really needed.

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Works cited

Berger, Brooke. "The Price of Success." ​U.S. News Digital Weekly​, vol. 5, no. 18, 03 May 2013,

p. 18. EBSCO​host​,

search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=aph&AN=87629563&site=ehost-live.

DALY, MARY C. and LEILA BENGALI. "Is It Still Worth Going to College?." ​FRBSF

Economic Letter​, vol. 2014, no. 13, 05 May 2014, pp. 1-5. EBSCO​host​,

search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=aph&AN=95942404&site=ehost-live.

Davis, Michelle R. "College Success Rate." ​Education Week​, vol. 26, no. 2, 06 Sept. 2006, p. 20.

EBSCO​host​,

search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=aph&AN=22427714&site=ehost-live.

GALUSZKA, PETER. "Workforce for the Future." ​Diverse: Issues in Higher Education​, vol. 32,

3/12/2015 Supplement Convergence Diversity & Inclusion, p. 31. EBSCO​host​,

search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=tth&AN=101551905&site=ehost-live.
 Cordner 12

Miranda, María Eugenia. "The Old Community College Try." ​Diverse: Issues in Higher

Education​, vol. 31, no. 3, 13 Mar. 2014, p. 60. EBSCO​host​,

search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=tth&AN=96357916&site=ehost-live.

Murray, Charles. “Are Too Many People Going to College?” ​Actively Learn​, Random House,

Inc., 2008, read.activelylearn.com/#student/reader/218432/notes.

Rose, Mike. “Blue-Collar Brilliance.” ​Actively Learn​, THEAMERICANSCHOLAR.ORG,

read.activelylearn.com/#student/reader/218436/notes.

Selingo, Jeffrey J. "Are colleges preparing students for the automated future of work?"

Washington Post, 17 Nov. 2017. Student Resources in Context,

http://link.galegroup.com/apps/doc/A514877560/SUIC?u=pioneer&xid=401c5667​.

Accessed 19 Dec. 2017.

Wilensky, Rona. "For some High-School Students, Going to College Isn't the Answer."

Chronicle of Higher Education​, vol. 53, no. 34, 27 Apr. 2007, p. B18. EBSCO​host​,

search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=pwh&AN=25307543&site=pov-live.