Okay guys, I wrote an essay for my College Writing class, and I wanna know what you all think! :)
To some people, the topic in Caroline Bird’s essay, College is a Waste of Time and Money, may be a touchy subject. If you read the essay without thinking deep down about it, it could seem like she is “full of it”. Though, if you really analyze the point she is making, it isn’t hard to understand where she is coming from. Most students (not to mention their parents) don’t want to think that their thousands of dollars in investments are going to waste, when they could be spending it on things that make them happier than sitting in a classroom staring at textbooks all day. So, is college really worth the time and money spent?
In the essay, Bird states “no more than 25 percent of students are turned on by class work”. So why do we do it? I believe it is because we are pushed so hard to succeed in life by those around us. Yes, it is extremely necessary to learn right from wrong, but being told how to run our lives step by step by our “superiors” can sometimes prevent us from learning by our own experiences. I believe people in our generation are being treated like robots. We are expected to do the same things everyone else does. If we don’t get a higher education, we are treated like outcasts, and like we don’t know right from wrong. Instead, I think we should do what makes us happy. After all, other people aren’t living your life; only you know what lifts your spirits. Some people believe that college is perfect for them, and it gives them that sense of fulfillment. Others think they are wasting their days away when they could be doing something else that makes them feel proud and accomplished. Do we do everything that others tell us to do just to make them happy? The answer is no, so I don’t understand why students go to college if they are only making others happy, and not themselves.
These days, if you walked around a college campus on Friday and asked students what their plans were for that night, the typical response you would receive would have something to do with parties. Bird states that “college is at best a social center or aging vat”, meaning that college has now become the cool place to be after graduating from high school. It’s also a way of avoiding being “a grown up” for a few more years. Students can have fun when they aren’t in class, they are still with their peers and friends, they don’t necessarily have go out and look for a job yet, and they barely have any bills to pay. Plus it makes your parents and family happy. Sounds like the perfect life, right? Well, although that may be true, then why don’t students just live at home where it’s cheaper, and not worry about the thousands of dollars they are wasting for classes that don’t really matter to them? What makes it worse, is now that student enrollment has been dropping, colleges are now sweetening the deal to students who enroll on their campus. They are giving more financial aid, and offering more perks to make young adults think they are getting an amazing deal. There are so many cheaper investments you can make, and they might just make you happier then sitting in a classroom all day with a notebook and pen in front of you.
In the essay, Bird also explains the concept of “psychic income”, which is basically the feeling of enjoyment or satisfaction you get from a job. Everyone wants to be happy, right? Then why work for a job that makes you miserable day after day? The theory is that that college will help students get the job that they enjoy in life. These days, that hypothesis is getting more and more false every day. More people are not getting jobs that they want, they are taking what is available to them. It is misleading that spending all that money on education will make your dream job just fall into your arms, when many jobs are extremely scarce.
In conclusion, I partially agree with Caroline Bird’s argument that “college is a waste of time and money”. In my opinion, it is all about who you ask. I, for one, am learning about something that I am passionate about, sports journalism. I love writing, sports, and telling people the news, so I am fully satisfied with my choice to further my education in that career field. Others, however, may not know what they want to do in life yet. They just go to college to fill in that empty gap in their life. So why spend all this time and money on something that you aren’t completely sure about yet? I believe college should be something that you want to do, not something that you are basically pressured into doing.
Comments
As long as it meets the required length and u spell checked...just say fuck it and send it in.
