Over the past years, college education has been a major topic of controversy with various people pledging their support for or against it. The outcome and the quality of lives after the attainment of the college schooling determine whether it is worth pursuing. Five authors have expressed their thoughts regarding this topic, most of which depict a feeling of disappointment and dissatisfaction over the controversial issue, as to whether it is worth attending college. Many families sacrifice a great deal just to ensure that their children get quality education; but with the increasing trends of unemployment, is college education worth the cost, sacrifice and the effort or it is just a simple scam that many people have been plunged into?
In the article titled, “Is College a scam”, the author talks comprehensively about how the current job market influences people’s decision on what course to pursue. According to the author, many college graduates join their respective colleges and pursue their courses with much enthusiasm, only to get out of college and lack a meaningful job. This compels them to take up non-professional jobs in anticipation of better ones. The author of the article “fulfilling her mother’s dream” advances the same argument. In this article, the author narrates a story of a mother who yearned for college education but missed it; the mother did not stop at this point but struggled to ensure that the daughter attains the education that she (the mother) had missed. The most discouraging factor however is that like other graduates who went before the daughter, she was highly likely to join the group of jobless graduates after attaining the much sought after college education.
On a rather controversial note, the article, “Americas most overrated product; higher education”, idealizes of how successful college dropouts have succeeded in their quest for success. The likes of Bill Gates, Steve Wozniak, and Richard Branson among others have greatly succeeded in this competitive job market, despite not having a college education or dropping out. The decision to drop out of college and venture into lucrative business activities has changed their lives, making them pursue areas of their interests and saving their families the cost of college education. The author of the same article is of the opinion that if colleges, like companies, were judged based on the quality of their products, most students would not spend millions in education only to miss out on their anticipated job positions.
College degrees have also been seen to be of great value even in careers that they do not apply in. Most employers opt to hire graduates irrespective of their courses even in very odd jobs. Graduates are therefore not guaranteed to get their expected jobs, a factor that makes the college education seem like a waste of time. The article, “The college scam” also discusses the above stated successful individuals who never made it to college or dropped out, with things like chasing women and playing poker being on the forefront of their learning experience.
In conclusion, the opinions expressed by most of these authors tend to point towards one direction, the insignificance of attending college. They depict colleges as institutions where students pile up debts and then emerge very unsuccessful in their careers and professional lives. They are thus of the opinion that children be trained in the areas they show high interests in and the likelihood of succeeding will be high. The course of argument taken by each of the authors on the issue reveals their opinions on college education, which is basically the source of the controversy.