“College Is a Waste of Time and Money” by Bird Essay

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The role of a college in modern society is one of the most controversial issues for discussions. In her work, “College Is a Waste of Time and Money”, Caroline Bird makes an attempt to pursue the reader that people do not have to spend their money and time on college education. However, a number of logical fallacies make the reader get confused about the facts given. Bird’s idea about unimportance of a college education seems to be irrational because first, she is a person with two types of degrees and tries to convince other people neglecting their college education, and second, she does not use definite credible arguments and counter arguments to prove her position. Bird’s use of logical fallacies, like if students do not want to go to college, they should not do it until the reasons of their unwillingness are identified, proves that it is wrong to believe that college is just a waste of time and money and helps to understand that college education may predetermine the quality of life in the future.

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Bird claims that many students go to college because they know it is necessary, they believe it is right, or they just do not know any other way of getting their parents’ financial and moral support. She says that students feel themselves not needed as the world has too many people already. There is no extra room for eighteen-year-old people, and the only possible way not to stop the development is to offer them another place for temporary living, a college. It seems to be a powerful logical fallacy with backgrounds– young people do not know their possibilities and what to do after their school graduations. Still, they understand that they should make a decision and improve their theoretical knowledge to be ready for a serious practice. I cannot agree with Bird as I define a college education as an amazing chance for young people to learn better their skills and abilities, identify strengths, and eradicate weaknesses. A college life is the period for making mistakes and wrong decisions, thinking about the future, and changing the mind for a number of times.

Another Bird’s position is that a college education is a waste of time and money. She says that there are many other effective ways to invest money and start earning. Her main logical fallacy is that young people should ignore a chance to get college education and pay attention to other perspectives. If a person wants to make money, a college seems to be the dumbest investment ever. A banker Stephen Necel proved this fact and compared college to other types of investments. A college education did not even achieve the top in the list of the best money investment. However, even some experts may spend their money irrationally, without any purposes. I define college investments as a chance to learn this life better. A college becomes a place, where people may develop new relations, define their positions, share their opinions, and prove the chosen directions. There are so many adolescents, who do not have a chance to understand what they want from this life, and a college becomes a guide for them. Even if some money and time are spent, a college life is worth it.

Finally, much depends on a person. Abraham Lincoln, Thomas Edison, James Cameron, Sean Connery, Will Smith, and Bill Gates are the people, who did not attend a college, still, succeeded in different spheres of life. Their examples show that a college education does not take an important place in their lives. However, they had a number of other attributes, skills, and goals that helped them to become famous. They did not support the idea of college education unimportance, but they may encourage finding other ways of success and readiness for job markets. In the article, Bird’s argument is that even college administrators admit that colleges do not prepare students for job markets. However, college workers seem to inform their potential consumers about poor and ineffective services they can offer. It is a kind of absurd that makes the article unreliable source and the idea that college is a waste of time a vague and unclear statement.

In general, a traditional college education has many positive and negative aspects. If it is regarded as a chance to improve a young person’ life, make a decision, understand personal and professional goals, think about the future, and identify personal strengths and weaknesses, a college education should be supported and promoted. Unfortunately, many colleges try to market themselves and impose certain rules and norms, which are not usually appropriate for society. Bird’s article is an interesting source of information of why college education may be regarded as a waste of time and money. Still, the logical fallacies and the absence of counterarguments to support the chosen position make the article weak and unclear to the reader. The evaluation of college importance helps to comprehend that traditional colleges may and have to be improved: governments should gain control over the educational system and further employment of those, who choose colleges, students should rely on their own interests and positions whether to enter a college or not, and parents should listen to their children’s wishes but not follow the established norms and meet some expectations. In this case, a college education will never be a waste of time and money.

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"“College Is a Waste of Time and Money” by Bird." IvyPanda, 20 June 2020, ivypanda.com/essays/college-is-a-waste-of-time-and-money-by-bird/.

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IvyPanda. (2020) '“College Is a Waste of Time and Money” by Bird'. 20 June.

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IvyPanda. 2020. "“College Is a Waste of Time and Money” by Bird." June 20, 2020. https://ivypanda.com/essays/college-is-a-waste-of-time-and-money-by-bird/.

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IvyPanda. "“College Is a Waste of Time and Money” by Bird." June 20, 2020. https://ivypanda.com/essays/college-is-a-waste-of-time-and-money-by-bird/.

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