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Nick Toner Instructor Stefan Britt ENG 111 28 April 2014 High School 2.1: The Frightening Reality of Socially Mandated Higher Education Why is it that many in todays society place so much value on the good old fashioned college education? Perhaps it is so that the attending students have a chance to become successful. Many would likely say that it was so that they could achieve a high salary career. For whatever reason, thousands of students across the country make the decision every year to pursue higher education. There are still those that maintain that college is for the elite and privileged group. However, many feel that college is becoming nothing more than an extension of high school; even a necessity of sorts for students to graduate into a career. Students need only to find open enrollment schools, sign up and attend. Then as with high school, with even minimal effort put forth can earn the student a certificate in a trade or other credential and voila, the person is now college educated, a student whom is suitable for hire. This effectively defeats the old adage that higher education was to be saved solely for the upper tier of careers. Immediately upon my own high school graduation, I decided to follow the herd, so to speak, and enroll at my local community college. I was immature, lacking motivation and had absolutely no idea what I wanted to study. I really had no business being there but felt a compulsion to try. I was likely one of whom W.J. Reeves, an English Professor at Brooklyn College, City University of New York declared as the approximately 15,000,000 Americans... enrolled in college, although about half of them probably shouldnt be (341) in his article College Isnt for Everyone. If that number is in fact true, then the need to have higher

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education for all possible careers is putting a significant number of students on a path that may not serve them in the long run. Realizing that this may be a rather polarizing statement, the readers are forced to examine their own views of, and experiences in, higher education. I am able largely to see the merits in his assertions. As a student currently enrolled in postsecondary education, I can look around and see fellow students about whom I would immediately wonder what it is that they are trying to accomplish. As I read some of my instructors syllabi, the access problem Reeves argues grows into a retention issue as well. Many classes allow the student to completely drop a failed test score from their final grade average. If dropping a failed grade is not enough to save the student, they have the ability to drop the class entirely up until the very final week with minimal penalty at some schools. Whom does that help? Is it the college, because now it can retain one of its students, and their subsequent financial income to the school? Perhaps its the student, who without the score being dropped might get discouraged and stop going to college altogether. The workforce, however, needs to be considered. Many employers want college educated employees. They might not care whether the individual theyve just hired could not have sat at their interview table without being aided along through college as if it were high school. I would want to hire the individuals who put in all the effort and achieved their education the right way. Not all students treat college as the true opportunity that it has the potential to be: a long-term job opportunity. While considering the access/retention model as it relates to the workforce, Reeves also encourages the reader to scrutinize the type of employee that could be produced by such a forgiving standard of higher education. He is concerned with how the students themselves approach college. Yes, they may want a college education, but many certainly do not treat it as

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the amazing opportunity that it can be. If the purpose of college enrollment is the intention to acquire a better career, then college itself should be treated as a job. Reeves again points out some flaws in some of those students who should not be in higher education; After four years, the bad habits of not being on time and attending sporadically have become second nature. Such habits are unlikely to make for a very productive worker (Reeves 342). It is interesting to consider the idea of a student with bad habits with a statistic cited by Yale educated lawyer and Forbes magazine editor Susan Adams, stating that a third of grads dont feel that college prepared them well for the world of work (n.page.). These same students who are unsatisfied with the outcome of their college career may very well be the same ones whom Reeves describes. There is a level of commitment and seriousness that should be the norm in a college setting but sadly in many cases is the exception. I can look around at students who regularly attend class and those whom I only see sporadically. There are the students whom I can generally count on to interrupt the beginning of class with their tardiness. These are not the characteristics that employers should be rewarding with employment. Unfortunately, a stamp on a transcript often suffices as proof of a students suitability for hire. It really doesnt say much about a students work ethic, dedication, reliability or ability to work with others. Reeves is not the only educator working in primarily higher education to notice these trends. Louis Menand; a professor at Princeton, Colombia, and the University of Virgina, among his accomplishments, shares a similar philosophy and has identified the same startling trends. Currently is a staff writer for the prestigious New Yorker, Menand states that for the majority of these students, of course (as they were not shy about making me aware), the principle object was to secure the passing grade needed to fulfill whatever requirement happened to apply in their case (255) in his article What are Universities For?. Menand argues that not only are these

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students being guided along, but they are not even interested in the subject matter. They are only seeking to proceed though as quickly as possible. The level of impatience of these students is further examined when Menand reveals that, when they were asked why they chose to attend college, the most popular answer, picked by 78 percent, was to get a better job followed by to make more money (73 percent) (256). Societys perceived idea of higher education remains nothing more than a pre-requisite, so to speak, of their career. The desire to be educated matters only to the employer looking at that particular line on ones resume. If there are so many students who arguably should not be in college, who, then, should be enrolled? Reeves begins to sort the quandary out when he identifies that, higher education is very expensive, taxing the resources of the already overtaxed, middle-class family (Reeves 344). This is not to say that only the upper class families should send their children to school. This is about shifting the mindset of college as a place for students to spend four years finding themselves, and doing generally what they want when they want before they actually start their real life to one in which college is viewed as an investment. Menand adds that young people in the middle class are perfectly alive to the fact they go to college because they have to (257). College can be such a financial burden on the student or their family, it is important to consider the students willingness to be a good, solid investment. The students such as myself, who treat college as a job, and those who dont have to fall back on the schools retention systems to remain, completely belong because we understand our roles as students and the financial investment that is being made to supply our educations. Reeves insist that going to college is an utter waste of time for those students who have emerged from high school neither literate nor numerate (345). Those types of students are trending to the definition of a bad investment. This is not to say that only 4.0 students should be allowed in higher education but without a proven

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track record of willingness to learn, why should they be pushed through college and devalue the degree of those who work hard for it? Todays societal views regarding higher education are such that it is a requirement to have completed some college to even get a job anymore. This is disheartening because it means that the endless pushing through of students shows no sign of slowing down. If the only way to secure a job, high paying or otherwise, is to have some sort of college certification, then more students are going to see that as their only option. Another rather alarming recent study cited by Adams stated that in 2011, 1.5 million, or 53.6% of college grads under age 25 were out of work or underemployed (n. page). So why are more and more students choosing to enter higher education when the prospects for employment are so bleak? One of the keys to answering that question can be found by a closer interpretation of the word underemployed. Certainly, college educated persons are more likely to find a job but are the jobs that they are finding really quality, long-term careers? Adams indicates that 48% of employed U.S. college grads are in jobs that require less than a four-year degree (n.page). The American job market has become so exaggerated that those students who now choose not to go to college are largely written off as rejects doomed to bounce from menial job to menial job. Gone are the days of on-the-job training and promoting from an internal talent pool that may be completely capable but lack the desired degree. These trends only perpetuate the demands placed on higher education institutions to continue churning out a college educated workforce. Whether it is the hard working student who wants to consider himself or herself an enlightened individual, or someone who barely made it through; should the value of his or her education and potential as an employee be equal? Higher education might seem like a personal choice, but is it really? Whether the fault lies more with the issues that Reeves explores of too

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much access followed by retention issues, by Menands idea of practical necessity, or with some new idea entirely is debatable. What is clear is that college graduates are facing the employment hurdles and career inflation issues as described by Adams. I would like to think that I am seeking higher education on my own accord, but maybe I have just realized the rules of employment placed on the education system. After all, if the only way to find a job is to dive in the ambiguous water with everyone else, I dont want to be left standing on the shore.

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Works Cited
Adams, Susan. "Half Of College Grads Are Working Jobs That Don't Require A Degree." 28 May 2013. Forbes.com. Web. 08 April 2014. Menand, Louis. "What are Universities For?" Composing Knowledge: Readings for College Writers. Ed. Rolf Norgaard. Boston: Bedford/St. Marin's, 2007. 254-267. Print. Reeves, W. J. "College Isn't for Everyone." Exploring Relationships: Globilization and Learning in the 21st Century. Boston: Pearson Learning Solutions, 2013. 341-345. Print.