Gillespie 1

Julia Gillespie

Mr. Carter

AP Seminar

11 October 17

WORD COUNT: 1366

Factors of Success

The preconceived notion that future success is contingent on success in schooling has

been investigated by numbers of scientists, college professors and experts to uncover if success

in education is the only true cause to a student’s prospering future.

An article written by Christopher Harris on knoji.com, a blog that does not use any

sources to link back to information stated, is evidently not neutral, and allows people with no

expertise to comment their thoughts on certain topics, looks through at the traditional ideas of the

education system through the perspective of a typical parent who values success. Harris argues

quality education is the key to receiving collegiate diplomas and jobs in one’s future, both of

which are commonly viewed as symbols of success. In addition, he expresses that with such a

competitive world, hiring managers of top-notch job positions will search for “the most qualified

and intelligent person to fill the vacancy” (Harris, Christopher). He expresses his thoughts as a

parent to further express the conventional idea of the correlation of schooling and achievements.

One can use this blog post to compare the common idea that parents share on the topic to other

views, such as a student, degree earner or an economical lens. Understanding all the perspectives

of the topic can help uncover the true factors and ideas that contribute to the traditional notions

of education and success.

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An article written by Michael Greening and Adam Looney, both PhD and BA degree

earners at the University of Harvard and Princeton, focused on this controversial debate through

an economical lens, highlighting information to prove that higher education will lead to higher

paying jobs. An article written on Brookings, an online newspaper known widely for gathering

its information from reliable sources, including the US Department of Education, its accurate

information on current events, and its research and experiments focusing on social sciences and

economics, claims that individuals with a college degree are almost “nine times more likely to

make over $100,000 than someone with only a high school diploma” (Greenstone, Michael and

Looney, Adam). Because most society members believe better education leads to better jobs and

most connect money with success, focusing on the topic through an economical lens highlights a

reason as to why most society members believe that the more money and higher job ranking one

has is only correlated to level of education.

Time Magazine, the most popular circulating magazine around the world known for it’s

accuracy of information on current events, wrote an article that emphasizes the topic through

they eyes of a student. Karen Arnold, a researcher at Boston University known for her expertise

on social and economic norms, conducted an experiment that traced class valedictorians from

graduation onward to find out where they ended up in the future. The research uncovered that

although, “nearly 90 percent of the students who earned degrees are now in professional careers

with 40 percent in the highest tier jobs”, not a single excelling student went on to extraordinarily

change the world (Barker, Eric). In fact, it was found that “valedictorians aren’t likely to be the

future’s visionaries . . . they typically settle into the system instead of shaking it up” (Barker,

Eric). Moreover, Barker expresses that although most students and society members believe the
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valedictorians will go on to do amazing things in their future, the realization is they most likely

will not complete any extraordinary.

A study done in 2012 administered by the US Department of Education and the Civil

Rights Data Collection (CRDC), both of which are widely known for their credibility as

government organizations with accurate information, focused on the educational differences

between male and female students. Through the study, girls were represented with higher

enrollment and final grades in advanced courses than their male counterparts and then went on to

receive over half of the Bachelor's and Master’s degrees given to students of this class (Gender

Equity in Education). This information seems to support that education leads to success,

however, when these female’s job statuses are investigated, one can find that these women were

not achieving the same job status as the men in their class, even though they were ahead

education wise. Overall, the article claims that when the accomplishments of student’s success in

the future workplace is investigated, one can see that excelling grades, participation in rigorous

classes, and earning degrees may not always be the only factor leading to triumph.

According to the Feminist Majority Foundation, a website known for its collection of

information from reliable organizations, such as the American Medical Association and the

American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists and for its slightly biased perspective of

women in male dominated medical careers, “Students are the only level at which women are

making gains. At every other level of medical power and authority, women are not present in

large numbers” (Empowering Women in Medicine). It is also stated that women are moving up

the pipeline, yet men are still being promoted twice as fast as women to higher ranks in the

medical field, leading to females being restricted to excel in their workplace (Empowering

Women in Medicine). The articles main claim is that although these women are exceeding in
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their schooling with better grades, increasing enrollment in rigorous classes and superior college

degrees, their efforts may not lead them to prosper in their future workplaces.

The National Center for Education Statistics, an organization that gathers its information

from the Institute of Education Sciences, the US Department of Education, the Annual Reports

Program and the Digest of Education Statistics, all of which are widely known for accuracy and

unbiased information, gives great feelings of reliability. The article looks through a feminist

perspective and focuses on the amount of degrees awarded to males and females and the

correlation this has to future job status. The article states that across all racial and ethnic groups

the amount of bachelor’s degrees earned by female students were more than half of every single

racial group (Degrees conferred by race and sex). Overall, the article's main claim is females are

exceeding in schools over their male counterparts and should, based off the common

preconceived notion, end up at the highest position of their jobs. However, research can be done

to prove that these women who were on top of their education, may not end up in the top position

of their career.

The “Journal of Investigative Medicine”, written Jill M. Guelich, Burton H. Singer,

Marcia C. Castro, and Leon E. Rosenberg, all of which are professors at Princeton University,

uses information from the National Institute of Health, Association of American Medical

Colleges, and the Howard Medical Institute, all of which are known for accurate information on

the topics discussed and are widely known and used. The article focuses on the debate through a

female medical field member’s perspective, quoting that “matriculating and graduating women

were significantly less likely than men to indicate strong research career intentions” (Guelich, Jill

M., et al.). Viewing the controversial topic through the perspective of females is important, for it

opens up other ideas about where students who excel in education could end up, compared to
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what the traditional ideas claim. There are a large amount of females likely to enroll and

complete medical school, but the number that pursue careers afterwards is small, supporting the

article’s claim that although one may be succeeding in high levels of education, they may not

always grow to receive a high paying job in the future.

The authors of an article found on the Annual Reviews for Librarians and Agents, Chari

Buchmann, Thoman DiPrete, and Anne McDaniel, work in the Department of Sociology at Ohio

State University, meaning they have a large amount of previous knowledge and access to

information on the subject of gender gaps throughout education. Throughout this article, the

main focus is different factors that may change how someone can succeed in schooling and

beyond, including cognitive development differences in genders and early childhood, structures

and practices of schooling, and differences in race, ethnicity, class and gender (Buchmann,

Claudia, et al). Having the article inform the audience on different factors that contribute to

success helps to portray the idea that everyone has unique qualities, and there is not one

standardized idea that pertains to all students in an educational system.

Evidently, from investigating further into the above sources, one can find that the

traditional ideas of education leading to success in the future can be looked at from multiple

perspectives and interpreted in a number of ways.

Works Cited
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Barker, Eric. "Wondering What Happened to Your Class Valedictorian?" Time,

HarperCollins Publishers, 18 May 2017, http://time.com/money/4779223/valedictorian-

success-research-barking-up-wrong/. Accessed October 3, 2017.

Buchmann, Claudia, et al. "Gender Inequalities in Education." Annual Reviews for

Librarians and Agents, Aug. 2008,

http://www.annualreviews.org/doi/10.1146/annurev.soc.34.040507.134719. Accessed

October 5, 2017.

"Degrees conferred by race and sex." National Center for Educational Statistics, Institute

of Education Sciences, https://nces.ed.gov/fastfacts/display.asp?id=72. Accessed 5 Oct.

2017.

"Empowering Women in Medicine." Feminist Majority Foundation, Feminist Majority

Foundation, 2014, http://www.feminist.org/research/medicine/ewm_toc.html. Accessed

October 3, 2017.

“Gender Equity in Education." US Department of Education, Office for Civil Rights , June 2012,

https://www2.ed.gov/about/offices/list/ocr/docs/gender-equity-in-education.pdf.

Accessed October 2, 2017.

Greenstone, Michael, and Adam Looney. "Education Is the Key to Better Jobs."

Brookings, The Brookings Institution, 17 Sept. 2012,

https://www.brookings.edu/blog/up-front/2012/09/17/education-is-the-key-to-better-

jobs/. Accessed October 5, 2017.

Guelich, Jill M., et al. "A Gender Gap in the Next Generation of Physician-Scientists."

Journal of Investigative Medicine, American Federation for Medical Research, 10 Dec.

2015, http://jim.bmj.com/content/50/6/412. Accessed October 5, 2017.

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Harris , Christopher. "Why Education is Important to Ones Success in Life?". knoji,

https://learning.knoji.com/education-is-the-key-to-our-success-in-life/. Accessed 5 Oct.

2017.