In today’s world, going to college and obtaining a degree is something that is necessary to succeed in the work place. More and more jobs are requiring a degree of some type. However, there are some people who are criticizing this and the educational system as a whole. In an article titled, “The Case Against College” by Dale Stephens, the main focus is on how getting a degree should not be the only thing necessary to get a job. He is pushing for a movement of uncolleging. Stephens says that people should not go to college since it is expensive and unnecessary to get a degree. Instead people should go out in the world and seek real experience. He also states that “Creativity is innate — the problem is that schools kill creativity.”
In my opinion, Dale Stephens has some good points but on others is way off. I agree that school is not putting an emphasis on creativity and therefore killing it. I also agree that going to college can be very expensive especially if you don’t receive any financial aid or scholarships. There is a degree-saturated society we live in. Many jobs are requiring a degree whether it is a two year degree or a four year degree. However, I think that not going to college is not going to help anything. By obtaining a degree, you are making others see that you value your education and want to advance in the world. I don’t think that schools are the only ones who are killing creativity. The schools are controlled by the state, which make the decisions regarding the educational system. I conclude that by going to college, your creativity is able to expand. You are able to take courses that will allow you to do a job you want and allow you to experience a whole new world and many new things.
Dale Stephens states that school is killing creativity because public education hasn’t changed since its original purpose; “to train factory workers in the industrial revolution.” I disagree that public education kills creativity. Schools are forced to teach to the standards of the state. For example, New York State has the Regents exams. To determine how well schools are doing, the state looks at how the students scored on these tests. Students are only being taught things that the state thinks are important. Teachers are not able to really deviate from this. Teachers don’t want to teach the same old boring things. They want to let us be creative and allow us to do fun things. By not going to college, it is not going to help magically make your creativity come back. Going to college can help make someone more creative. Going to college is a major life change for people. They are experiencing all new things. At college, there are many different kinds of people and new events one goes through. At college, the state has no mandates that colleges must follow. College professors can teach a class however they want. They are able to be creative and thus so are students.
Dale Stephens states that the average college student is going to graduate with about $25,000 in debt and that after college the students are “forced to find a job to pay off that debt instead of being allowed to take the time to start companies or projects.” There is nothing stopping anyone from starting a company or a project. Americans are in debt from more than just college. The average American debt is over $10,000 and they still start their own businesses. Just because students have debt doesn’t mean that they will not follow their dreams. If they really want to start something, then they will. Also if students would take advantage of scholarships out there, the debt would be lowered. There could be an answer to how to have the average student debt lowered. In high school, everyone has to take all of the STEM classes. By the time high school is completed, students are done with having to take classes that they know will not help them in their futures. Then they go to college and realize that they still have to take the STEM classes. They thought they would be done with them, but they are wrong. College students are paying for classes that they know will not help. They have to put extra time and energy into these classes. Instead of being able to take classes geared towards their majors, they are stuck with boring classes they hate. If colleges were to eliminate some general education courses, students might be able to finish college a year sooner. If that was the case, students would reduce their debt by a great portion. Some classes in high school that offer AP credit can help a student reduce their number of general education courses. However, some high schools might not offer the exact AP credit for the college’s requirement because AP exams are not a standard for all high schools. In most cases, for AP credit you have to get either a 4 or 5 for it to count for general education credit.
Dale Stephens says that going out and experiencing the world is better than going to college. He says that having a mentor and only taking college courses when you want to is good. I think that having a mentor would be helpful. Having someone who has gone through something and is willing to help you is good. However, certain professions require you to go to college and not just learn from a mentor. You wouldn’t want a surgeon telling you that they only took classes they wanted to and learned from a mentor. That surgeon would most likely kill someone and no one would ever go to him. Certain professions such as a baker could do this. A baker could learn from a mentor and go to college and take courses they want. More professions though would require more than just a mentor. A surgeon, a doctor, an architect are some that would require a degree. No one would travel on a bridge if they knew that an architect learned how to build a bridge from a mentor and never took any college classes.
As Dale Stephens stated “the bank can repossess your house, but they can’t repossess your degree.” If he says this then why is he against obtaining college degrees? Obtaining a degree is a way to stay competitive and get the job you really want. Not going to college is not the answer to help people. This uncollege movement is not going to help anyone. If colleges and school systems could be reformed, the problems would solve themselves. If the states didn’t have mandates the public schools were forced to follow, teachers could teach how they wanted to and creativity would flourish. If colleges didn’t make students take general education courses, they would finish college sooner and have less debt. Going to college is not the only path to take in order to become successful but obtaining a degree is helpful in becoming successful. Sometimes you are going to need a degree depending on what you want to have as a future job. Dale Stephens makes good points but not going to college is not going to help anybody.
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