Why college isn’t (and shouldn’t have to be) for everyone
I know a highschool senior who’s so worried about whether she’ll be accepted at the collegeof her choice she can’t sleep.
The parent ofanother senior tells me his son stands at the mailbox for an hour every daywaiting for a hoped-for acceptance letter to arrive.
Competition forplaces at top-brand colleges is absurdly intense.
Excuse me, butthis is nuts.
The biggestabsurdity is that a four-year college degree has become the only gateway into theAmerican middle class.
But not everyyoung person is suited to four years of college. They may be bright andambitious, but they won’t get much out of it. They’d rather be doing somethingelse, like making money or painting murals.
They feel compelledto go to college because they’ve been told over and over that a college degreeis necessary. Yet if they start college and then ｄrop out, they feellike total failures.
Even if they getthe degree, they’re stuck with a huge bill and may be paying down their studentdebt for years.
And all too oftenthe jobs they land after graduating don’t pay enough to make the degree worthwhile.
Last year,according to the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, 46 percent of recent collegegraduates were in jobs that don’t even require a college degree.
This has to stop.Young people need an alternative. That alternative should be a world-classsystem of vocational-technical education.
A four-yearcollege degree isn’t necessary for many of tomorrow’s good jobs. For example,the emerging economy will need platoons of technicians able to install,service, and repair all the high-tech machinery filling up hospitals, officesand factories. And people who can upgrade the software embedded inalmost every gadget you buy.
Yet the vocationaland technical education now available to young Americans is typicallyunderfunded and inadequate.
Community colleges— the underappreciated crown jewels of America’s feeble attempts at equalopportunity — could be developing these curricula. Businesses could be advisingon the technical skills they’ll need, and promising jobs to young people whocomplete their degrees with good grades.
Government couldbe investing enough money to make these programs thrive.
Instead, wecontinue to push most of our young people through a single funnel called afour-year college education.
It’s time to giveup the idea that every young person has to go to college and start offeringhigh school seniors an alternative route into the middle class.
ArticleSource: http://www.desmoinesregister.com/story/opinion/columnists/2015/03/28/college-everyone/70579180/
Image Source: http://www.beekado.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/06/Child-Going-to-College-5-Things-You-Must-Know-to-Make-a-Smooth-Transition.jpg
VOCABULARY WORDS:
1. Absurdly(adv.) ~ extremely unreasonable
2. Intense(adj.) ~ extreme in degree
3. Mural(n.) ~ a very large image such as painting, painted on a wall or ceiling
4. Compel(v.) ~ to force a person to do something
5. Dropout (phrasal verb) ~ to withdraw from participation
6. Worthwhile(adj.) ~ sufficiently valuable or important
7. Emerge(v.) ~ to become known or prominent
8. Embed(v.) ~ to cause to be an integral part of surrounding whole
QUESTIONS FORDISCUSSION:
1. Doyou agree with the writer’s opinion that college is not for everyone? Why?
2. Arethere vocational or technical schools in Korea? If yes, give some examples ofcourses they offer. If no, would it be an advantage for your ｃountry andstudents if you have these kinds of school? Discuss your answers.
3. Whydo you think that the society is obsessed with a college degree? Do you thinkthis perception could change in the near future? If so, how could it impact theeconomy and job force of a ｃountry?
