Analysis Of David Leonhardt's Essay 'Is College Worth It?'

In this day and age, a high school diploma isn’t worth as much as it used to be. Those who can’t afford to go to college after high school are usually stuck working minimum wage jobs. In order to live financially comfortable, going to college and getting a degree would greatly help. College graduates sometimes spend years after they graduate, paying off their student loans. Some wonder if their diploma was worth this debt they now have to face. Essayist David Leonhardt uses statistics to show us that a college degree couldn't be more valuable. The wage gap between college graduates and everyone else seems to keep rising. …show more content…
Logos can be found throughout his essay with all the facts and statistics he provides. As a journalist for the New York Times venture The Upshot, his work must be credible because he wouldn’t be putting out false information in front of a large audience. Ethos is also in the essay, with the word from a couple of experts like David Autor, an M.I.T. economist. He feels that “We have too few college graduates.” Leonhardt believes that some experts and journalists are at fault for this shortfall of graduates. The news media seems to be shining a dim light on a bachelor's degrees worth. Of course, a bachelor's degree doesn’t guarantee success but it just might make the difference between falling in the working class or middle class and we should at least take the risk. “The decision not to attend college for fear that it’s a bad deal is among the most economically irrational decisions anybody could make in 2014.” (Leonhardt 103) Leonhardt strongly believes that we have nothing to lose when making the decision of whether college is worth it. Some experts shouldn’t be discouraging teens or adults going back to college that their bachelor’s degree may end up being worth nothing. The wage gap between college graduates and everyone else would decrease if we were more informed on the benefits of a