Why Focusing Too Narrowly In College Could Backfire Summary

Improved Essays
Abstract Nelson Mandela once quoted, “Education is the most powerful weapon which you can use to change the world.” Acquiring is a job is primary purpose and focus of every student after graduation. Today students are lured or forced in their early years to choose an education specialty that will help them acquire skills required to find a successful career in that very field. The job market changes in seasons are exposing graduates to a greater risk, since the skills may not keep them employable after the employment market crashes. This paper analyzes Professor Peter Cappelli’s piece of work, “Why Focusing Too Narrowly in College Could Backfire.” It specializes in discussing facts of the author’s writing and evaluating the success of those events.

Why Focusing Too Narrowly In College Could Backfire
Introduction
Professor Peter Cappelli wrote the article, “Why Focusing Too Narrowly in College Could Backfire,” from The Wall Street Journal. Professor Cappelli is the
…show more content…
The author clarifies the dangers of specialization and advises students to take time before choosing courses. Sometimes parents and the society can mislead one during course selection. Therefore, students should rely on advice and information from the career office (Warikoo & Deckman, 2014). The writer exhibits accuracy in the information provided as he gives evidence on engineering jobs are becoming unmarketable before graduation. The information depicts great significance to not only students but also the career advisors who occasionally mislead kids. Professor Cappelli continues clarifying the thesis by providing the dangers of specialization (Cappelli, 2013). The author skillfully introduces his ideas and perfectly concludes it by offering the solutions towards the

Related Documents

  • Decent Essays

    Myriad Benefits of College In this century an education is indispensable and mandatory to be successful. According to a recent survey in Feldman’s book, P.O.W.E.R , college students said they wanted “ to learn more things that interest me.” Moreover, forty percent wanted to be more cultured. But sixty- eight percent reported they hoped college would provide a path to a more lucrative career.…

    • 381 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Decent Essays
  • Decent Essays

    Plan B: Skip College by Jacques Steinberg is the essay that I choose to read for this journal entry. Steinberg brings attention to an issue of inadequate alternatives to college for the person that is not likely to succeed in college, who does not wish to attend college, or would benefit from skill-training to enter directly into the workforce. As a matter of fact, Steinberg brings attention to the issues that plague many students that have earned a college degree which is a lack of return on their investment by referencing input from economist and educators. In America, it's a common misconception that a college degree equates to success and the economic stability in which we all seek, accordingly, these are the reasons that some economists and educators advocate for alternatives.…

    • 472 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Decent Essays
  • Improved Essays

    College may not be a fruitful investment for some. Although the average return on investment of a college degree is mostly positive, it is not a fact for all cases. All values of education will differ. Owen and Sawhill claim that by telling people they should go to college no matter what, we are possibly doing them a more harm than good. Owen and Sawhill state that studies suggest that “the return to an additional year of college is around 10 percent”, but they express how there are other factors to consider.…

    • 1760 Words
    • 8 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    College Could Backfire

    • 1559 Words
    • 7 Pages

    In Peter Cappelli’s Paper “Why Focusing Too Narrowly in College Could Backfire” Cappelli writes about how students that specialize in college may be doing themselves a disservice. Cappelli writes that the way students are currently going about getting specialized degrees is flawed and can be a creating disadvantages for future efforts in life be it more schooling or finding a job in the fields. Cappelli states that “Schools, in turn, are responding with new, specialized courses that promise to teach skills that students will need on the job.” this is a statement on schools trying to create programs for hot jobs.…

    • 1559 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    The author suggests to her readers that the wrong people are going to college, students are not taking college seriously anymore, and what students learn in college is not always what they use in the work field. First of all, when suggesting the wrong students are going to college Bird uses the data she collected from interviewing students and their professors, which concludes, students are using college as a “social center” or “young folks’ home” (217). The author uses the findings from her research to prove students are not taking college seriously. Secondly, Bird claims there are better ways to invest money than in college. She uses the example of a “Princeton-bound high-school graduate” who could have put the money he invested in college into the bank instead and by the time he was sixty four he would have had almost five times more earnings than those of a college graduate (Bird 221).…

    • 1049 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Superior Essays

    Even though the four-year brick-and-mortar residential college is out of style, Murray states that “the two-year community college and online courses offer more flexible options for tailoring course work to the real needs of a job” (230). Most students going to college now are going for practical and vocational degrees. Degrees that a four-year course, 32 semester long credits, is not practical for. As students graduate high-school, they are now strongly encouraged to go to a university. In response to this push by parents and high-school faculty, Murray states that even though it is true that someone holding a “B.A. makes more” than someone “without a B.A., getting a B.A. is still” the economically incorrect choice “for many high-school graduates” (234).…

    • 1254 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Superior Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Andrew Simmons

    • 619 Words
    • 3 Pages

    Yet by focusing on this one potential benefit, educators risk distracting them from the others, emphasizing the value of the fruits of their academic labor itself. ”(Simmons 3) I am a student myself and, time after time we are told the key to economic stability is to go to college. We are hearing this so often that we forget the true meaning of attending college to find our true passion. Yes, going to college provides us with economic stability but, we must never forget the purpose of going to school. If our only purpose of going to…

    • 619 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    A college degree is a luxury that a few fortune people can obtain, and even fewer can capitalize on a soft job market. This is the generalization that has confronted many considering a college degree program and older adults weighing the reasonableness of returning to college. Columnist David Leonharht, wrote the article, "It college Worth It?", published in 2014 in the The New York Times, and addresses this assumption of college relevance in which he argues that while a college degree does not offer a guarantee of social success, it is the best decision one can make to maximize ones financial potential and achieve middle class status and beyond. Leonhardt begins his credibility with his own professional background, and further progresses…

    • 1057 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Student Debt

    • 1052 Words
    • 5 Pages

    Attending college is now commonplace thanks to parents, teachers, and advisors instilling in children at a young age that they have to go to a four-year college if they want a good, stable job. While this is good because it promotes higher education, it also limits the options that high school seniors think about. “By 2020, 65 percent of all jobs in the economy will require postsecondary education and training beyond high school.” (Carnevale, 2014). Students take out large loans for a traditional four-year university because they do not know any other options.…

    • 1052 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    The Oxford American published the essay, “Who Are You and What Are You Doing Here”, in which Dr. Mark Edmundson, as a Yale alumni and English professor at the University of Virginia, persuades incoming college freshmen to choose their passions rather than career fields that will earn them an immense amount of money. Edmundson begins suggesting that students must remain focused and resillent to outside factors in order to assure a successful education. Lastly, the author advises the readers the avoid the guidance of others regarding what they should be accomplishing but rather to use themselves as guidance. While utilizing personal experience and wisdom, Professor Edmundson suggests that in order to receive the richest educational experience…

    • 985 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Superior Essays

    Opening one’s mind up can allow them to accept or try new experiences. Hunter Rawlings’ “College Is Not a Commodity. Stop Treating It Like One” explains how the importance of college has changed in recent years. In almost all cases nowadays, it is essential to have a college degree in order to get a good job. Colleges require the student to put forth the effort in order to obtain its true value.…

    • 827 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Superior Essays
  • Improved Essays

    He reasons that if said student is high in the standings in terms of their academic ability, they should be obtaining a college education (238). He believes that the odds that this student will “enjoy” what is being taught is greater because this student is able to handle the materials (239). He argues that a student who does not enjoy “the hardest aspects of college” is more likely to be interested in going to a vocational school where what they teach “pertains to” the student’s “career interests” (240). Going to college is, according to Murray, a waste of time for many, as most occupations do not require such amounts of knowledge…

    • 770 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    His thesis states that college is vital for a civilized society, but he believes that there are many other ways to improve our society that does not involve an extensive education. His views rebut the conventional way many people…

    • 1209 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Compare and Contrast the views of Higher Education From a general point of view, higher education can be beneficial to some college students. As I compare and contrast the article, “Should Everyone Go To College” to Freeman A. Hrabowski’s “Colleges Prepare People for Life”, I realized Hrabowski’s article has primarily focused on how higher education leads to many opportunities, and does not go in depth on the negative aspects of why college cannot be suited for everyone. In contrast, the article, Stephanie Owen and Isabel Sawhill’s “Should Everyone Go to College” contains both sides of the argument. This article explains how college may not be the ‘right’ choice for everyone because every career path or goal is different,…

    • 1392 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Improved Essays