Charles Murray Are Too Many People Going To College Summary

Charles Murray: “Are Too Many People Going to College?” Charles Murray is the author of “Are Too Many People Going to College”. Murray never clearly states a main argument or claim but he does have one. Throughout his essay, Murray answers his own question of “Are Too Many People Going to College”. Charles does this by using subtopics, answering follow-up questions, and giving small hints at the beginning and end parts of his essay. Murray argues that yes, there are too many people going to college, because not every career requires a college education and that needs to change. What is core knowledge? Here is an example. Murray says, “To live in the United States and not recognize Teddy Roosevelt, Prohibition, the Minutemen, smoke-filled rooms, or Gettysburg is like trying to read without knowing some of the ten thousand most commonly used words in the language” (235). Throughout his essay, Murray talks about getting a liberal education through core knowledge. Murray supports his argument by showing the skills that students get by being taught liberal education at an early age (238-239). Charles thinks that people should start getting a core knowledge of liberal education at an earlier age. If this were to happen, Murray thinks that less people would end up going to college. These are the …show more content…
He uses follow up questions and hints. Many times throughout the essay these follow up questions will support the argument. Murray says, “What I have described is the system that we have in place. There must be a better way” (253). Here, Murray says there must be a better way, referring to the title. This points out his argument, too many people are going to college. Murray also says “But for most students, the places to provide those basics are in elementary and middle school” (235). This is another example of how Murray supports core knowledge taught at a younger age so less people can go to