Charles Murray's Too Many People Are Going To College

In Charles Murray’s “Too Many People Are Going to College” the author presents an argument that uses statistics and logic to state that some people simply do not need to go to college. All throughout high school, students are told by their guidance counselors and teachers that they should be going to college. Charles Murray states that college could even be detrimental for those who do not need it, but are pressured into it. Throughout the essay the author describes the advantages and disadvantages of going to college and receiving the bachelor’s degree associated with it. While going to college and getting a degree is often "seen as the open sesame to a good job", Charles Murray shows that might not be the case (Murray 345). The author …show more content…
Murray states that one of the most important skills that students learn in college is that it does not matter how hard you try, they only care if you "get the job done" (350). Murray also points out that students do not want to mature during college. He presents a survey that was taken and it shows that no students desire to have a "demanding" professor (351). This is a trait that nearly every boss will have. Since many students are using college as a place to mature, problems arise when all of them leave college with a bachelor’s degree. In Murray 's final argument he addresses the "dark side" of the bachelor’s degree (354). Murray 's first point is that among the students that attempt to obtain a bachelor’s degree a third of them leave without one. That means that a third of students wasted a large sum of money on something that they will not benefit from. Another point he makes is that today 's society assumes that anyone without a bachelor’s degree is "lazy" (357). The truth is quite the opposite. Anyone without a bachelor’s degree is forced to acquire a job as a skilled laborer and has to work hard for their