Today’s high school curriculums are becoming more and more aimed at college readiness and preparing students for the next step of their lives. With the ACT and other college readiness assessments that we have had to complete, it has been subliminally and deeply ingrained in our minds since the first days of our freshman year that we must attend some sort of higher education after we walk out those lobby doors for the last time. Are we moving towards a society where a college degree is as necessary as a high school diploma is today? In Clive Crook’s article, “A Matter of Degrees” in The Atlantic Monthly, the topic of educational inflation is discussed from the standpoint of inflation being a chronic suffering to many occupations (Crook 28).
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A degree on the wall is becoming as common as a family photo when, maybe, the most valuable degree cannot be framed: a bachelor’s degree from the School of Hard Knocks. A graduate of life possesses the attributes such as problem solving and hard work that cannot be learned in a four year university. No, these traits can only be forged in the fire of adversity. Those who experience the greatest adversity often overlap with those who cannot afford to attend an institute of higher education. The adversity they face growing up with financial instability breeds innovation and with many companies seeking to become more innovative and cutting edge maybe it 's time for corporations to look past the education column on their application. An example closest to me is my brother Nick. Nick never finished high school but climbed up the ranks in his field of the US Army. He took international language training classes of the highest difficulty despite only obtaining a High School Equivalency Diploma. Later, after excelling in his training and climbing up the ranks he was asked where he attended college. He responded with the truth, he did not attend college. The follow-up question of high school was obviously to come next. Once again, he responded with the truth, he did not graduate high school. This left his colleagues justifiably perplexed. They proceeded to ask him how he rose to this level with no college degree and an HSED, his response, “I don’t know, I took a test.” Nick was also on the receiving end of job offers from the elite government agencies of the CIA and FBI. One of the smartest men I know also happens to have the least education. The value of innate knowledge and experiences cannot be countered by a degree from even the most prestigious of universities. In big letters on page 28 the paper reads, “Failing to go to college did
A degree on the wall is becoming as common as a family photo when, maybe, the most valuable degree cannot be framed: a bachelor’s degree from the School of Hard Knocks. A graduate of life possesses the attributes such as problem solving and hard work that cannot be learned in a four year university. No, these traits can only be forged in the fire of adversity. Those who experience the greatest adversity often overlap with those who cannot afford to attend an institute of higher education. The adversity they face growing up with financial instability breeds innovation and with many companies seeking to become more innovative and cutting edge maybe it 's time for corporations to look past the education column on their application. An example closest to me is my brother Nick. Nick never finished high school but climbed up the ranks in his field of the US Army. He took international language training classes of the highest difficulty despite only obtaining a High School Equivalency Diploma. Later, after excelling in his training and climbing up the ranks he was asked where he attended college. He responded with the truth, he did not attend college. The follow-up question of high school was obviously to come next. Once again, he responded with the truth, he did not graduate high school. This left his colleagues justifiably perplexed. They proceeded to ask him how he rose to this level with no college degree and an HSED, his response, “I don’t know, I took a test.” Nick was also on the receiving end of job offers from the elite government agencies of the CIA and FBI. One of the smartest men I know also happens to have the least education. The value of innate knowledge and experiences cannot be countered by a degree from even the most prestigious of universities. In big letters on page 28 the paper reads, “Failing to go to college did