Analysis Of We Send Too Many Students To College

“The streets are paved in sunshine.” This was the first statement I heard upon arriving at Stanford University. The woman who said those six words that caught me completely off guard approached me with a California-aged smile, casual and relaxed, and welcomed me with open arms. She introduced herself as an alumni of the university and proceeded to tell me about the great experiences she had as a student and the memories she created with her best friends in her “prime time”. As she rambled on, I realized that she said nothing about the stellar academics, the esteemed professors, or the endless professional opportunities offered at the University. Her account of her four years challenged everything I knew about Stanford. The day of my arrival …show more content…
This is not the deception Marty Nemko says it to be in his essay, “We Send Too Many Students to College”. The perceived goal of college has changed over the years. Primarily, the college experience is supposed to give students more knowledge and challenge them to open their mind to view different perspectives on a variety of topics. Yes, college graduates do make up only 1.9% of the unemployed population, but this is simply a happy consequence (29). The goal of college is not to put graduates into stable jobs. Colleges offer diversity. There are people of different social standings, races, genders, sexual orientations, political parties, and lifestyles on a college campus. Some of those people become lifelong friends not in spite of their differences, but because of their differences. It is a small universe on a centimeter of the globe. The diversity leads to stimulating conversations that challenge everything students grow up believing. Sometimes these conversations change a student’s perspective. Other times the conversations simply strengthen that student’s stand on an issue, but these challenging discussions help develop communication and abstract thinking skills that are put into practice every day in a college environment. Colleges offer students the chance to see the world, whether it is physically going to another country or simply learning about a different country from someone who spent their whole life there. College is a place to become more culturally aware and involved. These institutions are full of intellectuals who are putting in their all to set their ideas into motion, and being a part of that environment is an enlightening experience that far exceeds the importance of getting a high paying