The short essay Should everyone go to college? by Stephanie Owen and Isabel Sawhill discusses the different aspects and potential preferences and risks of the college graduation compared to the high school education. The authors imply economic methods of analysis to draw a comparison between costs and benefits of college education and take into consideration several non-economic factors. Owen and Sawhill argue that while it has been proven that a “higher education is one of the best investments we can make”, the efficiency of the additional education may fluctuate according to the differences in the fields of study, post-graduation occupation and several other factors (Sawhill and Owen).
There is a variety of studies, concluded in order to understand the short and long-term effects of a higher education. The increase in earnings associated with an additional education is usually the primary subject to analysis. According to the statistics, “the best studies suggest that the return to an additional year of school is around ten percent”; meaning that hypothetically a high school graduates earning $20,000 would increase their salary by $2,000 per a year of college (Sawhill and Owen). Another fact to consider is that the surplus earnings of the college graduates grow exponentially, …show more content…
Owen and Sawhill argue that low performing students might find more success in the spheres or jobs, which need specific skills rather than knowledge. Drivers, soldiers, singers, workers of the sphere of catering and representatives of many other skill-oriented professions have competitive salaries without college education. The opponents of college education insist on the potential of self-development in the majority of the spheres. For instance, the criterion of comparison between the two software developers is the level of their performance, not the quality and quantity of their degrees and