Exemplification Essay: The Importance Of Post-Secondary Education

Improved Essays
From the moment that children begin elementary school the importance of education begins to take hold. Teachers ask their students what they wish to become when they “grow up” and receive answers ranging from teachers to doctors. As they move from one grade level to the next, award ceremonies further instill the idea that education is something worth striving and working hard for. Such concept of merit and being rewarded for hard work drives students to seek further educating themselves, until the reality of education hits.
As children and young adults, students are told they can be anything they set their minds to when in all actuality it is not that simple, at least not for everyone. It is easier for those who come from rich families because of their capability to invest in their child’s education. Students who come from low-income households, their opportunities and chances for success are gradually cut down. It is those students with low chances of success that for-profit universities target, nationally changing the way the country thinks about higher, post-secondary education.
…show more content…
When a student’s parents do not have the ability to live in rich neighborhoods and pay for private tutors when they are not doing well in school, the student’s chances to attend a distinguished university is decreased. When a student knows that others have the upper hand they are discouraged because they no longer see the point in trying their best, something that was instilled in their minds growing up. Their efforts seem pointless, therefore they settle for instant monetary gratitude by dropping out of high school to work in a low wage

Related Documents

  • Improved Essays

    College is a coupon for success. In today’s generation, one is seen to be most successful and more likely to achieve accomplishments if they have a degree; in addition, the better the degree, the more qualifications are perceived to be prosperous. The point in general is that college, itself, holds a lot of potential that affects an individual’s life tremendously, therefore students see they have the right to verdict and combat for the grade in which they consider is deserving and reasonable. In Brent Staples’ essay, “Why Colleges Shower Their Students with A’s,” he gives reasoning for the great grade inflation that is steadily increasing.…

    • 781 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    As a student in America we all know the struggle of affording college. With the prices of tuition going higher each year it is becoming a journey to even attend college, let alone graduate with a degree. In America’s capitalist society college is becoming more and more of a business and less of a institution that is truly dedicated to bettering the student. With capitalism we have the ability to raise and lower costs of things based on how much we have and how successful the business is. These prices are not controlled by the government entirely, but instead by us.…

    • 1539 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    “Our Graduates are Rubes”, written by Tom Nichols, introduces the idea that colleges are failing in both their responsibilities to educate and establish a foundation of civic responsibilities. Nichols believes this comes as a result of four specific problems in the college system today: “the pampering of students as customers, the proliferation of faux “universities,” grade inflation, and the power reversal” (B3). The author believes schools try too hard to make their campus feel like home and a place full of “experiences”. As a result, education is no longer a top priority for neither the student nor the school, and numerous students simply sign up for college without thought as to what the future may require of them. The uprising of inflated universities has created a pride in students.…

    • 720 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Now, the jobs that do not require higher education are scarce after the closing of the factories and the unemployed citizens are forced to face the reality that the promises teachers made were not true. Many quickly became aware that “the graduation hangs on the wall / but they never really helped us at all / no they never taught us what was real” (19-21). Students who were not fortunate enough to grow up in a wealthy family, did not consider getting a college degree because they could not afford it.…

    • 573 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Is College Doomed Summary

    • 1065 Words
    • 5 Pages

    In high school, students are constantly reminded of the need to pursue an education beyond high school. Students are advised to take certain steps towards receiving a higher education, usually at a university that most individuals are familiar with. When I think about college life, I think of what some may picture out of a typical movie scene. I see thousands of students walking across a beautifully designed campus, some swarming the hallways scurrying from class to class, others strolling their way over to the campus Recreation Center for some down time. In Graeme Wood’s “Is College Doomed,” Wood investigates into a new perspective of a for-profit undergraduate education system that lacks a campus in which individuals associate with the typical university, called Minerva.…

    • 1065 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Superior Essays

    As education is something we take for granted today, the idea that education up until recently, has been considered a luxury – available only to those able and willing to afford it, is surreal to us. As the demand for necessary universal education increased, opinions on schooling have shifted. In Horace Mann 's report for the Massachusetts Board of Education in 1848, he places confidence in the ability of education to be able to give people of all backgrounds an equal opportunity for success. He describes education as “the great equalizer of the conditions of men, – the balance-wheel of the social machinery”. Mann idealizes education as a force that will erase all class divides between people and provide them a sense of individualism.…

    • 1372 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Superior Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Mike Rose Summary

    • 876 Words
    • 4 Pages

    Mike Rose, a professor of Social Research Methodology at the University of California, Los Angeles, has a self-proclaimed. driving interest in the post-secondary educational system, particularly how the educational system, specifically the junior college and community college entities, can be accessed and utilized by and for the less fortunate and those grossly under-prepared for the college scene, either by poor public education systems, legal and incarceration events that limit access, or other learning disabilities that preclude traditional entry into college. As an author and a blogger, Prof. Rose has done his fair share of research on the under-privileged and their access to higher education. The story that Prof. Rose discusses in this…

    • 876 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Remedial Classes

    • 830 Words
    • 4 Pages

    In the article “Increasing Access to College: An Education Mistake,” by Toby, Jackson, he proposes the importance of secondary education systems not educating up to their maximum potential. Lack of preparation leads to daily life struggles for young adults. Students must be properly prepared prior to their college admission for a smooth and successful educational transition. Secondary schools are failing in their education system, forcing colleges and universities to lower their standards for these students. Unfortunately, many college applicants now live with the consequences because they were poorly prepared.…

    • 830 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Ain T No Makin Analysis

    • 757 Words
    • 4 Pages

    conditions, it would almost be impossible for me to have any motivation to “make it”. Similarly, to the Brothers, I had the outlook that my future would be hopeful, and that education would play a crucial part in changing the outcome of my future. Students from poor background are always fed the narrative that education is the gateway to their success, but many students who believe and pursue the directions of this narrative learn the harsh reality that the manner in which education is currently structured is not always the answer. As Oliver and Shapiro (1995: 12) state, parents who were not able to get out of the inner city or the older suburban communities “entrust their children to school systems that are rarely able to provide them with…

    • 757 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Universities that fail to commit to equity lose their legitimacy as a public good and risk further loss of state support. Recruitment of lower-middle and working class students helps universities make a case for equity and inclusion. These students or “strivers” fit the "mobility pathway" and attended college as a means of moving up the social class ladder by earning practical degrees to help secure immediate employment after graduation (Armstrong and Hamilton 2013). Educating strivers, however, is costly due to their inability to contribute fully to college tuition. Lastly, universities engage in a prestige arms race to boost national rankings and improve academic reputations.…

    • 961 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Superior Essays

    “Though drop-out rates vary, it is estimated that in the U.S., approximately 50 percent of students who begin college never graduate” (Pharinet 690). These students want to learn, but assorted reasons make is almost impossible to graduate and one of them is the price. Pharinet also states “The student who is not ready for the academic and financial challenges of college are the most common” (690). The students enroll and are ready to learn, but their wallets are not ready to pay the price. These students want to better themselves, but once they get the bill, the only choices they have are debt or dropping out.…

    • 1126 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Superior Essays
  • Improved Essays

    “The Assault on Colleges - and the American Dream” Ideally, college sets students up for success in the real world: teaching the necessary skills and connecting them with people from heterogeneous backgrounds and experiences. However, state cuts in funding for higher education has caused many colleges to replace lower income students with those who can pay full tuition. Without lower income students, campuses will lack diverse ideas and experiences, increasingly becoming a homogeneous mixture of students, rather than a heterogeneous one. While some students have the advantage of affluence, many students rely on public colleges and their financial assistance to garner a more affordable education.…

    • 248 Words
    • 1 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    In her article, “A New Course”, Magdalena Kay, an associate professor of English, questions the ideal of education, innovation, openness,and self-fulfillment, then points out the problems of higher education. In her lifetime, Magdalena Kay acquired her Bachelor of Arts at Harvard and PhD at UC Berkeley. Dr. Kay now teaches British and Irish literature at the University of Victoria. Kay claims that a change must be done to problems within higher education such as, the increase of tuition, the decline of college ideals, college’s true purpose, etc., in order to save the future of higher education. College education is a “work factory”, an on the job training facility, to prepare students and acquire the ideal jobs of each individual to survive in our innovative world rather than experiencing personal and intellectual growth and becoming like minded individuals throughout one’s time in college.…

    • 1266 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    As a young person, choosing what to study is one of the hardest decision you have to make. According to a Washington Post article, “What’s the purpose of college: A job or an education?” by Jeffrey J. Selingo, learning and getting more knowledge about the world used to be a purpose of higher education, but nowadays it switched to getting a job after graduation rather than gaining more knowledge. Education is the most important factor in order to be successful, but lots of people are in college because their parents want them to, while others think that college is the next destination they have to go through after high school. To me, college is the place that teaches us how to think, how to analyze things thoroughly and to pursue a good career…

    • 819 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Should College Be Free? Over the past few years, the cost of higher education has become unbearable for most. The cost for an opportunity to become more educated is quite frightening. On average, public colleges cost $32,762 while private colleges are priced at $42,419 on average (Bridgestock, 2015).…

    • 764 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays