Critical Analysis Of The Atlantic By Richard Simmons

In his 2014 article for The Atlantic, Richard Simmons discusses how a student’s upbringing influences their motivation for pursuing a higher level education beyond high school. He argues that depending on your socioeconomic status, you will be taught different things about why you should pursue a college degree. According to Simmons, affluent students spend more time thinking about what they want to study or who they want to become, and are less focused on picking a degree of study that earns them more money. Conversely, poorer students worry about how much money they would be able to make more than what they want to study. Finally, Simmons states that society should stop putting emphasis on the monetary benefit of obtaining a college degree, …show more content…
I was never told that I needed to earn a degree so that I could become proficient in a certain subject. This upbringing has had a profound impact on my choice of major. Simmons says that “College should be ‘sold’ to all students as an opportunity to experience an intellectual awakening” (4). Again, while I agree that intellectual growth is an important aspect of college, it is simply not appropriate today to “sell” college as a way to learn more, and nothing else. College tuition has risen dramatically over the last few decades, and more people are attending college. Students take out massive amounts of debt to pursue degrees that do not reward their efforts following graduation. They are stuck with crippling debt and no way to repay it unless they go back to school and pick a major that pays off, even if they have no interest in that field of study. It just isn’t affordable to go to college and pick a major that only interests you, and nothing else. If you are going to shell out thousands of dollars and put yourself in debt to go to college, it only makes sense to pick a major that pays off later down the line. Otherwise, your quality of life will be squashed by the stresses brought on by the mountain of debt you piled onto …show more content…
With the rising costs of college, it is not justifiable or responsible to go to college and to pick a field of study that does not pay well, especially if the student is taking out thousands of dollars in debt in order to do so. If someone is told to go to college to study whatever they want, they better be informed of what they will be able to do with that degree. If I was passionate about weaving baskets and decided to major in basket-weaving, I’d be living on the streets. Is that the system’s fault for telling me to study what I was passionate about, or is it my own for not being diligent about my