Is college worth it

To a large degree and based on the readings assigned here, one does come to see that indeed there are those who think that one needs to have a college degree and that credential to succeed in the highly competitive professional world. But with the same token, there are also others out there who seem to have the notion that we don’t need to spend thousands of dollars to get that piece of paper acknowledging that we have a college degree as many jobs might not necessarily require or mandate one. The premise here is that a college degree indeed is not a cheap proposition due to the unfortunate fact that college education now has become very expensive. So, when anyone does decide to go to college, they would have to think twice about the underlying benefits of the degree but also the costs of it. But I also personally come to feel that even though a college degree might not be necessarily applicable or say deemed necessary for all types of jobs or professional careers, it is still a very important and a value-added credential that we need to have. It is often through a college experience that we can learn about different cultures and traditions and simply improve yet broaden our own understanding of the larger world that we are a part of. Education is one of the most important assets that a person has. In that manner, it becomes more important than ever to be able to attain the best of education out there. What should be considered here is that the society of today is much more competitive than before and almost everyone out there would try to seek some type of education. But education by its very sense is one pillar or one element needed to make a person successful and there are several other equally important traits to consider in assessing what makes one educated. A person is educated when he/she has a certain level of education, coupled with being very creative and productive members of the world and adding value to the larger society around them. There are a number of important values as well as traits that a person should have embedded in them for them to be considered educated. The first and foremost of these relate to them having a certain level or degree of education and getting the right academic credentials as well (Suri, 2015). The premise here is that a person can only be able to get a better and more coherent understanding of themselves as well as the larger world around them if and when they get the necessary academic education itself. According to author Jeremi Suri, “universities by definition, turn us into educated citizens” (Suri, 2015) and this quote does come to make the very case that there is a very strong reason to be able to attain the right type of education. What also has to be considered here is this fundamental notion that what sort of differentiates a person with less understanding of different academic issues and concepts from one who has a good grasp of them is a college degree. In that manner, education by its very nature, shouldn’t just be considered as one learning from textbooks, memorizing information and putting it back on an exam. But the true essence of education is much more than that, and its larger goal is to ensure that we are truly educated both about ourselves, our own self-identities in the larger society in addition to getting the right education about the larger world around us. In that manner, education enables one to “access accumulated learning in various disciplines” (Suri, 2015) and that is yet another important premise or added value that is attained from world class education. The goal here is to see that education is truly attained when we can make an intellectual assessment of different things and concepts around us but also when we are that much more aware of the larger world around us too. There are so many different types of disciplines and subject matters around us such as those that relate to the field of sciences, math, fine arts, business and so forth. In that manner, a person is said to be educated who can use his academic knowledge as well as his credentials in understanding these different disciplines and being able to work with them. Therefore, one of the most important elements of what it means to be educated is for one to really decipher as well as understand these important academic concepts around them. At the same time, there are several other factors that come to define what it means to be truly educated. One of them is this very art of a person being able to assess their own inner selves and to engage in different types of critical inquiry (Suri, 2015). The main premise here again is this notion that when we feel comfortable of being educated, that is the state or level where we can also ask ourselves different types of important questions, why we come up with such issues but also how to go about finding the right and objective answer to these things that come to our mind. According to author Jeremi Suri, “an educated life is about posing questions” and this could be taken a step further in notion that education also means for a person to engage in a lot of “self-reflection” as well as the art of “self-awareness” (Suri, 2015). This again comes to imply that an educated person is someone who has that ability to engage in different types of critical thinking. That critical thinking could be related to getting a better, more cohesive and hence a more vivid picture about the world that surrounds them. But at the same time, such critical analysis is also based on that person understand their own selves, being able to effectively assess what their inner strengths and hence inner weaknesses are. Therefore, an educated person is someone who also is embedded with the trait of “knowing many things” but also being able to be fully aware of their own inner intellectual side (Suri, 2015). Hence, I strongly believe in a college degree and what its worth!

References
This week’s readings and videos

Stevens Sabrina (2010). What Does It Mean to be Well-Educated? Huffington Post online, accessed from http://www.huffingtonpost.com/sabrina-stevens-shupe/what-does-it-mean-to-be-w_1_b_781240.html

Suri Jeremi (2015). What is an Educated Person? Daily Texan online, accessed from http://www.dailytexanonline.com/2015/05/04/what-is-an-educated-person