My College Essay(revised)

REVISED COLLEGE ESSAY

College can be a blessing or a burden: personality, state of mind, and wishes for the future influence whether college life and education are the former or the latter. If someone is more comfortable working with their hands, also known as something “concrete”, that is something you physically interact with, college may not be as important or interesting as it is with English or math “fanatics”. This statement’s view is supported by Source A, which talks about how the risks of working with one’s hands can be worth it if one enjoys the work. Society also needs people to do non-basic, manual labour: fixing cars, building buildings, welding, and other important artisan professions that do not require a higher education. Source C shows the decline in entry wages for college graduates by ~$1.50. Some people who have not been educated past high school earn more than college graduates, depending on the line of work. Source E shows how 24 people received $100,000 to not go to college but instead work with Silicon Valley professionals to bring their ideas to reality. Another reason that some choose to not go to college is tuition cost, as Source D shows. This drawback can be neutralised by financial aid, but still indebts the recipient of aid for a long time, which some people do not want.

            One side of the college-or-not debate is the no college, manual work side. Some people enjoy doing “manual” work that does not require an education further than high school. Source A has a quote supporting the view that manual work is good, “The pitcher longs for water to carry and a person for work that is real.” This means that manual work is “real”, as in not abstract, culpable. One may be happy with their life without ever stepping foot in college. Adversely, Source F, in the “payoff” category, shows how,” Adults who graduated from a four-year college… earning $20,000 more as a result of having gotten that degree.” A college degree pays more “off the bat”, which can help immensely, but the positives are cancelled out by the large debt and great amounts of stress associated with college. Source A once again comes to the spotlight with a quote,” IF the goal is to earn a living, then maybe it isn’t really true that 18-year-olds need to be imparted with a sense of panic about getting into college.” This quote supports the view that college is not totally necessary, as a good wage is totally possible without spending time and large sums of money on college. A neutral solution is presented in Source B, in the form of a liberal arts education. This form of education,” Emphasises freedom and experience as tools for students to develop.” This foci help people decide what they want to do, be it work, college, or something else. This can be a solution for someone who is on the fence about college. Source E talks about the Thiel Fellowship, an organisation that awarded its 24 winners with,” $100,000 to not attend college for two years and to develop business ideas instead.” This supports both views: these people can either go to college knowing that they’ve a future with the companies they’ve worked with before, or can keep working without college. This proves that the choice whether to go or not go is dependent not only on financial capabilities(for tuition) but on the choice of an individual.