Ellyana Najja Edmond-Pierre

Professor Howard
English 101A
Commentary Final
April 25,2017
The Purpose Of College
My family and I live a very comfortable life. We live in a nice house, we take nice
vacations every year, and both my parents have good high paying careers. My parents always
stress the importance of working hard and getting a good education. This advice is significant
because both my parents have graduate degrees and both must work two careers each in order to
provide for our family. I would like to live a better lifestyle than my parents. But as an African
American woman with a disability, I know that I face the same obstacles my African Caribbean
parents faces, plus double the challenges when it comes to employment. Therefore, like my
parents, I choose to get a college degree in order to have a fair chance and the opportunity for a
career. To be accepted as African American woman with potential to be anything she wants, I
must have a college degree to back it up.
A college degree gives you better opportunities in the workplace and in life. Completing
college provide for students not only to take classes, but also to get the experiences necessary to
prepare for their career. Because not everyone starts in life at the same place, many people face
barriers such as poverty and systemic discrimination. College education is one of the ways to
make sure that there is equity and access for everyone to get the knowledge, skills, and social
relationships to improve their life. The purpose of college is for leveling the playing field. The
three areas where the purpose of college is significant are gender, race, and disability.

According to the Institute For Womens Policy Research In 2015, female full-time
workers made only 79 cents for every dollar earned by men, a gender wage gap of 21 percent."
(Pay Equity & Discrimination) Without a college degree this pay gap would be even bigger.
Single mothers with only high school education or less than a Bachelor's Degree are barely able
to cover basic like food, shelter, and health care. Even if you have a college degree that still not
enough. According to Economic Policy Institute young men with a college degree earn an
average hourly wage of $20.94 early in their careers, their female counterparts earn an average
hourly wage of just $16.58, or $4.36 less than men. This difference would translate to a $9,000
annual wage gap for full-time workers.(Kroeger and Gould) So I think women need a college
degree so we can be on the same level as men in the workplace since we earn less than them.
Having a college degree give us the advantage that we need to even get through the door in
higher wage careers.
With respect to race, minorities need to be extra qualified in order to be considered for
employment, and to stand a better chance of making a respectable income. In some instances a
black or Latino applicant with a college degree is still overlooked compared to a white male
applicant with a high school degree and a criminal record. In a country with a history of
enslavement, Jim Crow laws, and white privilege, education is the primary way to fight the
historical and unequal treatment of other racial groups. Obtaining a college degree will enhance
your chance of higher income and knowledge to fight against unjust treatment in other areas such
as housing, health, and government. According to United State Of Departments white men earn
$1,273 working full time in management, professional, and related occupations. The highest
paying major occupation group was well above the earnings of Hispanic men ($1,002) and Black
men ($957) in the same occupation group. (Earnings and employment by occupation, race,

ethnicity, and sex, 2010) For young adults with disabilities, a college degree can help balance
their area of weaknesses, develop new skills, and help them qualify for positions and careers that
they would not have been able to pursue. Charles Murray wrote an article asking What Is
Wrong With Vocational School. He proposed that people with IQ scores of 100 or higher should
go to 4 year colleges, but people with scores lower than 100 IQ shouldn't go to college, instead
they should go to vocational schools. (Murray) I think this article is biased because people learn
and think differently and IQ testing really does not capture multiple intelligences or take into
consideration different learning styles. If we were to follow Mr. Murrays recommendations,
people with disabilities wouldn't be able to go to college. They would be segregated to positions
and careers based only on what a test says they can achieve and not on their potential,
commitment, hard work or other intelligence, such as emotional, spiritual, or physical.
Based on an article in American Institute For Research, disability and poverty often go
hand in hand. (Hill) Its difficult enough for people with disabilities to find a decent job in order
to take care of their family. The article highlights the disparity between disabled workers with a
college degree in comparison to those without. Obtaining a college degree gives you an
advantage in workplace. Although those of us with disability do not earn as much as people
without disabilities, a college degree certainly gives us an opportunity to compete and demand to
earn more and have a better lifestyle by having some of the same knowledge that a college
degree provides.
Some people do not see the value of a college degree, but for women, racial and ethnic
minorities, and people with disabilities college is the solution to discrimination and lack of
access to opportunity. But there are many reasons that many people go to college. My reason as a
young African American woman with a disability, who has learned from her parents the history

of who gets access and who does not, is that the purpose of a college degree is to level the
playing field.

Sources
Michelle Yin.What the Pay Gap for Disabled Workers Costs Them and the Nation. The Hill, January

14, 2015. Online source.

Charles Murray.Whats Wrong with Vocational School?. Wall Street Journal,January 17,
2007.Online source.
Teresa Kroeger and Elise Gould.Straight out of college, women make $4 less per hour than men
and the gap is getting wider.April 26, 2016.Online soures.
Institute For Womens Policy Research.Pay Equity & Discrimination.
United State Of Departments.Earnings and employment by occupation, race,
ethnicity, and sex, 2010.SEPTEMBER 14, 2011.