Anne Davalos

Petrides/English 101
Argument Assignment
11/09/2015

EDUCATION VS. EXPERIENCE

From a young age kids are taught that if they go to college, success and a good career are
guaranteed, as long as they attend. College is seen as an American dream; people long to feel
they are going to make something out of themselves by attending college. Education and
employment are are no longer a proven formula for wealth and success.
A major issue is that people are attending college with the mentality that once they
graduate they are going to have their dream job and making a lot of money. The mentality people
should when considering attending college is that they are going to keep expanding their
knowledge on something they love, and will therefore will apply that to life in the real world. A
college degree is becoming the new high school diploma, the basic minimum requirement for a
job. What matters more than ever, is having the skills to do the job, not a piece of paper. The
diversity of jobs globally allows for college degrees not to be a necessity for all professional
careers in todays society. A bachelors degree can still be a good investment, but it is possible to
succeed without a four-year degree.
Many students attend college without knowing what they want to do, others just attend
for the experience and without putting in the work and having the right mentality, going to
college could overall be a waste of time. A lot more people are going, but oddly, the public has
increasingly questioned whether it's worthwhile to go. People need to understand that just

attending college does not guarantee anything for them, except maybe being in debt for a long
time. Back in 2008, 81 percent of adults thought college was a worthwhile investment, while this
year only 57 percent think so. Many families will pay anything to send their kids to college.
Most colleges will try to get as much money as they can. The federal government endlessly
subsidizes the increases in college and higher education, and so the price progressively increases.
There's an academic arms race.
The underlying problem is that many employers believe high school graduates with
diplomas arent as educated and arent able to perform these jobs. The idea that the person with a
degree is better than the person without one. More broadly, because so many people are going to
college now, those who do not graduate are often assumed to be less capable or unambitious.
There are a lot of consequences, a lot of costs, a lot of up and downsides. Many graduates are
applying for jobs that require college degrees, but those jobs do not necessarily require college
level skills. This is simply a way reduce the number of people even applying for a job, and
nothing to do with becoming more technical. Those with true scientific, technical, and vocational
skills generally don't have this problem. The risk with hiring college graduates for jobs they are
supremely overqualified for is, of course, that they will most likely leave as soon as they find
something better, particularly as the economy improves. College tuition is growing at a faster
rate than both inflation and median income levels while wages have stagnated. College has
increasingly become out of reach for many families, to student loans to make up the difference,
sending student debt levels to a record $1.2 trillion last year. It's easy to wonder: Is a college
degree worth it anymore?
Many employers believe college graduates obtain maturity and knowledge that a fouryear brings, that theyre more career-oriented, going to college means more commitment to their

futures. Economists have referred to this as degree inflation, and it has been steadily
infiltrating Americas job market. Its a buyers market for employers. When you get 800
rsums for every job ad, you need to weed them out somehow, said Suzanne Manzagol,
executive recruiter at Cardinal Recruiting Group, which does headhunting for administrative
positions. According to Burning Glass, a company that analyzes job ads from more than 20,000
online sources, many jobs that didnt previously require a diploma positions like dental
hygienists, cargo agents, clerks and claims adjusters are increasingly requiring one. Yet, when
a select number of managers and employers were interviewed, only 16 percent said the people
they hire are ready for the workforce. So the question is, what additional skills did this person
gain in their degree that will benefit the business? There are plenty of entrepreneurs that never
had much of a formal education, but still managed to achieve a great deal. Successful people
without college degrees briefly include Steve Jobs, Michael Dell, Rachel Ray, Bill Gates, and
thousands more.
So is a four-year degree needed to succeed? No. Right now, a graduate of a community
college, which is a two-year college, on average, makes more than a graduate of a four-year
college. For a few decades now, economists' ideas about education have been dominated by the
human capital theory. A theory that advanced education gives people more skills, making them
more productive. Which in the long run, means they earn higher wages. There's a statistic that by
the year 2018 there will be 14 million jobs available, well-paying jobs, which will require more
than a high school diploma but less than a college diploma. Many graduates, however, are buried
in debt with few job prospects. What they get for their buck and why a bachelor's degree is no
longer synonymous with success. Many people have barely, if ever, considered these factors, and
are now working in jobs they didnt go to school for, or they are unemployed.

Many people believe that non-manual labor office jobs, known as white collar jobs, are
only for the well-educated. Also generally perceived to be unattainable by those who haven't had
desire, or resources to obtain a degree. This is not always the case. There is a wide range of white
collar jobs that don't necessarily require a college degree. It just may be ideal to pursue
additional education to maximize options and skills in these fields. Google is one of the most
successful, innovative and challenging companies in the whole world. A recent interview with
Googles senior vice president revealed that 14% of people at Google have never gone to college.
How can that be? The answer is that many of the computer engineers at Google have spent years
outside of the classroom honing their skills at programming languages, as many of them began as
amateurs. Through years of practice, theyve developed enough skills that they dont need a
piece of paper to show that they can do the job, they prove it in the programs and applications
they can create. Every 1 in 10 jobs in the United States is a STEM (science, technology,
engineering and math) job that doesnt require a bachelors degree, according to a report by the
Brookings Institution. They can be held with a community college degree or a certificate from
any number of specialty schools that teach computer skills. The average salary in New York City
for a junior developer of Ruby on Rails, currently a very popular programming language, is
anywhere from $70,000-$100,000, according to Indeed.com. The numbers show that college
graduates have a higher employment rate and higher salaries. The numbers also show that nearly
50% of people who start a bachelors degree never finish, and that the class of 2013 had average
student loan debt of $30,000. There are currently about 3 million skilled labor jobs - jobs like
plumbers, electricians, welders and construction managers - nationwide that are going unfilled.
Its tempting to believe that these jobs dont pay much since they require a lot of manual labor,
but in reality, the labor supply for young, skilled workers in these professions is very low and the

demand is very high. Research shows talented workers in these fields can be making $100,000
per year or more by age 30. The average cost of attending a four-year private university is now
nearly $42,500 per yeartriple the price tag of the 90s and the equivalent of almost a year's
income for a median household today.
As college costs more than ever, it is important to consider what you will study, what
school you will attend and how much you will borrow in order to make college a worthwhile
investment. Community college is one alternative. A trade school is another alternative. Working
a year and thinking about it is another alternative. Education certainly has its place, and it isn't
completely without merit, but it also isn't necessary all of the time.

Citations:
1) "Is College worth It?" The Economist. The Economist Newspaper, 5 Apr.
2014. Web. 9 Nov. 2015.
2) Pfeiffer, Alex. "The Daily Caller Presents: The Top 16 Successful People
Who Dont Have College Degrees." Web. 12 Nov. 2015.
3) Forbes. Forbes Magazine. Web. 10 Nov. 2015.
4) "You Wasted All That Money on a College Degree?" CNBC. 19 June 2015.
Web. 12 Nov. 2015.
5) Smith, Jacquelyn. "The 27 Highest-paying Jobs That Don't Require a
Bachelor's Degree." Business Insider. Business Insider, Inc, 16 July 2015. Web.
9 Nov. 2015.

6) "8 College Degrees with the Worst Return on Investment." Salary.com.

Web. 12 Nov. 2015.
7) "8 Hugely Successful People Who Didn't Graduate College."Entrepreneur.
19 Aug. 2015. Web. 12 Nov. 2015.