Analyzing Freeman Hrabowski's The Story Of My Life

How much is Your Diploma Worth? The culture of society has revolved around the idea that education is the key to every person’s success. However, people have the stigma that one who earns an education equivalent to that of a high school graduate, is not as intelligent as a college graduate. Society needs to stop valuing education based on the level of education one has obtained, but rather by how one can incorporate what he or she has learned with the demands of the general public. Many people believe that college is what closes the gap between an educated individual and an uneducated individual. People also have the tendency to agree with the social norms that a college diploma is ultimately the final step towards a successful future and a lavish lifestyle. In Freeman Hrabowski’s article, “Colleges Prepare People for Life,” the author agrees with his statement that “yes, colleges prepare people for jobs, but more critically, they prepare people for life” (260). However, what people do not realize is that college is not for every individual and the value of education should not be based on
One goes to college to learn, it seems, not to think.” Every student is quick to graduate college and earn a diploma that he or she does not realize the true value of education. It does not matter what one learns in college, as long as he or she applies what he or she learns and question ideas with intellectual approaches. Gerald Graff emphasizes in “Hidden Intellectualism” that "one of the major reasons why school and colleges overlook the intellectual potential of street smarts: the fact that we associate those street smarts with anti-intellectual concerns" (264). People relate education with how much the student excelled academically, rather than by how the student processes the information and applies it to his or her