Charles Murray Are Too Many People Going To College Analysis

Charles Murray emphasizes in his essay “Are Too Many People Going To College?” that while the number of bachelor’s degree graduates increases, the opportunities for them suffer from the opposite effect. People have conceived the idea that higher education is a requirement to be a successful person. Consequently, students are being forced to pursue a degree to please society’s, but not personal, expectations. Murray makes various points, where I completely agree, of why too many people are going to college. Murray states, “[i]t would be nice if everyone could acquire a fully formed liberal education, but they cannot” (226). Liberal art education teaches you not only how to make a living but also how to be a better human being. However; many students are simply not
Because a degree won’t give you the perfect job, the perfect house or the perfect life, but working with your skills and knowledge probably will. I must disagree with Murray when he argues that reaching the “advisable averages” is the most important aspect if you want to go to college. Considering that more than 90 percent of high school seniors expect to go to college, only 10 percent of 18-year-olds would achieve the SAT, math, and verbal tests’ score advisable for going to college, when more than 30 percent of students would manage to go to college (Murray 226). Murray overlooks the real capacity that students with low scores may have. Failing an exam does not necessarily mean that the student is not smart enough; poor teaching, students’ special needs, and standardized exams are some of the reasons that can influence the failing of students. In short, if people stop forcing students to get a degree just to make a living and if more students go to college for the right reasons and in the right career, we won’t have to say again that too many people are going to