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Cornel West Purpose Of College Education Summary

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Cornel West Purpose Of College Education Summary
“The Purpose of College Education”

Cornel West, summarizes his views on what the purpose of a college education is, at speech given at Bergen Community College. Most people feel college is just about getting a good job or moving up in their current job. Cornel West sees college on a deeper level. He believes that the main purpose of a college education is to unsettle people and force them into mustering up the courage to think critically and for their selves. He also feels that college should teach us to become less materialistic and self centered, looking for the greater good for the community over the good for oneself. Letting go of dogma and predispositions, so you can exam yourself is the most important part of education according to Cornel West. Although I do not agree with every one of West’s ideas on education, I do agree with the majority of them. West starts out his speech, saying that he hopes to “unsettle” people with it because education at its deepest sense is unsettling your believes and allowing yourself to think more critically. I have to agree with West on this perspective, thinking critically is extremely important. Thinking critically and freely allows us to better exam our world and not just follow what
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West believes that college should make us think about the greater good of the community rather than the greater good for ourselves. I completely agree with West on this point, although college for some pushes them more towards the materialistic. A large number of students attend college for completely superficial reason, to get a good job, to advance in their company, etc. We as humans are all innately altruistic; it’s through social influences that we become egotistical. West believes that a true college education should move us back towards our natural altruistic ways. If the community fails, so do

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