essay 2
Stefanie Parcher
ENG-112
J. Metzger
October 8, 2013
Getting Your Moneys Worth or Losing Your Self-Worth
Today’s society has put a confusing spin on the need for higher education. Are we, as students, looking to simply walk out of the doors of a university and into a guaranteed job opportunity, or are we forgetting what the value of an education means? It seems to me that the lines between the definition of getting a degree and getting an education are very blurry. Another factor affecting our views on education is that society has changed; the downturn of today’s economy has affected many people’s choices, especially when it comes to choosing what path they choose for their future. Employers today are changing what they value: job experience or an education. Both of these choices will contribute differently to society. Also, the high cost of going to college will have you asking yourself, is the amount of money worth it, or a better question, am I worth it? We need to ask ourselves, what are you working for? Are you working for a degree to gain employment, or are you working for an education that gives you the many tools to becoming a vital citizen? All of these factors: the loose definition of what education means, our ever-changing society, and the rising cost of tuition, has forced students to re-think their futures as possible graduates. I would argue, to better our struggling economy, we need to be working to better ourselves in the larger sense of our education.
To better understand the difference between receiving an education and achieving a degree can easily be explained. Receiving an education means a student has successfully acquired the ability of critical thinking, gained the knowledge to becoming a vital citizen, and to obtain the power to better one’s community and to better themselves. A degree is what a student may achieve after accumulating set requirements in a college atmosphere. However, both of these tools will guide a
ENG-112
J. Metzger
October 8, 2013
Getting Your Moneys Worth or Losing Your Self-Worth
Today’s society has put a confusing spin on the need for higher education. Are we, as students, looking to simply walk out of the doors of a university and into a guaranteed job opportunity, or are we forgetting what the value of an education means? It seems to me that the lines between the definition of getting a degree and getting an education are very blurry. Another factor affecting our views on education is that society has changed; the downturn of today’s economy has affected many people’s choices, especially when it comes to choosing what path they choose for their future. Employers today are changing what they value: job experience or an education. Both of these choices will contribute differently to society. Also, the high cost of going to college will have you asking yourself, is the amount of money worth it, or a better question, am I worth it? We need to ask ourselves, what are you working for? Are you working for a degree to gain employment, or are you working for an education that gives you the many tools to becoming a vital citizen? All of these factors: the loose definition of what education means, our ever-changing society, and the rising cost of tuition, has forced students to re-think their futures as possible graduates. I would argue, to better our struggling economy, we need to be working to better ourselves in the larger sense of our education.
To better understand the difference between receiving an education and achieving a degree can easily be explained. Receiving an education means a student has successfully acquired the ability of critical thinking, gained the knowledge to becoming a vital citizen, and to obtain the power to better one’s community and to better themselves. A degree is what a student may achieve after accumulating set requirements in a college atmosphere. However, both of these tools will guide a