Essay on University Degrees

Numerous are the reasons why one decides to attend a university, it improves one's outlook on the world and broadens one's horizons. Apart from that, there are some practical benefits, as university degree holders are more likely to get substantial knowledge and skills that they can utilize for the rest of their life and thus get better job opportunities. But how does society view these people? Are they respected and their efforts appreciated?

Some decades ago, the choices of available universities were meager, hence the chances offered to enter a university were considerably fewer. Alongside this, families were not able to support their children through this demanding and stressful process and financial difficulties lead children to abandon their education early, in order to earn a living. Therefore, it was a widespread opinion that university degree was for a small privileged elite. Thus, being so limited the degree holders were regarded as people who commanded society's respect.

This idea is now rendered obsolete. The lessons at school may be more difficult and rivalry among classmates more intense but the universities have multiplied, becoming more accessible and a dream that can easily be fulfilled. Consequently, people with a university degree are currently a rather common occurrence compared to the previous situation.

The sobering fact of this, is that a higher education degree is not sufficient for someone to be considered full-fledged to distinguish oneself in the competitive and ever-changing job market. The university degree is considered to be rudimentary knowledge and a stumbling block to be in a league and surpass the fundamental knowledge that a university offers. Should people want their studies to pay dividends they need to focus on specialization.

All told, we are living in the era of lifelong learning, when being satisfied with one degree means remaining stagnant and at the same time receiving if not rejection then indifference.