November 6, 2013
Arnold Clay
ENC1101
Is College for Everyone?: Comparative Rhetorical Analysis
Since the first GI Bill was passed after World War II universities have been steadily increasing. Currently there are more than 4000 college like institutions in the United States. Public policy has been making higher education more reachable for example by creating federal student loan programs so everyone has a chance to attend college. But recently we have seen the cost of a four year degree drastically increase because Americans are seeing college as an obligation. “On “Real Education”” Robert T. Perry argues that we need more university and community college graduates. “Is College for Everyone” Pharinet is arguing that college is not for everyone. He states that there is too many students enrolled in school that don’t belong there. Roberts’s essay “On “Real Education”” is more persuasive because, not only did his writing appear on InsideHigherEd.com making him a more credible author but also because he argues his stance on college is for everyone using statistics and a believable explanation to back them up. The US Department of Labor has reported that America needs more college graduates to keep up with all the other nations in the global economy. Robert states that by the end of the presidents first term, which is already over, that The US will have 3 million more jobs that require bachelor’s degree and we don’t have enough college graduates to fill them. We need more health care workers, teachers, software engineers and manufacturing jobs, all of which require college. Those whom choose not to go to college have much fewer employment options. Robert makes a strong point when he says that American companies are looking for new ways to compete, and because of this without some sort of secondary degree you will have consistent struggle to pay for just the basic to live. Robert grabs the reader’s consideration through the use of