Not All College Majors Are Created Equal Summary

Melissa Munoz
Jones
English 99
19 January 2015
Outside Essay #1 What’s Your Degree Worth?
In “Not All College Majors Are Created Equal,” Michelle Singletary tells the reader that people go to college with their majors in mind but don’t have a clue about what actual jobs are available to them according to their education and on the job training level if any. She says students spend 4 to 6 years just studying for a certain major and not knowing what job would even accept the degree, and resulting in students having huge amounts of loan for a degree that never helped. Singletary also explains how a college education is not necessarily investing in a student’s future if they’re taking out huge loans or not finding out which fields are creating good paying jobs now. I do agree with what Michelle Singletary says about how some students waste their time and money on college. I also agree that college is worth attending, but only if you’re not left with uncertainty.
Singletary argues that most college students are wasting their time on majors that aren’t getting them job opportunities or just don’t have a clue on what they can do with their degree, and so it becomes useless.
Singletary says “Many aren’t getting on-the-job training while they are in school or during their semester or summer breaks. As a result, questions about employment opportunities or what type of job they have the skills to attain are met with blank stares” (Singletary 255). I do believe that we as students spend most of our time with our heads in a book or memorizing words for that big test and forgetting them right after. All of that doesn’t necessarily benefit us all that much for the real world because all we know how to do is read out of a book, but lack the most important gaining experience and
skills.
When a college student is just going to college for the experience and doesn’t have the slightest clue what they want to pursue as a career, it could really hurt their wallets or their parent’s wallets. In the article she says “People borrow heavily to get an advanced degree without really knowing whether it will lead them to a fatter paycheck that could easily service the debt. In some cases will, but for some academic disciplines, the salary bump isn’t as much as people expect” (Singletary 255). I agree that if you don’t have some sort of plan figured out for college then why are you going? You’re basically signing up for huge amount of debt later in your 30s when you’ve finally achieved that degree that you have no clue what to do with. Finally is college still worth it? Yes I do believe college is worth attending and committing to, but it’s only worth it if you know what you’re doing there. In the very last paragraph of Singletary’s article she says “I wouldn’t want to discourage people from pursuing a career they love, even if the pay isn’t very high. However, that choice should be made with the understanding of which job opportunities might be available and weighing what you can expect to earn annually against the cost of taking on debt to finance your education” (Singletary 256). I agree with this statement: Why take on all that debt and uncertainty if it’s not a career you’ll enjoy? Reading this article has made me double check the degree I was pursuing was what I wanted. As one can see there are many benefits to looking into your degree before you actually start it. Researching your degree before you start it ensures a much more confident approach to your education. Doing so also makes it simpler to look into internships and job opportunities in your field of work. Another reason why students should research their major in advance is to save money by not taking unnecessary classes. College is worth the time and money only if you know exactly what to do with it.