Who Needs College

“Who Needs College?” College education is one of the major characteristics of our society today. It is a controversial topic, discussed not only by politicians, professor, and sociologists, but also by ordinary people, who are affected by it directly. The need of a college degree and the process of education through our higher educational system became painful for some and still unclear for others. Today’s statistics and research data provides information on quantity and quality of our education and the possible outcome of it, which involves everyone in certain meditation about the actual need of a college degree. The world we live in today is a “battle field” where the traditional weapons are advantages of some warriors and disadvantages of others. Education is a privilege and certainly is considered as being the greatest advantage that one can use to open many doors in a world of opportunities.
Linda Lee, an editor and writer for the New York Times, introduces her readers to a range of open questions and ideas about the need of a college education in her brief essay “Who Needs College?” Lee explains her personal ideas about college education as not being for everyone. While getting personal about her son’s decision to become a college student, Lee arguments her ideas with statistics that show a rate of only 27 percent of Americans with bachelor degree or higher, while “two thirds of high school graduates go on to college” (24). Lee describes the path she went through while realizing the truth about “need to go” (24) to college. She describes her son’s college lifestyle as a “pleasure cruise” (25) for which she was paying $1000 not worth in the education equivalent. Lee argues in her article about the importance of a college degree in general, as according to research data mentioned in the article considerable part of graduates end up employed in the field not related to their major. The other parts of graduates’ are left alone with doubts about their career