College-Going Atmosphere

Today in class, we discussed our previous assigned readings and we tied them together with our own opinions and experiences. We started talking about the article, In the Basement of the Ivory Tower, which was about an older woman attending college and not being able to succeed based on her level of education. After reading this, I was asked the question, "Should everyone go to college?" I answered "No." I said  that not everyone should go to college because everybody is not made for college. When I said that, I meant that not everybody is prepared for college and may not want to attend college. Society is constantly changing and  the demands for higher education is increasing and so is the cost of college and post-secondary education. Some people are not capable of the amount of work and the critical thinking that college courses require. They may not have been prepared in high school for college or students didn't put as much effort into college prep classes because they already chose a different path after high school. Some students already know that they will not attend college so they put less emphasis on core classes and put more effort into classes that they are interested in. Some schools offer vocational or trade classes and  students may want to pursue careers in those fields instead of taking the college route. However, students who want to go to college may not be able to attend because they cannot afford the costs of college. As an alternative, students learn trades and go into business for themselves without having a college education, or they just work at regular jobs to help pay for college.

In the other discussions about college in general and all the other components of college (admissions, financial aid, job placement), we talked about how society plays a role in all of this. In my opinion, society puts so much emphasis on education to get into the workforce, but makes it very difficult to attain these goals. Most people are told that if you go to college, you will get a good job because nowadays you cannot get a good-paying job with just a high school diploma. However, society and its demands are constantly changing so even if you have a [Bachelor's] degree, you won't be able to get a job because they require a higher degree like a Master's or a PhD. I feel like they shouldn't make it  so easy to get a good job but they shouldn't make the standards and the requirements so difficult that they seem almost impossible to achieve at the same time. But before you even get to college, there is always the thought of how you are going to pay for it. We were discussing other forms of financial aid and we talked about whether our parents should pay for our education. On the topic of financial aid, I do think there needs to be a reform for the FAFSA because those people who really need financial aid are not able to receive the funds they need while others who are able to afford college are receiving more assistance from the government. Then again, there are other ways to pay for school likes scholarships and grants and loans. Most people do not want to have loans or be in debt but are too lazy to find and apply for scholarships. Scholarships are split into two categories: need-based and merit-based. Those who are classified as need-based often get mad at those who are merit-based because they get these scholarships and have not deserved them. But I think that just because you know someone on a different level or you know the behind-the-scenes action that goes on, doesn't mean that you should get  the scholarship over them. It all depends on how the scholarship committee sees this candidate and what they offer or what makes them better than the other applicants. Some people think that applications for scholarships should be similar or should be structured like college applications. I am not so sure about this idea but it could eliminate the false information that people use and the pity stories that people like to tell just to get money.