Introduction
Caroline Bird’s article entitled “College Is a Waste of Time and Money” is an opinion related to the motivation of students to enter college education. The author’s main idea is that the reasons students join colleges are predominantly not based on eagerness to obtain knowledge. On the contrary, most young individuals escape from unfavorable life circumstances, prolong financial support provided by parents, avoid employment, or seek a community to belong to (Bird 430).
The target audience of this article includes college students, educators, parents, and education-related decision-makers who might be interested in changing their perspectives on the purpose of college education or adjusting it for improvement. The article’s purpose is to ensure the readers that a college education is a waste of financial assets and time of students due to the minimal positive outcomes. This summary-response essay is designed to claim that the main factor motivating students to start college education is not the willingness to obtain knowledge and degrees but the necessity imposed by the socio-economic determinants.
Article Summary
The article focuses on the lack of students’ internal motivation and purpose due to uncertainty and socially dictated obligations impacting their decisions, which wastes monetary and time resources (Bird 428). Indeed, the author supports her argument by indicating that not all students belong to college because they come not to learn and obtain professional skills but to avoid other less favorable options, such as unwanted work, unemployment, or the lack of purpose. Bird states that sending all high-school graduates to college has become a burdensome tradition for students since many perceive studying as suffering with no evident benefit for their competence in the future (430).
Furthermore, the author indicates that given the shortage of students due to demographic changes, colleges become businesses where the costs of studying pose a significant challenge to students’ playability. Loans and debts might be a long-term commitment for a college student and their family, while the effectiveness and results of learning are predominantly scarce. College students are unhappy and avoidant in terms of learning. Hence, it is a waste of effort and resources.
Response
One might agree with the article’s author’s idea about students’ lack of belonging to a college setting and community. Indeed, not every high-school graduate is supposed to go to college and might be effective in other spheres of life and benefit society in the workplace. However, social norms have established the obligation of going to college as a factor demonstrating one’s intelligence, educated status, or perception of college as an obligatory stage in the life of an ordinary American citizen.
One agrees with this idea because the availability of a degree does not necessarily define a person’s value in society. The author vividly illustrates this assumption by exemplifying situations when even unskilled and poor-qualified students who had been forced to go to college obtained diplomas but were not adequately educated. Similarly, capable and intelligent students might have financial difficulties and lose the ability to attend college despite their potential to belong to a higher educational institution. Students’ unhappiness validates these outcomes due to the irrelevant motivation for college attendance (Bird 430).
However, one might have an opposing view on the idea of young students’ decision-making about their future at the moment of finishing high school. In other words, the author argues that students now go to college as an institution, and there should be a good reason for not going to college rather than forgoing due to its omnipresence (Bird 431). However, the article’s author believes that the student’s feelings about education should be the primary decision-making factor (Bird 432).
One disagrees with such a statement of the author due to the insufficiency of life experience and possible altered priorities in the lives of young individuals whose education should be a family responsibility. Indeed, in some cases, being open to professional or experience-based advice might be beneficial when considering a life path. Furthermore, one should be ready to endure learning difficulties since they might return in the form of employment and continued education benefits in the long-term perspective.
Conclusion
Caroline Bird’s article is focused on exploring the reasons for students’ college attendance; since they do not initiate higher education for relevant reasons, it is a waste of time and money (Bird 428). This paper argues that most students join college not because they have internal motivation to learn and acquire professional skills and knowledge but because it is a socially imposed obligation. As a result, many graduates do not have an opportunity for employment or professional development due to their unhappiness and their lack of a sense of purpose. Therefore, to be valued and successful, students should not adhere to higher education as an immediate attribute of accomplishment and should not be driven by social norms.
Works Cited
Bird, Caroline. “College Is a Waste of Time and Money.” The Norton Reader: An Anthology of Nonfiction, edited by Melissa A. Goldthwaite et al., 14th ed., W. W. Norton, 2017, pp. 428-36.