Essay Example: Is College Education Worthwhile?

There have been heated debates in the contemporary society concerning the value of college education. People have varying ideas on whether a college education is still necessary. While the traditional societal orientation seems to have made many people believe that one cannot succeed in life unless they have a college education, current technological advancements seem to challenge this assertion. This paper provides a critical analysis and synthesis of two articles that tackle the issue of the value of college education: College is a Waste of Time and College is Worth it - Some of the Time by Dale Stephens and Bridget Terry Long respectively. The two writers employ rhetoric, ethos, pathos and logos to convince their audience that their points are valid.

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In the first article, College is a Waste of Time, Dale Stephens argues that college education is not a guarantee of a successful life. Stephens gives his story, using the first person point of view to convince his audience to consider his belief that "higher education is broken" (Kirszner and Stephen 43). He goes on to use rhetoric that reveals his condescending attitude towards higher education. The author uses his experiences as an example. He says that he left college because it was no longer productive for him. The ethos in this story invokes a deep feeling that makes it quite appealing and believable. He goes on to criticize college education for majoring on conformity and killing the creativity, innovation and curiosity of those who go through it. Stephens convinces his audience by asserting that most famous, successful people do not have college degrees. According to him, a college degree should be viewed as a means to gain knowledge not just a stepping stone to success. It fails to empower as it should. This is because it does not give the learner the experiences that the real workforce does. He argues that learning by "doing" is the best learning strategy since most successful people did not learn in the classroom but the real world. The author further appeals to the emotions of the audience. He rhetorically asks them to imagine how life would be if people started their companies, projects, and organizations that emphasize on practical skills rather than rote learning. The writers aim, in this case, is to convince the audience that successful people do not necessarily learn in class; they learn by themselves. The overall tone of the text is a contemptuous one. To an extent, this tone seems successful in making the reader identify with the author's concerns regarding higher education. To reinforce his point, the author further argues that college education is too expensive. The student loan debt rose to $1 trillion in 2011 (Kirszner and Stephen 43). College tuition fee is overpriced. He exemplifies this by using data from the College Board Policy Center which shows that the cost of college education is 3.6 times compared to thirty years ago. Although the cost of inflation has been factored in this figure, Stephens still uses this as a basis for his argument that college education is wastage of time and money since after spending all this money, many college graduates do not have the skill it takes to succeed in life. I think this author has succeeded in adequately supporting his thesis which states that he believes higher education is broken and college education is no longer valuable. Nevertheless, he suggests that not everyone should leave college; the challenge is what else one can do with that time slotted for a formal class.

On the other hand, Bridget Terry Long in her article, College is Worth it - Some of the Time claims that college education is worthwhile, though not all the time since it offers a platform for one to develop their career. She argues that the value of college education depends on the college attended, debt taken and field of study (Kirszner and Stephen 46). These are the three elements, according to her, that determine whether a college education is valuable or not to various individuals. The author argues that students who go to college can explore their interests. They can make informed decisions after doing a comparative analysis of the available opportunities as well as the cost and returns; hence, choosing a field of study that has the potential for career development. However, the information provided is not sufficient, according to the author, to help students aspiring to join colleges choose the best combinations in terms of cost and employment opportunities. It is unfortunate that the writer is not able to employ rhetoric strongly enough to evoke an emotion that would make her argument more believable. I think it is because she is not sure that the audience will believe her. The writer further claims that college education is valuable because, with it, there is job security and satisfaction. She argues that college graduates earn more than their high school counterparts, find more satisfaction with their jobs and can follow a certain career path. However, this argument is not strong enough as the author admits that "many students do not work in the field of their college major" (Kirszner and Stephen 45). This, therefore, beats the logic of job satisfaction among college graduates and the potentiality of following a certain career path. Nevertheless, Terry Long recognizes the fact that the cost of college and debt is a problem that should be addressed. She observes that due to poor counseling, many college students opt for multiple sources of debt to finance their education and end up becoming frustrated since they have no idea on how to repay the huge debts within a stipulated period. She claims that one must, therefore, recognize the importance of the investment and consider the fact that college education may not cover the benefits and bring handsome returns for every college graduate (Kirszner and Stephen 46). This makes sense. Finally, the author leaves the audience to decide whether to consider college a good investment or not. This approach is not effective since, at the end of it all, the audience is not fully aware of the author's stand. Although Terry Long begins with a note of conviction, owing to her strong thesis statement, she is not able to employ the most appropriate style to evoke emotions in her audience necessary to make them believe her claim.

In conclusion, it is evident that the way an author constructs and supports their argument is what determines if the message is effectively driven home or not. An author has to have a clear roadmap of their argument and defend it effectively. Both Dale Stephens and Bridget Terry Long have valid arguments about college education. However, Stephens seems to present his points more convincingly and enthusiastically than Terry Long. It, therefore, becomes easier to identify with Stephens and believe him more easily than Terry Long. Nevertheless, it is important to understand that the contexts in which the two articles are written, and their purposes, are different; thus, the difference in language and style

Work Cited

Kirszner, Laurie G., and Stephen R. Mandell. Practical Argument: A Text and Anthology. 3rd Edition. Macmillan, 2015.