Cecil, Allie: Credentialing

When looking into life after college, students must think of the pros and or cons of their professions. In my case, early childhood development, there will always be a need for practitioners. According to the latest statistics there are 67,140 elementary schools in the United States, which would seem to grant me multiple possibilities for being hired. If I don’t graduate, I will be forced to live a life with fewer opportunities and with a much lower salary than that of a college graduate.

            In the essay “Death by Degrees” it states how China set up a three level exam for the whole country. This exam, as a whole, was the most challenging thing that Chinese students faced. With this exam in place the main people who take it are those of wealth and high status, but when a young man from a small and poor village goes to take the test and turns fails it. This makes that boy, Hong Xiuquan, start to think about his future but he soon realizes that he has no way of going anywhere, yet he is still persistent and tries the test more times. When he fails in his attempts he soon gives up on it all and converts from the ways of Confucius to the views of Christianity. With this new lease on life he takes it to a completely different level and starts the biggest revolt in the 19^th century, the Taiping Revolt.

            Today, it is becoming a must to have your masters before applying for a teaching job. With the way teaching jobs are now, it is a necessity that get to achieve a higher education to become more successful and to have the opportunity to obtain a job. Most school systems wouldn’t hire a person with a bachelor’s degree only. This relates to Death by Degrees and the fact that we control our future and the hard work we put into our studies determines how successful we will be for the rest of our lives.