Buchanan, Katie: Credentialing

According to the essay "Death by Degrees" credentialing has become a major factor in the lives of most Americans. It has come to the point where most jobs require prospective employees to have a minimum of a bachelor's degree, many of these jobs prefer a master's degree or beyond. Thinking of this, I have to stop and assess how my future career will play out if I continue my education past an undergraduate degree. I also must consider how society perceives people who possess credentials.

 With the field of study I intend to pursue, obtaining a degree higher than a bachelor's degree isn't necessary. I am pursuing a major in mathematics with a minor in education. But, I do not intend to stop my education there. I want to earn my master's degree in teaching as well.  My desire to obtain a master's degree in based on two facts. One is that having a master's degree will make me more employable, as suggested by this essay. The other reason is because with a master's degree I can teach courses for concurrent credit at a high school. That would help my students by reducing their number of hours they must take in college. Being able to provide such a service to students would give them an incentive to take my class.

At one point, it was very rare for a person to even have an undergraduate degree. People who stuck it through college and earned a bachelor's were considered credentialed. People who went even farther in schooling were rare because that route was only required for doctors and lawyers. Nowadays, obtaining a bachelor's degree is almost expected of all students. Anything beyond that is considered credentials. I know in my case going to graduate school seemed guaranteed. There was no "if I go" it was "when I go" to graduate school. My parents told me to save my extra scholarship money for graduate school before I ever really understood the meaning of it and decided that I wanted to go. Continuing one's education is almost expected in today's society. 

For me, becoming credentialed is a given. It will help me gain respect from my peers in today's society. It will also help me have an advantage in one day obtaining a job.