“Death by
degrees” is a thoughtful article that describes a system that demands expensive
and time consuming higher education that guides people towards a professional
and prestigious life. It focuses on the importance of becoming credentialed
relating it with the past and present.
The US
economy is recovering from recession; jobs are still scarce and now people
realize the importance of a college education. College credentialed students
are the first choice of employers. College educated students exhibit high
positive correlations with employment, salary, and attaining career goals. College
educated students have the potential to become the powerful and influential
people in the sectors that they choose. The article "Death by degrees”
points out that the increasing number of bachelor's degrees in the United
States is creating an intellectual elitism that is already skewing access to
power in many ways. For example, almost two-thirds of President Obama's first
thirty-five Cabinet members came from elite colleges, and that every member of
the U.S. Supreme Court attended either Yale or Harvard.
“If you
don’t have the official position, you cannot plan the affairs of government”
~Analects 8:14. This is a quotation from the ancient maxim which describes the
importance of credentials to have a public official position and make decisions
for the government. In the past to get to the top of any public administration
credentials were regarded as the basic criteria for the post. Similarly, when
the Chinese dynasty imposed imperial examination as a major qualification for
posts, Hong Xiuquan suffered a nervous breakdown as he failed the same test twice
as he could not afford to pay tuitions and other fees. This showed the negative
aspect of the importance of being credentialed.
In today’s
society, college education leads to a multitude of employment of possibilities.
On the other hand, those without a college education are severely limited in
their future prospects. College education is seen as the base for nearly every activity.
The efficiency of work and the knowledge gained from it are reflected by the
credentials that people earn. The alternative to college education could have
been experience which is no longer taken into consideration as it does not have
"golden stickers" on it.
In
conclusion, to attain all kinds of goals in life college education plays a
vital role.
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