People are
generally bound to be successful or to fail at certain points in their lives,
socially and educationally. "Death by Degrees" is an article that
explains the system of education and how it affects individuals. The high cost
of education and the long time spent in school are good reasons why most
persons will not want to be credentialed.
Higher cost in education is a
huge reason why people would not want to have an education. In the article
there is an example about a taxi driver who spends $200 an hour to hire a tutor
for his children. However, not everyone can afford such an expense to educate
their child, so education becomes an unattainable idea and parents decide to
invest their money in something they find interesting that will bring back more
money. In this situation, only the rich can educate their children and then it
becomes a thing of pride, whereas for the common people it becomes a thing of
less importance because they feel they must provide for the household and pay
off bills. That leads to more uneducated people becoming slaves of the educated
and no one listening to the uneducated because they have no credentials even
when they do have a point.
Furthermore, spending a long
time in school is a source of discouragement to most students. For instance,
Johns Hopkins introduced the standard formula that students must attend four
years of college and an additional four years in medical school. Also,
Institutions that did not follow this rule did not get donations. From my
analysis, spending eight years is college is discouraging and, sometimes,
individuals will change their majors while others will not attempt to finish.
It is even worst for those that want to go to school and cannot afford it.
Eventually, schools become self interested and look at benefits from tuition
rather than being concerned about education itself.
In general, I will say that
high cost of education and long time spent in school are two factors that will
lessen the number of the credentialed. The article notes that the educated will
use their credentials to intimidate the uneducated just as those with master's
degrees will intimidate baccalaureate degree holders thereby making education
harder and more expensive. Knowledge is the key to success but not when it has
a self-interested price tag on it.
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