Professor Laurie g
English 102-V2
13 September 2001

Is College Really a Waste of Time When I was a child, I remember my parents always telling me that going to college was not only going to be an investment, but it is also the only way to be more successful in life. Yes, it is true that going to school would be an investment and in some circumstances successful in life, but what they seemed to leave out was that going to college may not be necessary to be successful in life. I followed this approach up until I entered my freshman year of college and realized that my parents were only telling me the half-truth. Yes, college is an investment and by going to college it leads to becoming more successful in life, but what they left out was that there is more to the equation. The other factors to the equation includes, what it I am going to school for, an economy of high unemployment rates, students debts, and most importantly the competition one will face in order to get that particular job. Entrepreneur leading Uncollege Dale Stephens in is article “College is a waste of time” for his special on CNN examines that with life experience, creativity, internet tools, college degrees are “unnecessary”. In “College is a waste of time” Dale Stephens explores how he has come to the determination that college is a waste of time through personal experience and argues why and how to avoid attending college. Stephens sums up the recent costs for college tuition and student loan debts and then focuses on the success of people who have never completed nor attended college. He presents his opinions on how failure is seen as a punishment versus a learning opportunity. Stephens asserts that the reason for bypassing college is because “college fails to empower us with the skills necessary to become productive members of today’s global entrepreneurial economy. As more and more people graduate from college, employers are unable to discriminate among job seekers based on college degree and can instead hire employees based on their talents. In the final part of his article, Stephens concedes that “it is a question of priorities” weather people who take their education outside and beyond the classroom understand how actions build a better world. According to Stephens, “we will challenge the world regardless of the letters after our names. He concludes by challenging people to consider the opportunity cost of going to class. Although Stephens has created an argument with strong logical, opinioned, emotional appeals, his very matter of fact tone of voice angle of vision- that are seen through his own personal experience, nonchalant language, and exclusive focus on not attending college period-may fail to win neutral readers. I also think that Stephens’s argument loses impact by not discussing more realistic alternatives to just flat out telling people to drop out. Such as instead of not attend college at all have a one on one sit down with your counselor and get to classes you really need and nothing extra or even just different alterative to pursing a job of your choice. Stephens builds a logical case in his well-informed and knowledgeable interpretation of why our younger generation should consider other paths to success versus attending college and realizing it was a waste. His frank confrontation of trying to appeal to reason with his audience all the while emphasizing his main point which is to not attend college. Stephens is trying to get his audience to realize that if he can drop out of college and get a scholarship and become an entrepreneur without a college degree then the younger generation can also. Stephens’s development of his theory of not attending college and his reasonable support of this idea are the strongest part of his argument and the most relatable to readers like myself. I have often thought about whether the things that I am learning in college will help to adequately prepare me for the real workforce in my field of study. This sense of insignificance, which Stephens theorizes, has made me rethink my college courses I am taking this semester. However, despite Stephens outreach to the younger generation that are maybe seniors in high school, his angle of point can come off to some as nonchalant, matter of fact tone, or even in some cases to dominant for readers. He jumps to conclusions when he assumes that since his story is being told on CNN that the readers may have been intrigued to read his story on how dropping out of college was a success for him that it could be for others as well. He also feels that the audience will seem more relatable to him when he mentions how student loan debts will top $1 trillion by 2011 and everyone who is attending college will have to take a loan out at least once before they are finished with college entirely. While Stephens is correct in giving us something to think about doing with ourselves versus wasting our talent sitting in a classroom, and giving us the example of college costs according to the “College Board Policy Center”, but all these are just a limited approach. However, Stephens persuasively addresses the underlying issue at hand by stating that the amount of money one will have to pay is ridiculous and that it may be beneficial for some people not everyone to bypass college or receive a higher education and still be successful in life. Whether it be going to college and going on and putting what you learned to practical use or bypassing college and learn through your experiences in life, I agree with Stephens that we should encourage our younger generation all the different approaches to success versus sitting in classrooms and having the creativity sucked out of you.
Works Cited
Stephens, Dale. “College is a waste of time.” Special to CNN. 03 Jun. 2011. Web. 13 Sept. 2014.