justification for higher education Essay -- essays research papers

Justification For Higher Education after(prenominal) analyzing William A. enthalpy III s In Defense of Elitism and Caroline shuttle sCollege is a Waste of Time and Money , it is name that Henry s argument concerning thepurpose of an education is more rational than Bird s due to the fact that Henry supports his produceswith credible statistics, logical insight, and enjoyments current real world scenarios. Bird, on thecontrary, bases her argument solely on manipulated statistics, overly dramatic claims, and preposterously out-of-this-world scenarios.While there are various viewpoints and perspectives on the subject of higher(prenominal) education,Henry for one, has landed the conclusion that in America higher education for the quite a little has notonly been extremely costly economically, but it has also greatly lowered the educational standardsand therefore defeated the purpose of higher education itself.Henry s primary grievance against higher education for the masses is that t he influx ofmediocrities relentlessly lowers the general standards at colleges to levels the weak ones canmeet (335). Quite exactly, higher education is by no means any higher if the standards keeplowering just so some students can barely meet the negligible standards. For example, although Iam a full supporter of the bell curve in college, it is certain that this recent innovation has had itsshare in lowering the university s educational standards. This practice of calculating the studentsaverage score on an exam and then re-scaling grades to help those who didn t fare as well is aclear example of bringing the standard of college down to everyone s level (336). I can certainlyattest to this claim because I was recently directly bear upon by the bell curve. In the first quarter ofmy freshman year, I received a score of 44 out of a possible degree Celsius points on my Physics 7A finalexam. According to the general 10% increment grading scale, this would mean that I earned an Fon the exam. However, thanks to the mediocrities earning evening lower scores than myself andthe establishment of the bell curve, I fared quite nicely and escaped with a B- grade. Although thisis definitely good news for me, Henry s claim that the mediocrities tend to lower the educationalstandard seems to prevail.The influx of mediocrities flooding college campuses has also lowered the credibility andstatus of a college degree.... ...re noguarantees in these professions either (329).After dissecting her claims and supporting statements, it is clear that Bird is trying toundermine the value of a college degree. Tying this into her previous claims, we must ask sincewhen is anything in life guaranteed? If we consider her consequence that some students shouldobtain vocational education, well then it is obvious that there are no guarantees in jobs of thatnature either. It is troubling to see that Bird simply dismisses certain jobs just because there iscompetition for them or because she thinks colleges fail to warn students of the competition.William Henry and Caroline Bird both have sharply different approaches in regards tomaking there arguments about the purpose of an education. Although they share common groundon various issues, the two become divided due to the types of examples and evidence they use tosupport their claims. After careful analysis, it is clear that Henry s line of reasoning and concreteevidence tops that of Bird s due to his logical insight. Unfortunately for Bird, she is simply leftscrambling in the dark in search of bogus evidence in an attempt to backup her claims.