Tubioli+response+to+articles

Donielle Tubioli Response to Articles Back (to personal page)

** The Job Market: Is a College Degree Worth Less? ** I found this article to be very interesting to read. I never realized how much college degrees seem to no longer matter. The article stated about 10.6 % of students who graduated from college are now unemployed. The question rose if getting your self in debt trying to obtain a college degree is actually worth it. Even from experience of being a senior in high school. For the most part, all of the students I was graduating with were going to go to college. It was very uncommon to find someone saying they were going to take a year off, or go into the army, or other careers that may not require a college degree. Thinking about how competitive it is out there in the real world after leaving college scares me because now there are so many students who may have that same degree and in order to find a job it will be a very hard task. The article brought out a great point, "Every college degree is not cookie cutter. It's what you have done during that degree to distinguish yourself." I find this to be very true in college. It sometimes does not matter as much to employers if you obtained your degree with high grades, instead employers like to see how well- rounded the student is, participating in extra-curricular activities, having a job or work study, as well as volunteer hours in the community.

**Should more people skip college?**  As I was reading I came across a shocking quote, “Of the 30 jobs projected to grow at the fastest rate over the next decade in the United States, only seven typically require a bachelor's degree, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics.” Once again, I did not realize there were that many options in the world of careers. It seems as though the first thing we are casual to thinking is that employers only look to see if you have a college degree, and if you do not, you do not have a good chance in obtaining a descent job. This article helps to clarify that untrue assumption. It makes sense to me seeing that a college degree maybe is not worth as much as what everyone believes. Some jobs do not necessarily need a bachelor’s degree, but most of the time it I just what employers look for. Unfortunately, it seems as if someone will probably have a better chance getting a job having a bachelor’s degree, versus someone who only graduated from high school, or only received an associate’s degree. In the article it states, “Just because college graduates earn more doesn't mean that their degree provides them any additional knowledge necessary to succeed in their jobs; it just means that employers found them more attractive because of the degree.” I would have to agree with this statement. I do not believe having a college degree means you are better than the person who does not have a college degree. It just means that that person put more time and money into furthering their education, but like the article said, there are others who can do the same job without having a degree. My parents as well as others I have known only received a high school diploma or an associate’s degree. Even though they did not have their bachelor’s degree, they were still able to make something of themselves. It does not make them any less in society, in fact they saved money not going to college. I feel that employers now, more than before rely so heavily on college degrees since the norm for most of the population is going to college, making it very competitive in the job market. 

**Plan B: Skip College** In this article it really discusses how there is alternatives to spending four years in college, maybe not even getting a degree necessary for a field, there are other options that are sometimes not available or advertised enough for students. There are students that may not be good at school (studying) but are just pushed by teachers or parents because it is the “right” thing to do, but what if college isn’t for that person? What if they would do better at a vocational school but did not realize that they had this option and spend so much time and money not even being able to get anything out of it. It is sometimes an argument because educators do not want to put out to students that they should “settle” or not worry about going to college, instead telling students that it’s the right thing to do in order to get a job. Instead, people should be telling students that there is more out there and you do not just need a college degree to make something of yourself. One idea mentioned in the article was, “They would steer some students toward intensive, short-term vocational and career training, through expanded high school programs and corporate apprenticeships.” I think that this would be very beneficial for students because not every student knows what they want to do when they “grow up”. Maybe these programs will help them to discover what they are good at, or what they would be interested in doing for the rest of their life. I believe this information is very important to think about. When they brought about in the article about students in Germany and how they take an exam to determine what they should do with their lives, “She found that of those who passed the Abitur, the exam that allows some Germans to attend college for almost no tuition, 40 percent chose to go into apprenticeships in trades, accounting, sales management, and computers.” I feel like this way is an interesting attempt at discovering what students should do in regards to their future.