College degrees… adults around us have told us they are important since we were old enough to think. After all, most jobs require a person to have a college degree, and some even require a Master’s or a Doctorate. So, what is so important about these little pieces of paper? A paper that is only just signed off says a person has completed 2 to 6 years of higher education at a college. Getting a higher education is expensive, and a person can teach themselves most things at home alone, thanks to the wonders of the Internet. Let us ponder the little piece of paper a person gets when they graduate and its importance.
To get to the bottom of the importance of the little piece of paper, we should look at a saying. That saying goes something like, “If you get a job you love, you will never have to work a day in your life,” but most jobs require a college degree, and many cannot afford to get one. Many do not have the luxury of getting this “fancy schooling” because they have to feed themselves and their families, along with the responsibility of keeping a roof over their heads. Miranda Tinsley states, “I do not believe college is affordable for the everyday person. When some people spend 20 or 30 years paying off college debt, it is hard to argue that it is affordable,” Tinsely is a Junior in high school. Statistics can back her statement. College degrees, on average in California, costs about $6,924 per year for public schools, according to College Tuition Compare. The cost of living in California per year is $53,082 for one person, according to the Bureau of Economic Analysis. A California resident’s average income is $62,038 per year for a 30-hour work week. However, according to ZipRecruiter, 16% of jobs only pay $31,764 for a 30-hour week. These numbers are only for one person, so if someone has a family, it is evident that someone would not be able to pay for higher education. The next step to finding the importance of a degree is to look at the college classes.
Many of the classes colleges offer include information that someone could easily learn themselves. While this may seem like a stretch, let us discuss some available classes. In the case of Spanish or another language, options to learn without a teacher include downloading Babbel, watching YouTube videos, or even getting books to read, and all of those options would be cheaper than an institutional education. If we look at another random class, like philosophy, we can also teach ourselves about that subject. Abe Lyons states, “A large amount of the subject we studied can be acquired by reading books about philosophy or viewing videos from trusted, knowledgeable sources.” Mr. Lyons studied philosophy for 4 years, getting a bachelor’s degree at the University of California Berkeley. Using my own experience, I can confirm that Mr. Lyons is correct. As a Junior in high school, I have been going to AVC to take classes since my freshman year. In all of the classes I have taken, the teachers have assigned YouTube videos or readings from a book you can acquire easily from a library or online. Although a degree can be costly, and most of the information someone can gather using less expensive alternatives, there is value in college degrees.
A degree can help a person connect with people in the field they are interested in, socialize with others from around the world, and help with critical thinking. As the UCI Division of Teaching Excellence and Innovation stated, “Critical thinking is an important outcome of higher education.” It is also important to note that a college degree will help someone get higher-level jobs. It is common for jobs to be closed down to people without a college degree, and the highest-paying jobs usually require, at the very least, a bachelor’s degree. To expand the choices even further, such as getting a manager’s position, it is common for big businesses to hire only those with master’s or doctorate degrees.
Overall, college degrees are not very worth it for a person who does not have the money or does not want to go into a job that does not require a degree. It is super costly, with many not being able to afford both a higher education to get a degree and decent living conditions. For many of the subjects colleges offer, someone can quickly find YouTube videos, books, or even download an app to teach themselves. However, getting a college degree can be worth it, if a person is able to gather enough money. From helping a person to meet new people, connecting with someone in the field they want to get into, or developing better critical thinking skills, college can significantly help someone in life. A degree can help a person in their career and be vital to moving up in their desired job.
