Importance Of College Education - Purpose And Significance

Write a report on the question- What is the purpose of a college education?

The Significance of Education in Broadening the Thinking Capacity

The brain of human beings is considered to be the most powerful weapon in existence ever since the dawn of human civilization (Janks, Hilary). No matter how advances and lethal the innovations get with the progress of time, they are simply the manifestations of the ideas and concepts generated in the mind of an individual. The innovations are only effective so long as someone is there to design and manufacture it such a way that makes it effective. As such the advancement of human society depends on the thought process of human beings (Smith, William, et al). This is where the importance of education comes in. The purpose of education is to expand the thought process of people by making them aware about a variety of concepts and ideas and how they can be collaborated together to make a new invention. This process of education starts from the elementary level when the individual is only a few years old. Education serves the purpose of enlightening the individual on different aspects of life and also gives him or her the courage to tackle the various life problems effectively and efficiently (Suh, Yeon Ok, Oon Hee Yee, and Inja Kim). This essay seeks to discuss the importance of education, more importantly, the importance of college education. The essay will argue as to why education is desired among the people and what are the various reasons because of which the imparting of education should be made mandatory in the contemporary society, The essay argues of the various merits and demerits of education and takes into consideration the viewpoints of several noteworthy scholars who have argued on the significance of education. The essay concludes with the impact that education has on the modern contemporary human society.

In the earlier times, when the agency of State was yet to come in to formation, the formal system of education did not exist. People gained knowledge through trial and error and passed on the knowledge to their future generation (Bode, Rudolf). The succeeding generation knew what is wrong and what is right in this manner. In this regard, the society of the Western hemisphere was considerably different from the society existing in the Eastern hemisphere. The people in the lands of Asia had developed some kind of formal education way back in the ancient days. It was not until the dawn of the period of Renaissance and the rise of Protestant Reformation that the Western world began to realize the power of knowledge (Courtenay, Molly, et al). Before that, it was mainly the institution of the Church which controlled the sphere of education. The Church kept the human beings in oblivion and within the veil of ignorance. However, a few of the individuals went against the wishes of the Church and started to educate themselves and experiment by themselves. This led to the occurrence of one of the most significant changes in human history, known as the period of Renaissance (Kruss, Glenda, et al). The importance of the thinking capacity of an individual was highlighted and people started to realize the importance of education. It was this movement which lifted the people out of the Dark Ages and propelled them into an Age of Enlightenment. This Age is referred so because of people got to know so many things and think from an entirely different perspective that they felt that they were being enlightened (Dao, Min Quang). From here, the significance of education was deeply embedded within forthcoming the human civilization.

Personality Development and Emergence of Ideas

Education helps a person to broaden his or her thinking capacity (Slouka, Mark). The more the knowledge is gained, the better the understanding a person has of the surrounding environment. There were many superstitions which existed in the ancient times which often cause significant damage to the human society by the way of stopping their progress (Connolly, Lena Y., Michael Lang, and Doug J. Tygar). For instance, people had the fear that spilt milk spelled an imminent danger for the person. Furthermore, they also believed that if a black cat crossed the path of an individual, it would signify a warning to the concerned individual that something is bad is about to happen to him or her. All of these insignificant and baseless superstitions made people afraid to take any risk which prevented them from undertaking history changing initiatives. Education found a way to help resolve all these issues. People learnt the logical reasoning behind all such superstitions and they gradually stopped believing in many of the superstitions.

Education has also helped many people to develop their personality in a better manner (Samuelson, Scott). By being educated, people realized the importance of time, of what is the expected behavior and mannerism of the people in a particular societal setting. People are came to know the various social evils existing in the society which were perpetuated in the first place by those who were illiterate and did not use reasoning before advocating a social evil (Zimmer, Timothy). The educated people took up the initiatives to stop the preponderance of such social evils and even if they could not change the mindset of the elder generation, at least tell them about the adverse consequences of the evil practice on the society at large (Wallace, David Foster). For instance, in the earlier days, it was believed that the birth of a girl heralded burden and stress on the concerned family. The female gender was seen to be problematic as people believed that females did not have the requisite capacity to work and earn a living for themselves and that, they always required the protection of the male gender. Such a thought process underwent a gradual change when people started to become educated and they realized the importance of the female gender for the society (Manju, M. B., et al.).

The importance of education has become that much more significant in the contemporary globalized world of today (Harackiewicz, Judith M., Jessi L. Smith, and Stacy J. Priniski). The young generation is very materialistic in their outlook. The most important aspect in their life is their financial resources which helps them to satisfy their wants and desires of materialism. However, in order to earn a stable income, it is necessary for the concerned individual to work a job which is capable of paying the requisite amount of finances. Such a thought process has made the contemporary world very competitive. People are eager to prove their worth in front of the concerned audience. This proving is usually done through the medium of their academic background and academic achievements. The higher the academic accolades are, the better their work environment will be. This in turn will determine the standard of living of the individual and his or her societal status in the society. Such a nature of the society has also increased the importance given to the prevailing educational structure in the society.

Tackling Life Problems Effectively and Efficiently

This view point has been further advocated by a scholar named Andrew Delbanco (2017) in his article “3 Reasons College Still Matters”. He opined that the present American society is undergoing a drastic change where the factor of globalization has made the economic structure unstable (Delbanco, Andrew). The revolution both forth by the information technology has greatly reduced the importance of formal classroom education. The main question that arises now is what knowledge is conducive for the students to know. For many people belonging to the previous generation, college was the one place where they gained knowledge which helped them to deal with their personal lives in an efficient and effective manner (Delbanco, Andrew). However, for the people of today’s generation, college serves the purpose of giving them a degree or a diploma. This degree or diploma is the essential document which separates a skilled laborer from an unskilled laborer and hence, also marks the variation in the salary and wages paid to them. A skilled laborer earns more money as compared to an unskilled laborer (Delbanco, Andrew).  

Due to such perspectives on college education, Andrew Delbanco stated that there might occur a situation where the present generation might be less educated than the people of the preceding generations (Delbanco, Andrew). Moreover, such a condition is also perpetuated by the structure of the college system also. The colleges favor the education of the children coming from the affluent or rich families as they have the ability to pay their fees and various other financial requirements (Delbanco, Andrew). This further aggravates the existing problem of social inequality since, if people do not receive proper education, they would not be able to apply this knowledge in the daily working conditions which, in turn, will prevent their growth in the rapidly competitive world. As a result, the rich children will take the higher positions of the economy, such as in management and business which will facilitate their desire of a higher standard of living, while the poor people who could not receive proper education due to their financial constraints, will continue to live in poverty as their limited knowledge base will not allow them to occupy the high positions in the society (Delbanco, Andrew).

A concerning problem that is arising within the human society is the decreasing importance that is paid to the humanitarian subjects that is given in the colleges (Delbanco, Andrew). These days people are concerned more with the valuation of the degree which will help them to get a secured job paying them a high income (Madsbjerg, Christian and Mikkel B. Rasumussen). The requirement of the industries in the society is of the technical nature, where the employees have the knowledge about operating the various machines or handling the operational zone of the business. This requirement of the industries has also molded the people in the similar manner where the people are trying to get the degree desired by the concerned university (Delbanco, Andrew). Such a situation has led to the diminishing significance of the humanitarian subjects as they are not the subjects which will help an individual to secure a job. No industry has the need for person who has majored in history or in sociology as such knowledge will in no way help in increasing the production of the employees or of the concerned industry. This is why there is an opinion that it the subject in which a student majors in matters (Madsbjerg, Christian and Mikkel B. Rasumussen).

Views of Scholars on the Importance of Education

This is causing as serious crisis in the world. People are no longer understanding the values provided by the humanitarian subjects (Madsbjerg, Christian and Mikkel B. Rasumussen). They are no longer linked to the very essence of humanity (Conard, Edward). People are more interested in the subjects of technical nature and there is a severe lack of humane nature in the individuals of the present generation. The values of poetry, knowing about the past historical records are dwindling down (Rotella, Carlo). History is a very important subject as it tells the people what were the past mistakes committed by the earlier people, with the help of this, the present generation can avoid making the similar mistake. Also, the subjects of political science is also important for the education system as it is necessary for the conduction of the political activities that runs the agency of the State (Madsbjerg, Christian and Mikkel B. Rasumussen). The importance of the subject of political science helps in the smooth working of the State and the Government as it allows the students to understand what are the various requirements of the State and the places where it can be improved upon. Similarly, the other social studies subjects improve upon the personality of the human beings and in turn, make the society a people friendly place to live (Madsbjerg, Christian and Mikkel B. Rasumussen).

To conclude, education forms an important segment in the society of the contemporary world. Without education, people will regress back into the ancient days where there was bliss of ignorance. Education helps us to understand the various working of the universe and the logical reasoning behind a lot of aspects occurring in the world. It also helps us to broaden our horizon of thinking and we have the liberty to think about a particular situation or condition from various perspectives, which allows in the faster resolve of the problem or issue. Education is therefore vital in the lives of individuals. However, the present structure of the education system needs to be changed as there is a lot of unnecessary importance placed in the technical mode of education. People no longer study these days to gain knowledge. Rather, their main intention to study is to get a good degree and join the industry of their choice which will pay them a hefty income that will aid in their high standard of living. The present education system is severely restricting the flow of knowledge to the public and this is adversely impacting the society. People are losing touch with their traditions and customs and is also losing out on their basic human values. The education system is trying to mold the public in the form of machines, resulting in the dwindling of the humane nature that makes a person a human being. The rational thinking which motivated the occurrence of the Age of Enlightenment is found to be missing in the present generation. It is the obligation of the education system not only to simply pass the contents of the subject matter, but also to inculcate within the human beings the desired social behavior. It is the responsibility of the education system to help in the development of an ideal human being filled with knowledge and compassion for other living souls.

Contemporary Economic Structure and its Impact on College Education

References:

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