Essay, Research Paper: What Is College Preparing Us For?

What is college preparing us
for?
Ryan Dohn
Palcho English 101
College is not just preparing us for one single
thing, it is a way for us to grow and prepare for a vast
variety of things. It is A major step in most peoples
lives these days that is very significant. You do not go
to college just to get training for your work life in
the future. When you go to college you are making a big
step in life that helps you learn to be more responsible
and is a step into adulthood. When you are in high
school you do not have the same pressure and
responsibility as you do when you are in college. You
have to be able to experience many different things when
you go to college. If you are only going to college to
prepare yourself for your job, you are thinking right
but need to learn to experience more. When you go to
college you have to be able to meet new people, and be
able to display that you can distribute your time to do
work and have fun. College is a chance for you to live
away from your parents and be your own boss. You will be
able to make your own decisions, which will all prepare
you for life after college. I think that going to
college does not only prepare you for work after school,
but also helps you prepare for life on your own. College
has many functions for students who are attending them,
which all prepare them for the world of work.

How can you disagree with someone that says the
primary function of college is to prepare you for the
working world. When you go to college you have to pick a
specific major that you will study while in school. This
will be your job that you will want to pursue after you
finish with your schooling. That is why it is such a
broad statement to say that the whole purpose of going
to school is to prepare yourself for the world of work.
That is the very thing that colleges and universities
are here for. You also learn many things while in your
college experience that will also prepare you for the
working world. That is why I do not agree completely
with the statement that the primary function of
colleges is to prepare you for the working world. You
learn so much more when you attend college that will
also help you in your life after school.
When attending college you learn very important
skills that will help you throughout your life and in
the world of work. When you attend college you are
trying to become a well rounded student for life after
school. You learn many skills that will help you on your
way in life. You learn how to communicate with other
people that you would not usually talk to in normal
life. You are forced to make friends with people that
you live with and around. It is a very important skill
that will help you be able to communicate with people
you have to work with. Communication skills are a very
big factor in your entire life. If you are not capable
of communicating with other people you will get no where
in life. That is one thing that I think you learn when
you are attending a college that is a very important
skill that you will use in your daily life as long as
you live. You have to have enough confidence in yourself
to be able to talk to your professors and other students
when you have a question or trouble on something.
Going to college helps make a individual a well
rounded person due to the freedom of speech, thought,
and actions that each student enjoys at colleges across
the world. In these schools the students can become much
smarter and more of a well educated person, because of
the freedom enjoyed at these schools. As E.D. Hirsch Jr.
stated, " Perhaps American culture is friendly to first
rate universities because of our tradition of freedom of
speech and our consequent toleration, even
encouragement, of dissent. Open discussion and
iconoclasm create the sort of atmosphere in which
intellectual excellence can flourish." (Hirsch Jr.) His
way of thinking and how he expressed it in that
statement is very much what I think. He is saying that
in universities in America you can disagree with
something your teacher says as long as you can back it
up with fact. This causes you to learn more on your own
and be capable of expressing your feeling out loud. That
is how your intellect can flourish through the
universities and colleges. Also in Hirsch Jr.'s writing
he took a quote from Jefferson that is very true about
colleges. Thomas Jefferson's statement about University
of Virginia, is engraved into a portal at Cabell Hall.
He said, "This institution will be based on the
illimitable freedom of the human mind. For here we are
not afraid to follow truth wherever it may lead, nor to
tolerate any error so long as reason is left free to
combat it." This is such a good statement that Jefferson
said that stills holds strong today. He does not say
that college is just for preparing you for the working
world. He says that college is for giving you the
freedom of thinking and performing your own and not
being afraid of being wrong. As long as you do not think
your answer to be the only answer and the right one.
I do agree that if you are going to college you are
mainly going there to learn a skill or talent that you
will use to get a job in the world. But college is so
much more than just going to learn everything that you
can. You do not just get the skills you need for your
job when you attend college. You learn so much more that
you will be able to always use threw out your life. It
is a great stage in life that you should enjoy very much
and can make you grow up as a person. There is so much
more to the college experience than just preparing you
for the working world. You will meet new people and
experience new ideas and situations. The college
experience helps make you a very well educated and well
rounded person, who can then go on to the next stage in
life.
So over all I do not total agree with the statement
that the primary function of colleges and universities
is to prepare students for the world of work. They are
so much more than that, and if you do not relies that
you need to think what a student does in their free time
at college. You are free to do what ever you want when
you are at college and this helps people grow. They
learn how to live on their own and become there own
person. This is a very important part of a lot of
peoples live in this present day. So many kids go to
college after high school, which is a part of there
lives that helps them grow as a person. That is why I
believe that college has so many benefits to each person
that attends it. It does so much more than get you ready
for the world of work.


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