With the question why students or people should attend college it seems like an easy question, but the answer is much more difficult to give because of all the variations in people’s lives and how they were raised and what they believe in. All over the country people struggle to find the college they want to go to, what major to study, what profession to join after they graduate, why is this? Ever since the age of 18 we are faced with the question whether you are or aren’t going to apply to college. Now most kids think they must attend college because or society normal or because of family pressure. They think they need a college degree to support their own and eventually a family. But the truth is far from that and needs to be talked about more often. Kids need to know they have more options than just college and that they can succeed in life if they don’t go to college.
Kids in today’s world feel that if they don’t go or get accepted into college they have failed at life and won’t be anything. With the influence if society and adult figures in kids’ life that help influence them into feeling like this are reasons why a lot of kids drop out of college due to stress and other mental health issues. Even though going to college is a good thing and most of the time kids to flourish and get amazing jobs after college, it doesn’t mean every kid is going to succeed just like everyone else. A personal experience in my life that I have witnessed is about my dad. My dad didn’t go to college, he barely made it out of high school, but he joined a union young and now he is the president of the union providing for our family and working at a job he loves. People think you should attend college just to make money and that they need to, but in an article called, “Not Every Student Should Go to College. And That’s OK” It states, “Students who attend college for extrinsic reasons suffer poor outcomes.” Students feel it is expected of them to attend college because it is expected of them or because they want to help their family get away from bad circumstances.
A common misinterpretation of college is that there isn’t anything to stress about, but that is completely wrong. Stress and pressure are the biggest reason people don’t do well in college and it can be seen in some examples. One of those being college athletes, even college athletes struggle in college. Fewer than 2% of college athletes even have the chance of going pro, but that doesn’t stop them from thinking they can go pro. But sadly, that is all they think. They think once they make it pro, they don’t need college, but once they realize that they can’t go pro It’s too late. Then we have the kids who were forced to go to college or the kids who feel if they don’t go, they will work at McDonalds and never be anything in life. These are all social beliefs that people tell students. That if you don’t go to college and get a degree you are a loser, athletes all think they will make it professional, and some think its constant parties. In one article it states, “One student we talked to, who was the first in her family to attend college, chose college to get away from a bad relationship with her stepdad. She enrolled in a college three hours away from home—even though it didn’t have the courses of study in which she was interested. Once there, she took a heavier-than-usual course load first semester, partied hard, and found herself on academic probation.” Family’ pressure eon students can be the biggest deficient on a student’s life and this has led to students becoming addicts, depression, homeless, and has even pushed some students to commit suicide. Then we have the people who just attend college to have the “college experience” and they go in with undecided major and take the time as a joke. They don’t think it matters and they will be fine. But most people who do this end up without jobs and living back with their parents.
But people can succeed without college. They can join a multitude of jobs that both pay well and are jobs that people can enjoy. The world today has many people that don’t have any degrees in college or even a high school diploma who are successful and can provide for their families. In the article, “Why not going to college is okay” states, “There are some alternatives to traditional college. They can vary from straight career training to just doing your own thing. You can also take a year off before going to college, or just going straight into the workforce. Your future really is yours!” Another thing that I liked in this article is that they promoted trade school and vocational school, it states, “One of the biggest alternatives is a vocational/trade school. If you’re not into the corporate world and you really would rather just work with your hands, then trade school might be the way you want to go. Vocational schools are more career-focused, so you don’t take those general education classes that you don’t really need.” Without these people in trade, we wouldn’t have our cities, towns, schools, colleges, etc. Without trades, our country would most certainly fall apart, and we wouldn’t be able to fix it. Those kids who don’t have the money for college, who weren’t smart enough for college, or even just didn’t think college was for them, trade school is a fantastic way to earn money and to have jobs you will like. You might even make lifelong friends with the people you work with and that truly Is the greatest thing a person could ask for. Another great option for people who don’t think college is for them are the careers in military, law enforcement, and firefighting. We will always need these careers I our lives, we need the military to defend our country from foreign threats and if anything, ever happens to invade our country, we will always need law enforcement to uphold the law and protect the citizens of the cities we live in. Then we also need fire fighters because there are always going to be fires and people in need of saving.
While yes in my opinion, I think people should at least try to go to college, I do not think that people should be shamed for not going. We don’t know everyone’s story, how they were raised, why they think the way they do, why they do the things they do. Just because a person doesn’t go to college it does not mean they will be nothing in life and only work at McDonald’s. They can make anything with their lives and will succeed any way they can. People shouldn’t be afraid to rethink their futures and shouldn’t be afraid to take some risks. Ask yourself “What do I want to do? Why do I want to do it?” Don’t choose your life based on someone else’s onions or someone else’s thoughts. You are your own person and don’t be afraid to be unique. Follow your passion, it is your life.
https://www.creativelylauren.com/why-not-going-to-college-is-okay/
https://scholars.fhsu.edu/theses/147/
https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/09645292.2020.1801597