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Whatever It Takes to Get A College Degree
Education has become an important and basic element for survival in the 21st century and every human being needs education as much as they need oxygen for life. Because it gives people the knowledge and makes them skilful in this competitive world. Its importance has taken a rise in the recent time and American being a developed first world country, has been putting a lot of efforts in its education sector. For the last many years, it has opted and implements several policies for the improvement of education. America has now some of the best and renown institutions in the world and leading in the game of higher education competition. The government has made education compulsory for all its citizens and has provided the best version of educational policies which do not only encourage students to get their schooling done but also push them to get a college degree. There are large aspects of reasons why this culture has taken strong root in America but it has now become a bitter reality of American society. pressuring students to get a college degree has become a normal practice and a culture where students are required to get into college at any cost. This is made some people choose some illegal ways to get their children in the most prestigious institution whereas their kids do not fulfil the criteria of these institutions. They are involved in illegal activities for the admission of their kids because of societal and cultural pressure. They want their kids to be referred to as elite class people and want their future to be secured. They are compelled to go along with the expectations of the society and the elite culture they are living in.
Education is an important factor in why countries develop so fast and in the case America much of attention has been given to the education sector to get the perfect version of educational institutions. It is a continuous process and does finish with an ending but somehow the actual period for getting education stats with schools and continue till university. An analysis will be given to the part of the college in this paper as it involves several unexpected activities from the last many years. Having a college degree is such an important step in life that it has now become the basic and necessary part of “American Dream”. It may not be easy to get into a college, get a job, buy a house or raise a family but these all are connected to a college education because having a college degree means opening all the opportunities in life. It not only prepares one intellectually but also socially for the life one wants to live and for the career.
There are several benefits of college education better pay, higher-skilled jobs and according to some researches, it leads to overall happiness and stability. But there are differences among colleges as they are ranked according to the education system. Not all the colleges in America can be compared with one another and some of these colleges hold a better position in the country and are named with some of the worlds prestigious colleges. Everyone wants their kids to be admitted in such exceptional prestigious institution because this way the would be able to maintain their status in the society. mostly people won't look at the disadvantages of being involved in illegal activity and are only concerned about the future of their children’s who would be labelled as someone who very intelligent and it will maintain their societal or cultural dilemma of status. All they think about is money because earning more money is a driving force behind this activity as studies have shown that students with college degrees earn more money than school graduates. College graduates earn an average of fifty thousand dollars a year as compared to the high school graduates who earn thirty thousand dollars a year. The second foremost reason of getting into prestigious colleges is for better career opportunities because a college degree is the most common and easy way to a better career. This means if you are in a good college then it will not be difficult to get access to all the best and unexpected opportunities that are not always available for common people. The employment and career opportunities are shrinking in today’s economy and a large majority of graduates are ready to work on low pay jobs ADDIN ZOTERO_ITEM CSL_CITATION {"citationID":"LsWgAaet","properties":{"formattedCitation":"(Loveless)","plainCitation":"(Loveless)","noteIndex":0},"citationItems":[{"id":398,"uris":["http://zotero.org/users/local/bWNXhCgk/items/RRXWPNE5"],"uri":["http://zotero.org/users/local/bWNXhCgk/items/RRXWPNE5"],"itemData":{"id":398,"type":"webpage","title":"Benefits of Earning a College Degree","abstract":"Explore the many benefits of earning a college degree, including higher pay, job security and better career opportunities.","URL":"https://www.educationcorner.com/benefit-of-earning-a-college-degree.html","author":[{"family":"Loveless","given":"Becton"}],"accessed":{"date-parts":[["2019",11,24]]}}}],"schema":"https://github.com/citation-style-language/schema/raw/master/csl-citation.json"} (Loveless).
Recently according to a federal indictment, wealthy people along with Hollywood actresses, coaches and college prep executives were being accused of a nationwide fraud of getting a student into the prestigious universities ADDIN ZOTERO_ITEM CSL_CITATION {"citationID":"q34SyhkR","properties":{"formattedCitation":"(Medina et al.)","plainCitation":"(Medina et al.)","noteIndex":0},"citationItems":[{"id":392,"uris":["http://zotero.org/users/local/bWNXhCgk/items/IA929YX3"],"uri":["http://zotero.org/users/local/bWNXhCgk/items/IA929YX3"],"itemData":{"id":392,"type":"article-newspaper","title":"Actresses, Business Leaders and Other Wealthy Parents Charged in U.S. College Entry Fraud","container-title":"The New York Times","section":"U.S.","source":"NYTimes.com","abstract":"A sprawling federal investigation accuses 50 people of involvement in a scheme to get undeserving students into major American universities.","URL":"https://www.nytimes.com/2019/03/12/us/college-admissions-cheating-scandal.html","ISSN":"0362-4331","language":"en-US","author":[{"family":"Medina","given":"Jennifer"},{"family":"Benner","given":"Katie"},{"family":"Taylor","given":"Kate"}],"issued":{"date-parts":[["2019",3,12]]},"accessed":{"date-parts":[["2019",11,24]]}}}],"schema":"https://github.com/citation-style-language/schema/raw/master/csl-citation.json"} (Medina et al.). This scandal has two major parts that said that parent paid a handsome amount to the college so that the authority could take tests on behalf of the students or they could just correct their answers. The second part of the scandal includes bribery that colleges took to help students to get into college regardless of their abilities. These colleges made fake athletic profiles for these students to show them as a successful athlete. They opt a corruptive method of getting into elite college admission through their wealth. For example, a high school boy was falsely labelled as someone who has a learning disability and who can only attempt the test under the supervision of a proctor who helped him in getting a high score after taking fifty thousand dollars from his parents. The allegations also underlined that admission to college has become so competitive that some have tried to break the rules. According to the authorities, parents of some of the richest and most privileged students in the country wanted to buy places for their children at top universities, cheating not only the system but also taking the positions of deserving and hardworking students.
Several reasons are behind theses corrupt and illegal ways of admission and one of those reasons is the societal culture or societal pressure of getting a college degree. People especially the rich people have set up a specific image in the society and somehow, they must maintain there this image. It is hard for them to show the true image of their children who are not good enough to pas the standardized test or not qualifies enough to get into any prestigious university. The actresses were involved in the admission scandal proves that how much famous are worried about the future of kids along with their stud in society. they give this message that their kids are hardworking and are deserved enough to get admission in any of America’s top university. They want their kids to be their partners in the omg run competition of high status. They do it by giving a lot of donations to colleges like one of the parents paid 1.2 million dollars to get her kid into Yale university ADDIN ZOTERO_ITEM CSL_CITATION {"citationID":"Lau6PZJk","properties":{"formattedCitation":"(Westover)","plainCitation":"(Westover)","noteIndex":0},"citationItems":[{"id":385,"uris":["http://zotero.org/users/local/bWNXhCgk/items/ZWEXZJ64"],"uri":["http://zotero.org/users/local/bWNXhCgk/items/ZWEXZJ64"],"itemData":{"id":385,"type":"article-newspaper","title":"Is College Merely Helping Those Who Need Help Least?","container-title":"The New York Times","section":"Books","source":"NYTimes.com","abstract":"Higher education was meant to be a great equalizer. Paul Tough’s “The Years That Matter Most” suggests that colleges and universities are exacerbating inequality, not reducing it.","URL":"https://www.nytimes.com/2019/09/11/books/review/the-years-that-matter-most-paul-tough.html","ISSN":"0362-4331","language":"en-US","author":[{"family":"Westover","given":"Tara"}],"issued":{"date-parts":[["2019",9,11]]},"accessed":{"date-parts":[["2019",11,24]]}}}],"schema":"https://github.com/citation-style-language/schema/raw/master/csl-citation.json"} (Westover). Likewise, some parents paid bout twenty-five million dollars to coaches so that they can designate their kids as athletes to ensure their admission in the college. According to the New York Times, a family must pay a donation of ten million dollars to inspire an admission committee. This way the committee can take a second look at their child.
A college degree for the wealthy people is a trait that is necessary to get certain recognition because it’s the degree that shows how educated a person is and the degree decide whether the person fits in a specific circle. The parents of such kids make sure that their kids go to the best institutions and avail all the opportunities or resources of the institutions that are otherwise not possible. They try their best to engage them in something they do not deserve. Getting an education is good and getting education from the best university is even better but one should not make this a very hard decision just for the sack of children. There are more deserving candidates waiting to get into these prestigious institutions and they want to learn. Instead of opting illegal means for admission, the parents should focus on academic life as they need more attention in that. If can pay millions of dollars on college admission than they can provide their kids with the best tutors and this can make their job easy as parents. This cultural and societal pressure of getting into college would only make the situation worse and much difficult for the deserving candidates. So, it is important to spend more money on learning of children than on the illegal ways of getting admissions.
Work cited
ADDIN ZOTERO_BIBL {"uncited":[],"omitted":[],"custom":[]} CSL_BIBLIOGRAPHY Anderson, Jenny. “America’s Top Colleges Are Not the Engines of Social Mobility They Say They Are.” Quartz, https://qz.com/1706334/college-admissions-are-a-game-that-still-favors-rich-over-poor/. Accessed 24 Nov. 2019.
Differences in Cultural Expectations and Styles | Educational Psychology. https://courses.lumenlearning.com/educationalpsychology/chapter/differences-in-cultural-expectations-and-styles/. Accessed 24 Nov. 2019.
Loveless, Becton. Benefits of Earning a College Degree. https://www.educationcorner.com/benefit-of-earning-a-college-degree.html. Accessed 24 Nov. 2019.
Medina, Jennifer, et al. “Actresses, Business Leaders and Other Wealthy Parents Charged in U.S. College Entry Fraud.” The New York Times, 12 Mar. 2019. NYTimes.com, https://www.nytimes.com/2019/03/12/us/college-admissions-cheating-scandal.html.
“The Importance of Continuing Education for Your Future.” People’s Alliance for Continuing Education, 21 Sept. 2016, http://paceorg.net/the-importance-of-continuing-education.
Times, The New York. “College Admissions Scandal: Your Questions Answered.” The New York Times, 14 Mar. 2019. NYTimes.com, https://www.nytimes.com/2019/03/14/us/college-admissions-scandal-questions.html.
Timsit, Annabelle. “A New Scandal Shows Some US Parents Taking Extreme Measures to Avoid College Costs.” Quartz, https://qz.com/1678111/a-new-college-admission-scandal-involves-a-financial-aid-loophole/. Accessed 24 Nov. 2019.
Westover, Tara. “Is College Merely Helping Those Who Need Help Least?” The New York Times, 11 Sept. 2019. NYTimes.com, https://www.nytimes.com/2019/09/11/books/review/the-years-that-matter-most-paul-tough.html.
Wiliams, Jeffery. How College Is Helping to Create a Class Divide in America (Essay) | Inside Higher Ed. https://www.insidehighered.com/views/2016/07/11/how-college-helping-create-class-divide-america-essay. Accessed 24 Nov. 2019.
Wong, Alia. “Why the College-Admissions Scandal Is So Absurd.” The Atlantic, 12 Mar. 2019, https://www.theatlantic.com/education/archive/2019/03/college-admissions-scandal-fbi-targets-wealthy-parents/584695/.
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