Angel Paredes
ENC 1102
The world we live in today is very different from the world our grandparents and parents used to know. One of the biggest differences in every decade since the start of the Industrial Revolution has been the great developments in technology. Technology is ruling the world today, and so will it tomorrow. We are dependent on technology, which at the same time, depends on brilliant minds. The evolution of a brilliant mind depends on many years of constant study and observation. Study and observation creates new sources of knowledge and improves the existing ones. Therefore, it is easy to note that we depend on knowledge.
Thankfully, from a very young age we start attending school and feeding our brain with new information every day. We spend the first 18 years of our lives learning the basics of many fields, ranging from Mathematics to Psychology, and during that time most of us develop positive aptitudes in certain areas that allow us to discover what we would like to do in the future. Then we go to colleges and universities to gain further knowledge in a specific domain we have chosen and to become professionals capable of doing something important for society. That is why colleges and universities represent one of the most important steps in our walking through knowledge. However, there has been an alarming increase in the number of students who start attending colleges but never graduate from them. Many people have started to wonder the causes of these dropouts, and many are studying different ways to help and encourage students to finish higher education.
A very local and familiar example of a college that is facing issues with graduation rates is Miami Dade College. In a letter recently sent by Dr. Padron, president of the well-known institution, to the faculty, it is evident that something is not going well. “Our current graduation rate is 39% for college ready students and only 18% for underprepared students…” (Padron). It is obvious that MDC does not want to lose the tremendous prestige it has earned throughout the years thanks to the effort and dedication of its workers, so they are focused on creating new ways to help students to earn a degree. Padron mentions MDC3, which is “…an exceptional blueprint to transform the student experience at MDC” (Padron). The details of the MDC3 project are not discussed in the letter, yet it can be inferred that it is a project aimed to address those challenges students face in the college that separate them from the path to graduation.
Besides the knowledge we gain in higher education institutions, there is also a good reason to finish college: to get a good job. According to the Lumina Project Foundation, “…59 percent of jobs will require a college degree by 2018” (O’Connor). This is the result of the constantly evolving world we live in today. Every day, employers search for higher levels of competency in the people they hire, so those without a degree have higher probability of not getting a well-paid job than those who have it. What is interesting is that everyone knows this is a fact, so why do students drop from college even though they know this will affect them in the future? What are the causes that lead them to make such a decision?
Many students are asking themselves if having a college degree will indeed secure a job for them. Numerous students think that they do not need a degree to make the same money that those with degrees make (Why). There is a tendency in the students who drop with this question in their minds to use Bill Gates and Steve Jobs as examples of successful dropouts. They argue that these two famous men became millionaires without even having a degree. “Yet people such as Gates are the exception” (College). Both articles “College Tuition Cost” and “Why College Students Stop Short of a Degree” agree on that having a degree makes a huge difference. “[C]ollege graduates earned, on average, approximately 43% more income per hour than non-college graduates in 1980. In 1994, those who held college degrees earned 73% more” (College). “College graduates earn $19,550 more a year on average than those with just a high school education, according to 2010 figures from the U.S. Census Bureau” (Why).
It seems that for a big number of students it is very difficult to keep a constant rhythm of studying. Colleges require many extra hours of hard work, and in order to succeed at this level, students have to do more than just go to class to listen to a professor talking for a little more than an hour. Higher education institutions guarantee that no one will pass a course without studying. It is worth to remember that their mission is to form professionals with the necessary abilities to do something useful for society, and this requires the highest effort and disposition on the students’ side. Sadly, not all students like to study, so they start failing in the exams, and then they feel disappointed and frustrated. Finally, many decide to take the easy way: leaving college.
There is another group of students who really want to earn a degree, but the tuition cost is too high for them. “A four-year private college education tripled in price between 1980 and 2010, the study finds, and studentloan [sic] debt for a bachelor's degree now averages more than $23,000 per student borrower”(Why). “As a result, many American families are spending much larger percentage of their annual income in tuition today than just 15 years ago” (College). But not all the families can afford to spend more – the tuition cost has increased but their incomes remain the same. At this point, students have to get a job to pay for their education. Once they are working, the responsibilities in their jobs start mixing with the responsibilities in the school; many cannot handle all the stress this carries, so they also leave college.
Apparently, the lack of money and not being prepared for academic work are the major factors that are leading students to drop from colleges. However, there are a few other reasons that a short interview to some students from Miami Dade College spotted. The main question in the interview was, “Why do you think so many students drop out from College in the U.S?” Virginia Escudero, who is pursuing a Nursery degree, said that another common reason is the horrible sensation of being stuck. She commented that many students have to work to pay for their education, and working brings a bunch of responsibilities. Students who work cannot have many classes in one semester because they also have a schedule to fulfill in their jobs, so after a few semesters, many of them feel that they have not advanced so much and leave college.
Yanet Menegia, another interviewed student, pointed that there are many pupils who at this point in their lives are still not motivated; in other words, they have not yet found what they would like to do in the near future. “If you asked them, you would discover that many have changed their majors like two or three times.” Yanet also remarked that several of these students do not have enough support from their families, so she suggested that higher education institutions should have specialized counselors to closely follow these kinds of students in order to guide them and help them find the major that better matches their skills.
I also asked a friend who dropped out from Miami Dade College, when he was only a few steps away from graduating, the reason of his decision. He drives a BMW, and each of his parents drives a Mercedes-Benz.
College doesn’t teach you how to make money, but my father did. Since I arrived here, I started working with him in the family business. He was paying me $20 per hour when I started attending college. The last semester that I attended MDC I didn’t get good grades, so I decided to take a break to work with my father 24/7. That was two years ago. I feel I should study something, but I’m too busy now. Besides, my income right now is higher than the income of many graduate students.
This research about the causes that leads students to drop out from college has spotted three major types of students:
1) Those who care little about having a degree. Their only goal is to make money right away, so they will not hesitate to leave college if they have the chance to start earning an average salary.
2) Those who would like to earn a degree, but their financial situation forces them to get a job which, in many cases, affects their performance in school and leads them to drop out.
3) Those who can luckily earn a college and university degree.
In all the cases, it is money the evil that prevents people from getting educated. Even those who can finally finish a degree are being affected by money. If someone asked them why they spent several years of their lives studying, a big percentage would answer that they did it because at the end of the path, they can earn much more. It appears that this is the ultimate goal: to make a lot of money. Of course, it is better to earn more because this society will not give us too much if we do not pay for what we want. However, where is the passion and love for knowledge? Do we only study for money?
This is a major concern in the community of educators who really want people to learn. Many of these men and women firmly believe that education is a primary human right and that it should be available for free. Thankfully, many organizations have been created with the aim of spreading education all around the planet without any interest. Great examples are KhanAcademy.org and Udacity.com. Both websites are offering free courses with the same quality offered at any university in the U.S. These websites are very proud to have millions of students from every corner of the planet who are really seeking for the pleasure of knowledge.
Works Cited
"Collegewide Initiative on Student Completion in Full Gear." MDC3. Apr. 2012. Web. 01 June 2012. <http://www.mdc.edu/main/collegeforum/archive/vol16-02/academics/l0700_mdc3.aspx>.
O'Connor, John. "Florida Not Producing Enough College Graduates To Meet Job Market Demand." StateImpact. Local Public Media and NPR, 28 Mar. 2012. Web. 14 May 2012. <http://stateimpact.npr.org/florida/2012/03/28/florida-not-producing-enough-college-graduates-to-meet-job-market-demand/>.
Padron, Eduardo. "To Make a Difference." 7 May 2012. E-mail.
"Why college students stop short of a degree." Reuters. Issues & Controversies. Facts On File News Services, 27 Mar. 2012. Web. 14 May 2012.
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