The Cost of Education

Joey Goodstudent English 101, Section Causal Argument Essay February 16, 2009 The significant Cost of Education It was David Henry Thoreau who said, The price of anything is the amount of spirit you transfer for it. He graduated from Harvard in 1837, tho non with a diploma. He explains, they have been foolish enough to put at the end of all(a) this earnest the old joke of a diploma. Thoreau understood that the piece of lambskin handed out at commencement means nothing more(prenominal) than the hard work, studying, and education that came before it.Today, those values are lost, and only 59% of Arizonan in high spirits tame students graduate. This number reflects changes in society, problems in schools, and students personal reasoning. Society today demands a degree, not to get ahead, but just to keep up. An article published in the July 17, 2008 Wall avenue Journal titled The Declining Value of your College Degree states that College-educated workers are more plentiful, m ore commoditized and more subject to the downsizings that used to be thepurview of blue-collar workers only.What employers expect from workers nowadays is more narrow, more abstract and less easily lettered in college. A phrase like this is very discouraging to a high schooler. When the prospect of a brighter future is taken from the table, the immediate result is why try? This attitude gives way to a sense of despondency and discouragement. A study by civic Enterprises shows that 69% of dropouts said that they were not do to work hard. The growing cost of living coupled with the license of todays youth creates a need to work, and earn money.In society today, children are growing up much faster. A chronicle by the Guttmacher Institute placed Arizona as the state having the due south most pregnancies in women aged 15-19. We fell just 9 teen pregnancies shy of first, at 104. With the average annual cost of raising a child at $17,151, its practically impossible to support a family and remain in school. This causes approximately(prenominal) parents of the child to drop out with both either workings all the succession or taking turns ceremonial the child as the other works.Problems with the schools are also large modify factors in the decision to drop out. High Schools oft have nude attendance policies that step on the toes of students otherwise willing and able to put down high school. When a student misses a set number of descriptor periods theyre simply audited. The student is not given a opportunity to catch up, or to learn what theyve missed, but are assumed to be unable to finish the course. This notion runs contradictory to Arizonas similar testing, which suggests that if a child can pass a test, theyve lettered whats necessary.The audited students are not given the chance to be tested, and show that theyve learned the necessary material despite absences. A study by Civic Enterprises shows that 47% of students gave the reason figure es are uninteresting as one of their wants for falling out. Uninteresting classes comes as a result of a strict political program to support standardized testing, and placing high value on practical subjects such as math and language, while stigmatizing creative subjects like art, drama, and dance, which would hold the fear of students otherwise bored.Teachers today are forced to stick to strict curriculums to check off that students can pass a test at the end of the class. This often limits learning techniques considered to be more interesting than others, such as working in a group on a project, or having a class-wide discussion. These actions are replaced with long, prepared lectures and quizzes. Knowledge is lost on students, who sit in class bored. Education is increasingly geared towards practicality, and academic ability. Schools will teach daily mathematics and languages classes, and only offer art or unison classes a fraction of that time.Students become bored with the subjects and have no motivation to continue attending school. If schools were to offer more fine arts students would concisely gain fascination, and in turn be more interested and motivated to go to school. Class sizes in schools are also a problem, as a large class size will limit the man-to-man time students need with their instructor to fully show what being taught. Often when a class is too large students are unable to ask questions because the instructor is busy help other students, or grading hundreds of assignments.When the class size is smaller, an instructor can get to endure particular students weaknesses and help them develop those areas. In this way, a small class size fosters a unattackableer education, and in turn, happier students who enjoy learning. Students coming to high school from junior high are faced with a completely different social situation. Cliques and groups form to exclude people, and this causes self-esteem issues. Finding friends in this revo lutionary situation can be tough for students, and feeling like an castaway at school will cause students to not want to be there.Belonging to a group will increase the chances of that students attending school. Conversely, some students get so caught up in the social aspect of high school and being a teen that they let their attendance slip, preferring to go out to lunch or hang out with friends over pass to school. Eventually, school takes the back seat to their sociability and they drop out. Peer twitch also limits those who earnestly want to succeed, but are not strong academically.Super-seniors will come back to school for another year kinda of giving up, only to be ridiculed and called stupid by other students. They soon believe the ridicule and drop out. The true cost of education is the life we exchange for it. It could be at work, struggling to support ourselves and go to school. It could be at home studying for an upcoming exam, It could be in the classroom trying to pay attention, or with fellow students, trying to make friends. With time will come the consequence of these high drop out rates. perhaps then well take action and try to stop it.