Project 1: Is college worth it for my generation? (Final Draft)

My paper is about how Gen Z will benefit greatly from college, especially with the developing world. Gen Z is the next generation that will be or are already in college. Some schools are pushing the importance of college and college prep activities and camps onto their Gen Z students, but some may not find college to be important, or don't want to. This paper will explain how college will be essential to Gen Z, especially when it comes to job opportunities and financial goals or any goals that need hefty amounts of money.

Olivia Sabb

Professor Atkins-Gordeeva

ENGL 1312

February 5, 2022

Gen Z incoming! Is college worth it for us?

Nowadays, going to college has become more important than ever especially for those coming of age to go to college. Although Gen Z is on track to becoming the most educated generation, some may not attend college and those without college that have big goals that need the education will have a harder time achieving them. I have many cousins that attempted college and dropped out, or didn’t go to college at all, and most of them aren’t doing so well, they have small jobs, but also do shady things for money. My cousins that did graduate, however, are successful and happy as they had more opportunities and offers for themselves and even got to get some of their goals accomplished because of their higher educations. My graduated cousin had many more opportunities in life, and had well pays, yet some jobs may pay well and might not even need a degree. College will be important for Gen Z because most jobs will require a degree and work is most people’s main source of income and can start the path towards success.
One of the main driving forces of the world is money, and people want as much of it as they can get to purchase and complete their goals and activities as they please, so many people would like to get some of the highest paying jobs out there. According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, “in the third quarter of 2019, full-time workers age 25 and older had median weekly earnings of $975. Those without a high school diploma had median weekly earnings of $606, compared with $749 for high school graduates (no college) and $874 for workers with some college or an associate degree. Workers with a bachelor's degree (and no additional degree) had median weekly earnings of $1,281. Workers with an advanced degree (master's, professional, and doctoral degrees) had median weekly earnings of $1,559 in the third quarter of 2019.”

When comparing a set weekly salary of $1,559 and a salary of $606 over a five, ten, or even twenty-year period, most people would want to choose the $1,559 salary. Degrees will not one hundred percent cover the benefits of receiving a high paying job, but your chances of receiving one will be way higher if you had a bachelor’s degree and nothing else, rather than having only a high school diploma or even an associate degree.

Soon, Gen Z and beyond will need a college degree to pursuit the kinds of jobs they want to have, every year, more careers hop onto the degree bandwagon and will require you to have at least a bachelor’s degree to even be qualified “In past generations, a college education wasn’t necessary to earn a middle-class income. According to the Georgetown University Center on Education and the Workforce, two-thirds of jobs required a high school diploma or less before the 1980s. That’s no longer the case. Georgetown University predicts that 70% of all jobs will require some college education by 2027.” Although some jobs may not require a degree right now, they may require a bachelor’s degree in the future. This would be a huge gamble with money and time to make especially when you’re starting to enter the age where you go to college, and as the years go on more and more demands for degrees will be prevalent, especially in the future. You would have research if the job you need will start requiring their employees to have a degree in a few years, and ask yourself if the risk is worth it, since college can take years and many financial resources for most.

Although the next generation going to college will have a higher chance of getting well-paying jobs and opportunities during and after college and graduating, the most important thing will be to develop your work ethic and skills. Colleges have been improving their education for years and have many resources to help you develop, such as internships, and just being in your classes. “In college, you’re not just learning concepts and taking exams. According to ONeal “Your classes help you build skills you’ll need in the workforce, like problem-solving, critical thinking, teamwork, and organization.” Critical thinking is when you examine and evaluate a situation and facts and information about it to create a judgement or solution to it, and this is especially important for many jobs nowadays as humanity evolves and changes. Having this skill also makes you a key component when it comes to what skills you need to put on your resume, so properly learning how to master this skill in college will be a huge benefit for this generation along with future ones as we start developing into the future. Getting your work done on time is also key, and with many colleges having strict deadlines for homework and big colleges, this skill can be developed rather quickly alongside your education. These skills are starting to be more and more important as time goes on, so having Gen Z develop these skills properly will be drastically helpful for us.

I have mentioned the benefits of college and how it could be helpful for this generation to adapt to the ever-changing work field, but some may think otherwise.

One may counter would be that you don’t need a degree to obtain success, but the amount of people that manage to achieve success is so miniscule that the risk would be way too high unless you had extremely serious drive, especially since jobs are many people’s main sources of income and most jobs will end up requiring a degree by the time the younger age range of Gen Z, end up in college.

College may help Gen Z find where their skills truly stand so they don’t get tripped up later down the road due to a learning gap or confused on a project, such as writing a paper for a company or being stressed due to not understanding something during a project. “Although these responses reflect students' adaptability, there is still a risk that students who value their prior knowledge and feel confident in their writing may resist correction or direction-not because they don't want to be good writ- ers, but because they believe they already are. While we typically think of writing confidence in positive terms, FYW teachers should be sensitive to the hurdle it can create for students.” (Williams) Gen Z will need this because without any proper way to actually see where your skills are, you may stumble throughout life and never getting to the next stage because of learning gaps.

For most of Gen Z, college will start to become a necessity to pursuit the types of jobs most of us want and for the kinds of lives we want to live. A college degree can give you more opportunities than just having a high school diploma, and unless you have the drive needed to obtain success without a degree, success will be harder and may take longer to reach as most things require money in this world. College is worth it for Gen Z, and will have a huge impact on lives, especially long term.

 

Words Cited

Tretina, Kat. “Is College Worth the Cost? Pros vs. Cons.” Forbes, 24 May 2021, https://www.forbes.com/advisor/student-loans/is-college-worth-it/ . Accessed 20 January 2022

“Median Weekly Earnings $606 for High School Dropouts, $1,559 for Advanced Degree Holders.” Edited by Arthak Adhikari et al., U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, 21 Oct. 2019, https://www.bls.gov/opub/ted/2019/median-weekly-earnings-606-for-high-school-dropouts-1559-for-advanced-degree-holders.htm . Accessed 23 January 2022

ONeal, Anthony. “Is College Worth It?” Ramsey Solutions, 9 Nov. 2021, https://www.ramseysolutions.com/saving/is-college-worth-it . Accessed 23 January 2022

Williams, Amy D. "What Are We Doing with This?": How High School Students' Lived and Experienced Curricula Prepare Them for College, vol. 49, no. 1, Sept. 2021, pp. 37–54. 20 January 2022