Are you better because you have an education?

A three hour Comm 150 class is almost more than I can take. I am sitting in the State Theater downtown anticipating the professor to commence speaking about a topic I am anything but interested in: film. The room is dark, almost black except for the large screen behind the professor. Normally it is used to show movies. However, there is not a movie on it now. There is a power point depicting mise en scene. The class has just begun and I am still tugging my notebook from out of my backpack. The seats are comfortable theater seats but they have no tables or desks which makes taking notes a very uncomfortable task. It is not a big deal though because I can rarely make sense of what the professor is lecturing about anyway. I cannot stand this professor. He has an attitude about him that rubs me the wrong way. From watching him for half a semester I have learned all the little ticks and habitual movements he makes when he speaks. Each one irritates me like nails on a chalkboard. I often think of how it is a shame that I hate this class so much. The building is beautiful and it would be such a fun place to have a class that I enjoyed. The atmosphere is inviting unlike the cold concrete feel of a normal class room with the hard plastic chairs and desks. Instead the seats are thickly cushioned, there is carpet in the aisles, and the walls are covered in cloth with ripples in them. I assume this is for better sound quality. My thoughts are startled by what the professor is saying. I almost do not catch it, “…and please pick up your trash before you leave so the working class people don’t have to clean up after you.”It was the way he said it that startled me. He said it almost like he thought that was precisely what they should be made to do.


“In my high school, the people who didn’t go to college were the people who barely graduated.”
-Danielle Long
“College students have an easier opportunity to do better and make more of themselves than high school graduates.”
-Danielle Long
“They got the same piece of paper (diploma) but for me, going to college made mine more valuable”
-Danielle Long
“College helps you grow as a person. You become more independent and learn how to manage your time. It’s my dream to have a family and career at the same time and college show us how to do that in an environment where its ok to fail.”
-Danielle Long

So far, it has been difficult to find articles and statistics on why college in some cases can be bad. However I found two very good sources on why it is good. The Washington Post graphed the Unemployment rate in relationship to education. Also, College Board did extensive research on the benefits of going to college. I included a hyperlink because there were several pages to their findings.

Matthew Yglesias,comments:
"Virtually every single member of congress, every senator, every Capitol Hill staffer, every White House advisor, every Fed governor, and every major political reporter is a college graduate. What’s more, we have a large amount of social segregation in the United States—college graduates tend to socialize with each other. And among college graduates, there simply isn’t an economic crisis in the United States."
** I am very interested in the bolded statement. It is one avenue I want to dig into deeper. **


Klein, Ezra. "The Benefits of a College Degree in One Graph." Washington Post 11 Aug 2011: 1. Web. 14 Feb 2011. .

One thing that I found particularly fascinating about the College Board Statistics is that people with college educations have a tendency to take better care of themselves and are healthier than people without a college education. This was based on the level of regular physical activity, smoking, and general risk of heart disease.


Baum, Sandy, and Jennifer Ma. "Education Pays the Benefits of Higher Education for Individuals and Society." College Board. College Board, 5007. Web. 14 Feb 2011. .

-I want to know what the uneducated person thinks of all this. If these statistics are true, then why did they still choose not to go to college? Do they feel inadequate around college graduates and students? Do they think their jobs are a valuable as a college graduates? If education is not the key to success for them, then what is?