Paper Example on Realist Approach to the Education System
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Growing up, there was this notion that education is the key to success. However, in the recent past, this is not the case anymore. Four years of higher education does not guarantee you a job anymore let alone a successful life. Gone are the day when attaining a Bachelors Degree was a great achievement and had the whole society congratulate and look upon you. In the present day, this has been a norm, and graduation ceremonies are not celebrated as much. Perhaps there is an underside to the system of education CITATION Joh07 \l 1033 (Assaraf).
According to research, not all those who enroll in a degree program get to complete it in the four-year timely fashion ("Fast Facts"). Some take up to six years to complete the same. For the weak students who recorded poor performances in high school, it is even harder to get an associates degree let alone the Bachelors one. The worrying thing is that despite the large sums of money paid by parents in the name of tuition, some never get to a degree to show for it CITATION Bar12 \l 1033 (Barlevy and Neal).
On the evaluation of these figures, a group of concerned economists asserted that college is not for everyone and advised the weak students to pursue other alternatives that are technical in nature. Professor Richard Vedder stated that college jobs are not a prerequisite for every job. A recent research proved that of the ten most popular posts, only two required college degrees. Some levels of education are irrelevant concerning the job secured. For instance, 15% of mail carriers have degrees according to 1999 federal study CITATION Ass07 \l 1033 (Association for Educational Communications & Technology).
The system should not only focus on attaining degrees; instead, but they should also prepare students to be ready for work. Grades do not have to dictate the life of a student. The system is so focused on grades that students do not see the bigger picture. College should be to prepare one to be a responsible citizen and make a value-added contribution to the country. The obsession with grades and graduating with fist class has veered students off track to the point they will even cheat in exams so that they can attain these degrees. For what? A mere piece of paper with results should not be the sole purpose of joining college CITATION Kel04 \l 1033 (Bensimon).
Some people are making it in life just fine without the desired top grades. Furthermore, it has been noted that colleges are preparing students theoretically, but when it comes to hands-on experience, the same student remains clueless ("Unemployment Rate: College Graduates: Bachelor's Degree and Higher, 25 Years and Over"). That is the reason why people coming from apprenticeship programs in various fields are more marketable than the so-called college graduates because they have been there and knew how things work. The problem with this school of thought is that critics can crucify the developers for lowering the expectations of students CITATION Der00 \l 1033 (Jeter and Curry).
This is a realist approach to the education system because some of those who join college never get to complete it in the first place. If such students were humble enough to accept their position and accede to the short-term vocational courses, their life would be much better and less stressful. Students should not be pushed into college; instead, they should be allowed to choose their fate; what they want to pursue without any undue influence or coercion of any sort CITATION Ray13 \l 1033 (Noe).Works Cited
BIBLIOGRAPHY Assaraf, John. Having it all: achieving your life's goals and dreams. New York: Atria Books, 2007.
Association for Educational Communications & Technology. "Professional Ethics: Scenarios and Principles." Linking Research and Practice to Improve Learning (2007): 16-17.
Barlevy, G and D Neal. "Pay for perfomance ." American Economic Review (2012): 1805-1831.
Bensimon, Kelly Killoren. American style. New York : Assouline, 2004.
"Fast Facts". Nces.Ed.Gov, 2017, https://nces.ed.gov/fastfacts/display.asp?id=561.
Jeter, Derek and Jack Curry. The life you imagine: life lessons for achieving your dreams. New York: Crown Publishers, 2000.
Noe, Raymond A. Human resource management: gaining a competitive advantage. New York: McGraw Hill, 2013.
"Unemployment Rate: College Graduates: Bachelor's Degree and Higher, 25 Years and Over". Fred.Stlouisfed.Org, 2017, https://fred.stlouisfed.org/series/LNU04027662.
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