In America, college is perceived as one of the most important decisions you will make in your lifetime. Since elementary school, students are taught so that they can one day attend to a good college. However, the question is: is college the best option? Many would say that it is, including authors David Leonhardt of The New York Times and Freeman Hrabowski, author of “Colleges Prepare People for Life”. Even though David Leonhardt and Freeman Hrabowski both address the idea that college is worth it in the long run, Leonhardt provides a further convincing argument by revealing where exactly college fits into our constantly growing society, using persuasive word choice, and constantly incorporating facts and statistics.
College is an immense…
Both Freeman Hrabowski and David Leonhardt are brilliant writers, however, Leonhardt used his word choice to his advantage, creating a more convincing article. In his article, Hrabowski expressed his point of view about how college is worth it, but Leonhardt uses words to persuade the reader that it is not Leonhardt option but simply what “new data say”. Hrabowski includes in his article that those opposed to his point of view, believing that going to college causes students to fall into “on unmanageable debt” (259) and that graduates are “unprepared for the world of work” (259). This view shows concern for students as they move on to the real world and is a tremendous issue in modern-day America, but in his article, Hrabowski never completely refutes the opposing side. However, Leonhardt says that going to college is becoming a “universal goal” (4) and therefore “a no-brainer” (4), meaning that everyone should attend college because it is an obvious choice. Leonhardt convinces the reader that college is a necessity to succeed in life, while Hrabowski fails to truly drive the idea like Leonhardt…
David Leonhardt takes advantage of this by sharing numerous facts and statistics that support his side. On the other hand, Hrabowskis argument includes extremely few statistics and those that are mentioned are not remarkably strong. Hrabowski writes that “lack of counseling is one of the reasons that fewer than 10 percent of Americans from the lowest income quartile have earned a college degree” while the top quartile has 80 percent. This is an interesting fact, however, it fails to help support the idea that college is worth the time and effort. Leonhardt includes statistics that show how “the true cost of a college degree is negative $500,000″ (2) and that the unemployment rate for college graduates with a bachelors is only three percent. These facts refute the opposing sides belief that college is not worth it considering you may wind up in debt or without a job by giving statistics that show exactly how that is false. Leonhardts article uses critical and meaningful information to show how attending college is truly worth it because data does say so.
The argument of whether or not college is the best option is an crucial debate that will continue as long as going to college is an option. In both David Leonhardt and Freeman Hrabrowskis articles, it is shown to be the best option, but Leonhardt presents a more convincing argument…
