Define your concept of a college education, and what a college Essay

Define your concept of a college education, and what a college education means to you - Essay Example This paper will attempt to explore the importance of college education in an individual’s life and why is it worth the amount of time, hard work and money that students invests on their college education. Tamara Draut in her article ‘Whats a Diploma Worth, Anyway?’ quotes, â€Å"Getting a bachelors degree is the required ticket for entry into the middle class today, but the security once implied in that status is gone. In addition to the exigencies now felt by middle-class Americans of all ages -- rising health care costs, soaring home prices and flat or falling incomes -- todays new generation of college grads bear an added vulnerability of massive debt† (Draut, 203). Personally speaking, nothing is further from truth. College education serves a more profound purpose than providing a promising for a prosperous life. Several evidences points to this very fact. First, not all people, who graduate from elite branded colleges, end up successful and neither all the graduates of mediocre schools stay unsuccessful all their lives. On the contrary, everyone hear rags-to-riches stories about people who attended mediocre colleges or did not go to one at all and did great. Examples include Bill Gates, the founder of Windows and Steve Jobs, the creator and owner of Apple. In addition, there are evidences of graduates of Harvard, Stanford, and Cambridge working at mediocre companies and living an average life. Thus, there is no black and white rule that promises successful prospects after college education. The question now arises, why go to college if a dropout can achieve so much more without a degree? How is it prudent to invest so much money and time in a venture, which is not even remotely reassuring of a good future? The answer lies in under the covers of salary, degree, and fame. The college education serves the purpose of character building. It deepens the attitude and dampens the soul of those who take it seriously. When one studies the