An Analysis on “Are Too Many People Going to College”
Charles Murray’s essay proposes that American colleges are being flooded with individuals who are either unprepared for higher education or who are simply forced into attending college and can’t succeed because of the lack of certain innate abilities. Murray’s essay goes on to take issue with the idea that the pursuit of a traditional college education is somehow strategically creating a separation of the American class system. While Murray makes many salient points with regards to America’s obsession with college education as a standard into a class of the intellectual elite, the essay fails to take into consideration the various motivators that can lead to student success, despite where that student might be on Murray’s ability ladder (Murray Paragraph 13). This essay seeks to analyze Murray’s claims about why the pursuit of a traditional, four-year college education can do more harm than good when it comes to defining success for the individual learner.
Rhetorical Analysis
The main thesis of Murray’s essay is that the unrealistic pursuit of a college degree, propagates to children at an early age and does more harm than good. Murray claims that many students do not have the ability needed to enjoy and complete a four-year college education (PARAGRAPH 13). Murray further supports his thesis with his reasoning that more people are going to college because they are indoctrinated, regardless of their skilled ability, to pursue college as a natural progression into becoming a productive, American citizen.
The conversational didactic tone in which Murray narrates his argument is not flooded with formal idioms and complex research, making is easy to follow and understand. While the essay includes research on the progression of college as a natural progression of education and on the various statistics that show college degreed individuals make more money (PARAGRAPH 30), Murray’s essay reads as if he is conversing with the reader face-to-face in the hopes of pushing his viewpoint that a formal college education after high school is not necessary in order to achieve academic or professional success. From the opening paragraph to the closing statement, Murray produces an argument that will hopefully lead the reader to begin developing a better way for people to achieve maximum satisfaction other than being forced to get a college education (PARAGRAPH 50).
Murray employs the rhetorical appeals of ethos, pathos and logos throughout the essay. The pathos, or pathetic appeal, of the argument is based on what Murray believes is society’s misalignment of understanding when it comes to propelling that all youth prepare to attend college. He makes the claim that a student with a natural liking for the rigorous abilities that it takes to complete a college education, and whose test scores indicate the threshold for college readiness, is more likely to succeed than an individual who doesn’t enjoy the work and who also tests low (PARAGRAPH 11). And because of this misalignment, those low testing, students are being set up to fail. The essay’s ethical appeal suggests that guidance counselors, teacher, political figures and others with a vested interest in a student’s progress, should do more to help students understand what their strengths are and that college is not always the best route for them to take (PARAGRAPH 41). Lastly, the appeal to logos, or the logical appeal is the basis of Murray’s argument. The author asserts that there is no guarantee that a four-year degree will reap the rewards that most students are led to believe it will, and that attending an actual, physical university itself, is becoming obsolete because of technological advances (PARAGRAPH 27, 30, 31). To that end, the purpose of attending college becomes more of a nice to have, rather than the must-have that most students are led into believing at a very young age.
The Murray Counter-thesis
Murray’s essay makes several valid points, especially when he suggests that the integration of technology is a key factor in the obliteration of the traditional college. However, there are many fallacies that quickly invalidate those arguments and need clarity to really give the essay merit. First, Murray’s assertion that students who don’t enjoy learning at the high school level and who also test low (PARAGRAPH 15-18) should pursue a vocational education that will allow them to immediately emerge into the workforce, is a hasty generalization, assuming that all students who don’t enjoy high school and have low test scores will also not do well in college, and probably drop out. Murray also jumps to several conclusions as he suggests that those same students would not even enjoy college life, therefore they would be less inclined to finish. The essay also assumes that an individual must have a college degree to get into management positions within a company, and that is not the case for many employers.
The basis of Murray’s essay assumes that students who are average learners have a college education thrust upon them, when in fact they would probably be happier pursuing a vocation using a skill that does give them ultimate satisfaction. This assumption is a slippery slope that suggests a student’s inevitable failure academically, and in life, is their natural progression as they will constantly be making excuses for why they do not have an advanced degree. Murray also assumes that people are widely more interested in job satisfaction and not just money, when it comes to being a productive citizen in society (PARAGRAPH 37). While there may be some merit to this particular argument, Murray misses the fact that money could very well be the ultimate motivator that propels an individual to pursue a college education, do very well, and graduate into a rewarding career.
Murray’s absolutions in which he matter-of-factly states things like, “The topic is no longer money but job satisfaction—intrinsic rewards” (PARAGRAPH 37), waters down his argument a grave deal. There needs to be more hardcore data to support his position on the importance of job satisfaction over money, and more research that states the relative value of an advanced degree. Murray’s conclusion that more needs to be done to eliminate the stigma that goes along with not getting an advanced degree could be better supported if he provided more researched revealing facts like the true economic value of a degree, how many individuals of average learning actually succeed in college, and more data on what motivates individuals to pursue a college education.
Conclusion
Murray’s essay made a compelling argument as to why college is not always the natural order of things after high school. There were several instances within the essay that called for additional data to support the argument, but overall, Murray’s point that more has to be done to provide those students who quite possibly would be more successful without a college degree, was clearly defined.
Works Cited