The Past vs.The Now: Joe Byrnes
It is that time of the year where we are all getting spammed with emails. They are from colleges trying to get you to enroll at their university. Thousands of emails in a span of just a couple of months. All of these emails might have gotten you thinking about where you want to go to college, what you want to major or minor in, and maybe even where your first college visit will be. The crazy thing is that we are all sophomores in high school. In the world we live in today, our generation is so focused on the future and college, when about two decades ago, people, who are still young and major influencers in our lives today, were not worried about college.
In the 1990s, only 46% of high school graduates enrolled in a college. That is less than 50% of all high school students! Now, that may seem like a bad idea, not going to college, but in the 90s, people did not focus on college and furthering their education. Going to college was a normal thing to do after receiving your high school diploma, but people were not worried about straying from the "norm." People did not care about being different than the person next to them. People did not care about getting into a "big" school or a well-known school. People were just living their lives the way they wanted to live it. Also, in the 90s, fewer jobs required a college diploma, so if people were able to start a career with just a high school education, they did not bother spending thousands of dollars on college.
Today, mostly everybody is going to college after graduating from high school. As of the fall in 2019, there were 19.9 million college students in the United States. That is a tremendous increase in people going to college after high school, since the 1990s. Now, one might argue that it has been more than 20 years since the 90s and society has advanced since then, which is true, but there are plenty of other factors that played a role in this outcome. In our modern world, the nation has become so fixated on going to college. We have become a nation where going to college is a "necessity." We have become a nation where we need to get a college degree, in order to get a job where we can make millions. We have become a nation where going to college is the normal thing to do. We have become a nation where college is the "default" place to go once we graduate from high school because we are afraid of being different and are afraid of not fitting in with the new "norm." College has become the main focus of teenagers and adults, that getting into your "dream school" or a "big" named school is all that matters. For example, in the past year, there have been numerous cases where both celebrity parents and normal parents have paid bribes to colleges just so their son or daughter can get into that "dream school" or "big" named school. Not only is that illegal, but that shows the type of generation we have become. A generation where going to college is the only thing that matters because of that fear of being "left out" or "left behind."
In the span of a little more than two decades, our nation has gone from living lives based on preference to living lives based on the status quo. When it is your turn to make your decision, will your decision be a result of following others or will it be what is good for you?
**This is not intended to tell you not to go to college. It solely serves as something to think about and see if you are only going to college because everybody else is. You should make the decision based on what is best for you and you only.**
https://www.statista.com/statistics/184272/educational-attainment-of-college-diploma-or-higher-by-gender/
https://nces.ed.gov/fastfacts/display.asp?id=372
In the 1990s, only 46% of high school graduates enrolled in a college. That is less than 50% of all high school students! Now, that may seem like a bad idea, not going to college, but in the 90s, people did not focus on college and furthering their education. Going to college was a normal thing to do after receiving your high school diploma, but people were not worried about straying from the "norm." People did not care about being different than the person next to them. People did not care about getting into a "big" school or a well-known school. People were just living their lives the way they wanted to live it. Also, in the 90s, fewer jobs required a college diploma, so if people were able to start a career with just a high school education, they did not bother spending thousands of dollars on college.
Today, mostly everybody is going to college after graduating from high school. As of the fall in 2019, there were 19.9 million college students in the United States. That is a tremendous increase in people going to college after high school, since the 1990s. Now, one might argue that it has been more than 20 years since the 90s and society has advanced since then, which is true, but there are plenty of other factors that played a role in this outcome. In our modern world, the nation has become so fixated on going to college. We have become a nation where going to college is a "necessity." We have become a nation where we need to get a college degree, in order to get a job where we can make millions. We have become a nation where going to college is the normal thing to do. We have become a nation where college is the "default" place to go once we graduate from high school because we are afraid of being different and are afraid of not fitting in with the new "norm." College has become the main focus of teenagers and adults, that getting into your "dream school" or a "big" named school is all that matters. For example, in the past year, there have been numerous cases where both celebrity parents and normal parents have paid bribes to colleges just so their son or daughter can get into that "dream school" or "big" named school. Not only is that illegal, but that shows the type of generation we have become. A generation where going to college is the only thing that matters because of that fear of being "left out" or "left behind."
In the span of a little more than two decades, our nation has gone from living lives based on preference to living lives based on the status quo. When it is your turn to make your decision, will your decision be a result of following others or will it be what is good for you?
**This is not intended to tell you not to go to college. It solely serves as something to think about and see if you are only going to college because everybody else is. You should make the decision based on what is best for you and you only.**
https://www.statista.com/statistics/184272/educational-attainment-of-college-diploma-or-higher-by-gender/
https://nces.ed.gov/fastfacts/display.asp?id=372
Interesting statistics! I have always believed that everyone needs some kind of higher education or training to perform well in a job they will love, but I also firmly believe that four year colleges are not for everyone! Please email me your name so you get credit for this!
ReplyDeleteWow, this is so cool! I never knew this!
ReplyDeleteCollege is still worth it though.
ReplyDeleteIts interesting how college is so prevalent in our lives today even if it is basically three years away, while in the 90s college wasn't as big of a deal. Great job by the way.
ReplyDelete