Around this time every year, worried students in high schools and colleges across the country stay up late in the night trying to cram information in the hopes of doing well enough on their finals to have good grades. Although this is a more short term goal, the long term goal of achieving a college degree is typically seen as the key to success in the world. However, this wasn't always the case. It used to be possible that, without a college degree, you could work your way up to a respectable level by simply being determined enough to achieve that level. This idea of determination being equivalent to success is essentially the idea of the American dream. But as many people already know, the American Dream is dead, as too is the idea that it is possible to achieve success simply through persistence. Thus, although not anyone's fault in particular, college degrees have become so important that those who don't have one suffer from the consequences.
The main issue of the increased emphasis on college degrees is that is unfair. Although most people get their college degrees fairly, and should be commended for the accomplishment, many people aren't able to receive that level of education. With the rising costs of college tuition, as yearly prices can range from $11,000 to $42,000, fewer people are able to attain the level of education necessary to compete with other college graduates. Thus, people who are already at a disadvantage are put further behind, since they can't get a college degree, which is necessary to be competitive in the job market. Even when considering the debate on the minimum wage, in which many opponents to an increase in the minimum wage see this increase unnecessary, because these jobs should just be temporary, it is clear to see how not having a college degree puts these minimum wage workers in even worse positions. Because of this, there has been and will be an essentially endless cycle of disadvantaged people stuck in low paying jobs, limited from having the chance of reaching the educational levels they could.
Furthermore, the need to fill higher paying jobs, such as administration and white collar positions, has taken away from many people pursuing industrial careers. Although economic emphasis, specifically in America, has shifted largely towards technology, which lends to the idea that a college degrees are important, manufacturing and industrial jobs are still vital to the American economy. But with people with college degrees coming into the few higher level managerial industrial jobs left, the workers are left with no chance of upwards mobility, creating the same cycle described above.
Ultimately, the emphasis on having a college degree in American society, is disadvantageous to American society and economy at large, as well as the disadvantaged members of society.
