Alvarez
Maira Alvarez
Professor Mac Ilvaine
Essay 3
7/12/17
College Education: The Future for Financial Stability
According to Brandon King’s article entitled American Dream: Dead, Alive, or on Hold? (2011), Stephanie Owen and Elizabeth Sawhill’s article entitled Should Everyone Go to College? (2013), Charles Murray entitled Are Too Many going to College? (2008), college still has opening for the gifted. King, Owen, Sawhill, and Murray all agree that college is the best option; however, each author does not have a clear cut viewpoint on how to make sure all individuals have the same opportunities. Each author intends to inform their own respective readers on how to make the best choice when it comes to college in order to have a well-paying career.
King, Owen and Sawhill, and Murray each reach their audiences by comparing the human condition each of us must face when it comes to financial security. While King focuses on the altered American Dream of being financially stable, Owen and Sawhill relate their claims about who should attend college and Murray depicts college’s negative challenges by inviting anyone who wants to attend on their own volition
In The American Dream: Dead, Alive or on Hold?, King explains that the American Dream is the possibility to work for a better life. However, the American Dream is different in the mind of everybody. Many do support King’s thinking. The New York Times proclaimed “that 72 percent of Americans still believed it was possible to start poor, work hard, and become rich in America” (King 611). However, the definition of the ideal American Dream has been altered throughout time, especially to fit different groups of people.In the past, many people saw the American Dream as possessing an expensive and luxurious house, and an automobile. Today, however, people have different perspectives, as they try to focus on having a well-paying job for financial stableness. For instance, many people today rent houses instead of buying them, as renting is more convenient for temporary settlements. King argues that this change is also due to the changing economy. Christine Wernet wrote an article entitled Show Me the Money: How College Students Perceive the American Dream, in which she explores how typical college students define the American Dream as being economically stable. Wernet gives a brief description of how the American Dream has changed throughout the nation's history: “ ...from moving westward to buying a home to raising a family to sending one's children to college to a comfortable retirement… In modern terms, gainful employment, prosperity, and homeownership in a desirable and safe neighborhood signifies the attainment of the American Dream” (Wernet). It is shown how the American Dream has been altered throughout time and thus becoming more to encompass financial stability. Students are attending college to be financially secured, and to be able to ensure their family's economic dependence. I would say...
