Learning, as well as receiving an education, is crucial to the development and success of children and young adults everywhere. Higher education is not easy in any aspect, but it can help a student to take off with their plans for the future. While many are able to get by without furthering their academic careers after high school, a college or university education is a valuable asset that can help someone advance in new ways. As stated in the text, higher education is “about challenging the mind to become active, competent, and thoughtfully critical in a complex world” (Nussbaum). It educates a student not only in their field of study, but to be a better citizen of the world. Higher education gives an advantage to those who choose to pursue it.
Ronald Barnett, in his passage The Idea of Higher Education, is clear to say that while getting a higher education is important, it is in no way a simple task. One cannot stay in their comfort zone in college like they did in high school. Deciding to achieve a degree is a tremendous leap one must be prepared to make. He describes it as “unsettling; it is not meant to be a cosy experience”. This is true, but with good reason: college must be a challenge to make it truly beneficial in the end. Barnett also mentions how a higher education is not meant to give students all the answers in life; instead, it should leave them with the understanding that there are options. Regardless of all the studying and effort they put in during their four or more years of school, they will still be left with some questions.
Martha Nussbaum, in her passage “Education for Profit, Education for Democracy” in Reading the World, explains how the U.S. educational system is a diverse one that stands out from other countries. It offers a liberal arts form of education that has students take a variety of courses, instead of sticking to a single subject. Learning such topics inevitably increases the difficulty of the experience, as well as leaving more paths for each student. She states that traditional U.S. education systems argue that their form of education is “not just about the passive assimilation of facts and cultural traditions”. It seems their goal is to give students a more complex education that gives them “no final answers”, as Barnett concluded in his passage.
As a student who has completed high school and is taking on a higher education, I am in favor of a more complex agenda that goes outside of the basic textbook information. Learning and engaging in the events and stories of today’s times has definitely helped me to become a more active member of society. Such teachings encourage me, along with other students, to think critically and prepare for a college education and for the “real world”. In a higher education, going out of one’s comfort zone is crucial to continue on as an active member of the real world. Students should open up and be viewed as individuals each with different mindsets; doing so will allow them to become competent for their futures.
Higher education, although a long and expensive journey, serves an important purpose to the future of all students lives. With it, they can become intelligent and open-minded beings going out into the world. Whatever path lays ahead of them, they will face it with confidence and knowledge.
