1. Kaitlin Keegan
Essay 5
November 18, 2010
The American Dream, the idea that has been glorified for centuries and has kept the
generations pushing onward, in hopes of bettering themselves and their families, has not dimmed
in the last twenty some years. The concept is essentially the same, but the means have changed
over the years. In the past, hard work, sweat, sometimes blood, but always tenacity were the
hallmark traits for success. Now, it seems that without a college education, one cannot hope to
succeed comfortably in modern American culture. Students have progressed from the traditional
college-age students and have developed to include middle aged adults seeking a better
paycheck. Regardless of the age, almost all of the students are going in order to get a better
career and a higher salary, not necessarily to simply learn. Colleges see this increased desire for
education and care not what the motivation is, but simply that more students wish to pay the
money for their services. Education seems to have lost the original value of enlightenment and
has morphed into the means in which students and institutions alike seek to gain profit,
regardless perhaps of their qualifications. Not wanting to seem un-American, yet still smelling
the promise of profit, Universities graciously accept anyone who can foot the bill into their halls
of learning.
Criticisms on the educational system have been voiced for decades however, and several
particularly enlightening articles are referenced within this essay. An anonymous professor, self-
dubbed “Professor X” laments in his article the “Ivory Tower” about the flaws of the educational
system that he/she must deal with personally. Being an English professor teaching an intro to

2. English night-class, Professor X often must deal with the under-qualified students that attempt to
get a degree, despite their lack of proficiency. Professor X’s article is mainly an anecdote that
emphasizes the position he is in as “the man who has to lower the hammer”, and hold these
under-qualified students to college standards, and often give them the failing grade. Marty
Nemko however, author of “America’s Most Overrated Product: The Bachelor’s Degree”,
discusses in his article the overemphasized importance of the bachelor’s degree, and offers
grueling statistics and arguments that support in favor of some people abstaining from higher
education and pursuing other, just as respectable career paths. Zachary Karabell, in his essay
“The $10,000 Hoop”, questions the wisdom of the automatic respect most Americans give to
someone who holds a degree. Karabell insinuates that a higher education is almost overrated,
and that street-smarts can never be replaced by a plaque on the wall with a dean’s signature on it.
Despite the numerous intellectuals that rant and rave about the flaws of the educational
system, it is almost assumed that most people will pursue at least a bachelor’s degree. Students
from all age groups seek a degree in hopes of a higher salary, and are willing to invest thousands
of dollars into this gambit. Colleges, when looked upon with vigorous scrutiny, reveal to be little
more than businesses, striving to make as much money as they can. Nemko articulates this
eloquently, stating in his essay “Colleges and universities are businesses, and students are a cost
item, while research is a profit center.” This often means cutting corners and keeping professors
for their research value regardless of their teaching merit. Often times classes are taught by
teacher aides, not actual professors themselves, and large lecture classes can run up to well over
a hundred students, leaving virtually no one-on-one student-teacher time. In fact, according to a
survey conducted by the University of California at Los Angeles, 44.6 percent of students
reported that they were unsatisfied with the quality of the instruction they received, and 43.5

3. percent of freshman confessed at feeling frequently bored during class (Nemko). And while
students have every right to find fault with their institutions, it does not seem to affect their
decision to pursue a degree at their University. The desire for the degree is greater than the
desire for knowledge, and universities are quite willing to exploit this.
In fact, colleges are willing to accept and exploit just about anyone if they wish to spend
the money and attend their campuses. Students that are not ready for college are applying
anyway, in hopes of advancing farther in their careers. Often times these students are at least in
their thirties, haven’t been in a classroom in years, and are also trying to juggle a home life along
with their studies (Professor X). Professor X in his article talks about the frequency in which he
has these students in his classes, and the frequency in which he must fail them. No one however,
is willing to say no to these people. One such student, “Mrs. L.”, in his article serves as his
example around which he bases his conjectures. “Mrs. L, it was clear to me, had never been on
the internet.” This sort of person, no matter how ambitious and earnest in their attempts of
advancement, should not be allowed to take a class that they will certainly fail. I can tell you
personally, that it is impossible to get through college now without having at least the bare
minimum in computer skills. That a university is willing to accept the money from someone
such as Mrs. L, someone who is blatantly incompetent, without trying to screen them out, or at
least offer a warning, is plain greed. Colleges are not worried about how these failing students’
grades must reflect on their own institutions. There is no hand holding in education, everyone
must look out for themselves, and if someone waves the money, the colleges will take them.
And while it is easy to see as an outsider looking in on one of these incompetent students
that it is obvious that they will fail, and say that it is foolish for them to attempt something so
impossible that they might as well try to climb Mount Everest naked as well get an education, it

4. is understandable that these people would want a piece of the pie. Colleges are certainly justified
in saying that people who hold degrees statistically make more money than those who don’t.
Also many jobs that previously would not, now require at least some post-high-school education
(Professor X). Besides, most people do not want to flip burgers for the rest of their lives, and
assume that a college degree is the only way to get there now. They may not be wrong. Karabell
points out that Clinton, in his State of the Union address, said that “higher education is an
American birthright” (Karabell 252). Most Americans seem to hold the same viewpoint, and
tend to look down on those who are not college educated as if they were stupid. In fact, such a
stigma holds true to this, that employers will often higher between two equally competent
individuals the person who has a degree over the person who does not. As Karabell puts it, not
so delicately, “It’s now presumed that someone without a college degree is stupid, because it’s
now so easy to go to college that only the dim, dense, and unmotivated are thought to steer clear
of it.” Of course if businesses hold this belief, it is no wonder that an ever increasing amount of
people are going to go for the degree. When a whole society is based on profit, and that profit
centers in on an education, everyone who can will attempt to better their prospects.
This idea of success and education all boils back down to our root American ideals.
Americans are optimistic and stand fast with the idea that if someone wants to better themselves,
then damn, let them do it. So it only stands to reason that these middle aged, struggling
Americans would want to better themselves and if that means hitting the books, then they will, if
the colleges will let them. And chances are, the colleges will do just that. Professor X hits it on
the nose, pointing out that “Adult education…is a substantial profit center for many colleges.”
Of course these colleges will facilitate these adults, and will gladly accept their payments. For
colleges to recommend to some of these older students that they are not fit for university style

5. work would be un-American, it would be, as again X states “…harsh and classist and British, as
though we were sentencing him to a life in the coal mines.” No one is willing to tell these people
that they can’t cut it, because in American culture, anyone can cut it if they just work a little
harder. Colleges are protected by these ideas, and stand free of implications. They don’t care if
these students succeed; once again the main thing they care about is their cash flow.
While it is easy to point ones finger, get up on the soap box, and criticize the Educational
Institutions for being corrupt, money mongering, evil crackpots, these issues are really not in
black white. Colleges aren’t evil, and scheming, they simply just want what everyone else
wants: money. In their mind, it’s not their decision whether or not someone should be allowed to
go to college; that is up to the student. They don’t care who is qualified, who is not, or who
anyone is. They can twist the American ideal of equality and say that everyone can go to
college, and they’d be right. Of course anyone can go to college, but not just anyone can
succeed. As Professor X says in his essay, “Everyone wants to triumph. But not everyone can –
in fact, most can’t. If they could, it wouldn’t be any kind of triumph at all.”