Believer
In the article “Labor Day and the American Dream,” it instills the view of not needing a college education but instead using trade skills in today’s world. The truth is Labor Day is still worth celebrating, with many people in the industry of trade and labor organizations. The biggest example of this is the military, with one of the only requirements being that of a high school diploma or equivalent. With that, military members use their skills to erect forts and bases, fix airplanes and helicopters, and everything in between. The sense of a college dream is definitely not for everyone, but college is not a necessity to get into a higher income bracket. There will always be a need for skills not learned in a classroom, and people learn these skills with on the job training and apprenticeship programs. The one thing that college does not give to the next generation of ready to be employed people is experience. All the theory in the world can’t give way to the experienced. You can’t say you know how to fix a car just because you watched a movie or read about the mechanics of an engine until you actually do it. All of this is not to put down college, but “the most valuable skill in today’s economy is the ability to learn new skills.”
Doubter
It may be a fact that college isn’t for everyone, but in the true sense of things, college is a big factor in today’s world. In these tough times with an economy that’s on the edge, many find it very difficult to get hired with only a high school degree. Labor Day is now celebrated as the end of summer, and with good reason, we are not in the Industrial Revolution anymore, we are a more sophisticated era, with the need of technical experts. A college degree is essential to move forward in today’s world. With a “competitive global economy [that depends] more on brains than brawn,” not having a college education is not an option anymore. With colleges’ higher standards, it shows the employer that there is a skill in that, and that is the universal skill to learn. More employers use the college degree as a standard of hiring, because it shows the technical expertise and commitment to higher learning. While there are exceptions to this where physical therapists earn about $74,000 a year with a high school degree, those exceptions are too few and far between. College may not be for everyone, but it is a need to be competitive in the job market today.
