Students in high school are exposed to the proposition of college since freshman year. The goal of high school is to get a diploma, good GPA and outstanding SAT/ACT score and then move on to college for higher education. College measures intelligence based on tests and lectures, neither of which guarantee retention of information. Steven Pearlstein who writes for the Washington Post states, “Why do tests taken before and after college reveal almost no retention of course material and little in the way of progress on generalized skills such as critical thinking and statistical analysis?” This is insightful because it shows how skills applicable to real life problems cannot be learned in a classroom setting.

Due to a more competitive job market, those who graduate college often accumulate student loans that also have interest and increase the longer it takes a graduate to find a job. According to Casey Bond from Forbes, “An arts graduate from Murray State University in Kentucky, for instance, can expect to make $147,000 less over 20 years than a high school graduate.” Those who join the workforce with a high school diploma do not have the stress of paying off student loans and gain real world experience that is more enriching compared to four more years of school.

In all honesty, most high school graduates advance to higher education, but considering all options is essential. When asking around to get a consensus on students going to college most students answered “It depends”. Junior Kennedy Walls states,“Ideally no, but it is necessary to get the job I want.”

You can tell mom and dad that just because you don’t want to go to college does not mean you are lazy or careless, and now there are some statistics to support you. As Theodore Roosevelt once stated, “Far and away the best prize that life has to offer is the chance to work hard at work worth doing.”