This was the first assigned portfolio of second semester this year and asked us to examine how authors use rhetoric to build their argument and evidence in their own work. I examine the effectiveness of this argument and its potential for application in the real world.

 

Mark Schneider’s work published by the American Education Institute; “How much is that Bachelor’s degree really worth? The Million Dollar Misunderstanding” examines the claim that college graduates will make about one million dollars more in their lifetime than those with only a high school level education. Schneider compiles and analyzes data collected from several sources to assess this claim with as much data as he can get. His research is thorough enough to prove that the value of a college degree is far less than one million dollars but is far too broad in scope for someone to make the decision whether to go or not go to college solely based off of his conclusion alone.

Schneider introduces his topic well with a relatable exchange where a child asks their parent why they should go to college. The parent, caught off guard by such a heavy question, responds by stating that the child will make one million dollars more in their life and then not actually knowing why they reverted to that figure. Schneider then walks through the “history” of the figure by tracing its path of origin starting with statements made about rising costs related to education by Arizona State University and State Farm Insurance Company. Both of these cite College Board as the point of origin for the number and in turn College Board reverts to the findings of a 2002 US Census Bureau study. Schneider presents a very thorough amount of background information on the origin of this statement and in doing so demonstrates that this idea has recently spread like a wildfire through modern society; a wild fire spread so far and so fast that no one actually knows where it came from.

Schneider then proceeds to reevaluate that claim using studies done after the Census Bureau’s was published. His main focus is to address how much of a monitorial difference there is between the two education levels including two studies where different values were already presented. His primary research points considering two things; the estimate of total lifetime difference in earnings between the two groups and that same figure with adjustments based on total tuition/expense fees. These numbers are average values categorized by type of institution and, as to be expected, the institutions that are considered to be most selective (in both public and non-profit settings) have the highest averages for both points. Schneider’s main data is taken from a study done by Mark Kantrowitz.

Schneider is able to conclude that a college graduate will indeed earn more money than a high school graduate will, but the average amount based solely on where they went to college is nowhere near one million dollars. His data is very well connected with his argument and strongly supported by the values other studies mentioned have collected. Schneider’s overall process is presented in a very straightforward and scientifically structured investigation that is easy to follow: first he poses a question, then collects data, examines it with comparison to his initial question, and then he presents a conclusion. His logic is smooth and flawless throughout as he deals with a subject near and dear to the hearts of many: the education of the up and coming generation.

With his conclusions made and figures presented, Schneider then calls on a study conducted by SmartMoney regarding payoff ratios between different universities demonstrating that where someone goes to college holds a great influence on how much they end up making. The data mentioned from SmartMoney conflicts slightly with Scheider’s because it states that “public colleges are often giving their students a much better return than their better-known private counter parts.” The “return” being the salary from a career based on the price of the institution someone attended. The discrepancies between the two studies demonstrate how difficult it is to accurately depict the difference in money made over a “work-life” between college and high school graduates because of how difficult it is to do same thing between colleges. Schneider’s study is also extremely broad in scope and clouds this study even more. Basing the difference in money made between these two education groups considering only where the college grad went to school is extremely ineffective. Schneider may have achieved his goal in demonstrating that the actual figure is less than one million dollars, but does so in a way that nothing else can be gained from it. It does not consider areas of study, different types of Bachelor’s degrees, graduating GPAs, or even the number of years it took to complete the education. Perhaps a better approach to this would be to examine different career areas and apply the education difference there; examining how much a college degree really pays off in different career fields would more accurately demonstrate the value of post-secondary education in today’s society.

Schneider’s sources are also far too limited in the timeline of study; his source looked at people who were in their early 30’s and had about 10 years in the workforce. This is not nearly long enough to accurately determine the monitorial difference in these education groups because hardly any time has passed. In today’s society, most people don’t have enough sustainable wealth built up to retire until they are in their 60’s, some 30 more years after the age at which this study was conducted. Even if the differences between these educational groups could be modeled linearly, there would be an immense difference between the two groups based on the difference Schneider presented from his study. Probably the most accurate way to judge the value of a college education would be to look at the differences of more education in specific career fields throughout the entire “work-life” or length of time before one retires, and compare that to the decrease in the value of the dollar and the increase in the average standard of living. This is a very technical alternative to the study Schneider conducted but is perhaps the only way to truly place a number on the value of a college education.

Schneider does present a solid argument with his study that can be used as a way to judge the benefits from a financial standpoint of where someone goes to college but the data and sources used to compile it with are not strong enough to make a definitive decision on whether or not a college degree is the best option for different individuals with different career goals. By looking simply at the difference in money earned over a ten year period between college graduates and high school graduates based on where the college grads went to school, Schneider presents a vanilla-flavored conclusion that will only be useful when added to something far more thorough and exotic.