The Cost of College: Why To Go to College?
Objective: The successful completion of this assignment fulfills Student Learning Outcomes 3 and 5 (see the rubric or the syllabus):
Background: In Chapter 1 of your textbook, Dalton Conley argues that we can use our sociological imagination to evaluate the “returns to schooling.” Studies of the economic rewards of a college education show that college graduates earn more than high school grads. In reality, the question “Why Go to College?” is far more complex, and sociology can reveal the multiple facets of the issue.
Start by reading pages 4-12 of your book. Be sure to study the term “sociological imagination” and Randall Collins’s concept of credentialism. Then search the Internet for other sources of current (published in the last 5 years) and CREDIBLE information on the costs versus “payoff” of a college education. Those sources of information may include news articles, op-ed pieces, journals, and editorials—but AVOID Wikipedia and other encyclopedias and dictionaries.
Use information from your textbook AND the sources that you have found to analyze the true costs and benefits of college. How do the economic and non-economic benefits of college compare to the costs? Under what circumstances-if any-is college worth it? Be sure to provide a weblink (URL) for all sources of information so that others can access that source. In your posts, tell us what you learned from those sources. Sources should be CURRENT and CREDIBLE. Be sure to check your link after posting to be sure it works.
This is an interactive, asynchronous activity: Space your comments out to allow others time to respond, then check back in to reply to them.
All of your comments should be comparable in depth and detail. Get an early start–it’s a lot harder to say something original when you wait until the last day of the discussion! I suggest that you read ALL comments made by your instructor–even if they are replies to other students.
Textbook
Conley, D. (2013). You May Ask Yourself: An Introduction to Thinking Like a Sociologist (3rd ed). New York, NY: W. W. Norton & Company Inc. ISBN 978-0393912999