The Real Purpose of a University Education Essay example

The Real Purpose of a University Education All my life I knew I would be attending college. There never seemed to be any other option available as far as I knew. I never really stopped to think about whether or not it was necessary for me, or why it was so important; I was just funneled into the college curriculum in high school. I have attended the University of Arkansas for three years now, and have heard two main arguments over the purpose of a college education. One is that college is a place to train for a job, and the other is that college should be an institute of higher learning with no real focus on a future job. Challenged to form an opinion on this matter, I finally decided that neither side is absolutely right. In†¦show more content†¦I’m not saying that people who enjoy learning and attend college simply to gain as much knowledge as possible are wrong. College is a place where learning is encouraged and students have the time and resources to absorb as much as possible. There are teachers who are available to offer guidance to interested students. When else in life will you have someone whose job is to try to make you a more cultured, intelligent human being? There is a great deal of value in this point of view. There is no reason why a person shouldn’t want to learn. I consider myself to be one of these people. College has nothing to do with my future career. After graduation I plan to go to culinary school, but I want to attend college. Why waste my time and money here when it has nothing to do with what I will be doing for the rest of my life? I love to learn. I could just as easily be off training for my future job, but I think that college has some certain benefits that I do not want to miss out on. These two basic ideas about college conflict in a lot of ways. For example, there has been talk of the large corporate influence on the education process at the University of Arkansas lately. This has caused some controversy, and once again, put the purpose of a university education into the limelight. Those who think the purpose of the university is to train for jobs say that the corporate influence is beneficial to the students.Show MoreRelatedThe Ideas Of A University922 Words   |  4 PagesIn John Henry Cardinal Newman’s discourse â€Å"The Ideas of a University† (1852), he sought to answer the question, â€Å"What is there is to show for the expense of a University; what is the real worth in the market of the article called ‘a Liberal Education.’† While this question was asked in the 1800s, many in today’s society still ask it today. One issue Newman argues for is the purpose of a university education, specifically the â€Å"utility† of the Liberal Arts. 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