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Bader Alshammari

Ling-100A

L. Aricheta

September 26th,2018

Do all people have to attend college?

Charles Murray is an American political scientist, was born on 8 January, 1943.He is of

Scotish-irish ancestry and was born in Newton and raised in a republican, Norman Rockwell. He

is the son of Frances B. and Alan B. Murray. Murray law is a set of conclusions derived in his

book ‘Losing Ground American Social Policy’. Murray has been critical of the ‘No child left

behind law’. He challenges the enacted law by United States Congress that all children are above

average instead, he agues that; ability of a child varies, half of all children are below average, too

many people are going to college and American future depends on how we educate the

academically gifted. This motivated him in writing the article, “What is wrong with Vocational

School?” On the other hand, Paul Stoller is a professor of Anthropology at West Chester

University born on 25 January 1947 and grew up in Washington D.C. he grew up in a humble

background and this made him to steer away from the narrow life path that the circumstances of

birth had shaped. This made him point out that critical thinking needs to be part of learning in

collages. His college life had a profound impact on his life and dedicated himself upon

professors who took interest in him. This motivated him to write a blog post on “My struggles

with Anti-intellectualism”. This paper will compare the two authors on the issues of the role of a

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college education. It also seeks to explain where the two authors contradict in terms of their

justifications.

Anti-intellectualism has been a constant thread winding its way through our political and

cultural life nurtured by the false notion that democracy means that “my ignorance is just as good

as your knowledge” (Milner, 2010). Anti-intellectualism is simply the glorification of stupidity.

This is a problem that have affected many college students since most of them think that they do

not have to read anything about a ground of acquaintance prior to dismissing it with their own

theories. My Struggle with Anti-intellectual is a blog that claims, the world is full of stupid

people and that we should spend more money on those few people who are smart. According to

Paul Stoller, most college students go to school thinking that going to college is a bridge to a

good office job. Instead, he urges people to critically think because college learning should be

more than a job preparation. In support of his argument, he says those with a below average IQ

are not supposed to go through the 4-year college course.

In the article “What is wrong with vocational School”, Charles Murray’s argues that close to

half of the students who enter collage need to remedial courses. He also says that most student

attending college is to obtain a good office job. In his article, he discusses the manner in which

gifted students as well as those who are bright are hurt by the pressure to go to college. Murray

says that we should invest more in educating those students who are good in class and the gifted

should be pushed trough vocational training rather than pushing them through college life which

is intern a difficult path to go through.

In Charles Murray argument, he makes life seem very difficult by challenging the

establishment of Higher Education institutions. In his writing, he tries to suggest that the bright

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students are superior that the gifted students. This is evident by the fact that he says that the

gifted students should not be judgmental and should be respectful to the bright students. He also

suggests that that American education is full of full of stupid students. This is evident by the way

he suggests a girl with an F is at the 20th percentile of intelligence and nothing could be done to

change her. He says that the girl is not smart and should not be in college.

In the argument of Paul Stoller’s writing “My struggles with Anti-Intellectual” he points out

that the idea of going to college is a critical thing and that critical thinking is needed before

attending college. He says in the past they knew going to college was not an easy thing (Cole,

2011). He also says the most students are believed they can do it without the knowledge.

Both writers believe that anyone has the many chances and opportunities to pursue in life.

Murray proves this when he encourages the gifted students to become Craftsmen instead of

struggling with college education. On the other hand, Paul Stoller encourages students when he

says he chose to be a writer instead of being a Lawyer. Paul also says that failure in life is normal

but we should try other ways (Grant, 2014). This contradicts Murrays writing because he says

that life has the capable ones and the incapable ones. However, the two arguments have a

difference in tone variations. Murray seems to be very tough and makes the world look to be

very difficult. On the other hand, Paul Stoller has a slightly light tone unlike Murray. He at least

makes the world to seem a better place to live in by stating failures in life are normal and we

should look for alternatives. Nevertheless, both authors believe that education is crucial to our

lives (Biesta, 2015).

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References

Biesta, G. J. (2015). Beyond learning: Democratic education for a human future. Routledge.

Cole, D. (2011). Debunking anti-intellectualism: An examination of African American college

students' intellectual self-concepts. The Review of Higher Education, 34(2), 259-282.

Grant, A. M. (2014). Past, present and future: The evolution of professional coaching and

coaching psychology. In Handbook of coaching psychology (pp. 43-59). Routledge.

Milner IV, H. R. (2010). Start where you are, but don't stay there: Understanding diversity,

opportunity gaps, and teaching in today's classrooms. Harvard Education Press. 8 Story

Street First Floor, Cambridge, MA 02138.