Autumn Risch

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Professor McLaughlin
Comp 101
2 February, 2016

College and Commodity Dont Mix

With new generations come new perspectives. One view that has
changed in the past few years is a feeling of entitlement. People, especially
young adults, are beginning to feel entitled to things that are necessary to
work towards; one in particular is college. College has become the new ticket
to getting a job, replacing high school. Because of this, more students are
continuing on to college, however, many students view college as a
commodity: a material or product that can be bought and sold. Author
Hunter Rawlings covers this issue in College is Not a Commodity. He
describes the reasons why society views college as so and how we can
change the outlook. First and foremost, it is important for us to understand
that the effort the student puts in is what determines the outcome of the
education. Also, it doesnt help that public discussions lead students to
believe that they simply receive their education from colleges. Lastly, we as
a whole need to change our outlook on education. It is important for
students, and those guiding the young adults, to realize that college is not a
commodity in order for our society to grow in the right direction.
It is essential for us to understand that the effort the student puts in is
what determines the outcome of the education. According to Rawlings, the
course load, amount of work, curiosity exhibited, participation, focus, and

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determination all contribute to the educational outcome far more than the
college curriculum itself(1). I, as a college student, believe this to be true.
How much every individual gains falls on how much effort they are willing to
put in. For the amount of students that claim they want to be successful, far
too many take classes they perceive will be easy in place of classes that will
push their knowledge to a new level. When students fail classes, they tend to
blame the professors way of teaching or the amount of coursework that
came with the class; however, if a student carefully plans out their schedule
and keeps track of the amount of work they have in each class it is
achievable to earn good grades through dedication. Also, students focusing
on grades is another problem with education. Getting a degree isnt about
getting straight As or being the best in the class, its about putting forth the
best effort that you, yourself can do. Many students are overly concerned
with grades or simply receiving the diploma. In high school, I was definitely
at fault for this. I was the valedictorian of my class and I often found myself
focusing on what grade I was receiving more than learning the material.
Although I continued to push myself to get a 4.0 GPA I took a large step back
to see the larger picture my last two years. I realized I needed to focus on
how well I was learning the course through how I grew, not just the letter
grade. It is essential for all students to realize that grades are important but
they arent the purpose of education. The purpose of education is a hard
consensus to reach, but I believe we can all agree it isnt to earn a perfect
GPA and is more along the lines of developing skills and knowledge that will

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allow student to be responsible, contributing members of their community.
This change of view may be difficult to create, but is a significant step for our
society to make in order for students to become more successful.
Secondly, public discussions lead students to believe that they simply
receive their education from colleges. The article states, Many talk about
walking away with a degree the way a person walks out of Best Buy with a
television (1). As discussed before, if a student doesnt put in the effort
needed the degree becomes worthless, or in the worst cases, non-existent. A
degree from a university isnt something a student can expect to pay for and
automatically acquire its full value. Just because a student pays for a class,
doesnt mean he/she simply receives the full benefits. Rawlings adds, Public
discussions lead this belief because governors and legislators, as well as the
media, treat colleges as purveyors of goods, and students as consumers and
degrees as products (2). Students get the message; if colleges are
responsible for the outcome, students are simply the consumers of the
products; degrees. If we reduce college to a commodity such as this, it is
important that we at least grasp the essence of its economic nature. College
requires the buyer to obtain the value (Rawlings 1). This evaluation of
college in economic terms is what leads students to feel entitled. I expect it
would be easy for everyone to see, if they simply took a step back, that
students arent simply consumers of degrees. They cant just show up to
class and expect to understand the material from simply listening to the
professor. Professors try to relay this idea by commonly stating that for every

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hour spent in class a student should spend two hours on material out of
class. Another evaluation that leads students to believe that degrees are
products are college ratings. Colleges are rated in the only way we know how
to portray their success; however, the rating by performance measurements
such as graduation rates and times makes it seems as though the
performance is based on the colleges effort and not the students (Rawlings
2). There are many other elements that may lead students to feel entitled to
classes, grades, and material that does not challenge them, but public
discussions and college rating currently are the largest influences.
Because of the feeling of entitlement our society has placed with
regard to college, we all need to put forth effort to change not only the
meaning of higher education, but of education as a whole. College is not the
only level of education with the challenge of entitlement, so it is important
for us to start the understanding of the true meaning of education from
elementary through high school as well. As learners, parents, and educators,
we need to start putting importance on understanding curriculum and
pushing our imagination over the importance of memorizing materials and
getting good grades on assessments. Students need to be taught that school
is a place to develop skills and knowledge to help them in their future. It is
not a place to cheat and do what is necessary to simply pass a class, but it is
a place to grow as an individual. Once students understand this concept they
will be able to become better contributing members of society by developing
more responsibility. We can make this change by changing the mindset of the

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students in our society. As the curriculum in school systems change, we need
to make sure the message of what school is for doesnt.
Overall, our society needs to realize that college is not a commodity in
order for the outlook on education to grow in the right direction. College
students need to understand that it is the dedication they put into their
education that creates the outcome; the importance is the discovery of their
own contributions to knowledge. Besides students, society needs to make
changes in order to help students move in the right direction. Public
discussions need to change from talking about college as a commodity to
understanding the true value of higher education. Lastly, it is necessary to
take steps to change the meaning of education as a whole in order for
students to understand that they are not entitled to the education they
receive. Rawlings said it best- Genuine education is not a commodity, it is
the awakening of a human being (3).

Works Cited
Rawlings, Hunter. "College is not a commodity. Stop treating is like one."PostEverything.
The Washington Post, 9 June 2015. Web. 24 January 2016.