Debate responses, college

"It turns out that the best community colleges do a better job than the average elite research university at teaching freshman and sophomores. That means that even if you're not among the chosen few, you can still get a great college education -- if you know where to look." (Most persuasive)

"First, graduation rates rise with college selectivity, even among equally qualified students. Graduation rates in the top 100 colleges exceed 90 percent compared with less than 40 percent at the least prestigious four year colleges and all community colleges." (Least persuasive) 

I believe that the most persuasive argument about what it means for a college to be good is Kevin Cary’s titled “Skip the Admission Games.”  He says that elite colleges are only available to those who have the grades and especially the money.  He claims that if you are in this part of the population, then you should try to get into the most famous college as possible, because employers assume that the people who attend the famous colleges are smarter then others.  I think that this is true, not that they are “smarter”, but that is how employers see it.  They must think that there is some reason that they are better known.  Something else he says is that good community colleges can be just as good as elite universities; they just aren’t recognized for it.  I think that if you are going to school to get a lot of money in the future, then you should try to get into the most famous college as possible.  However, if you are simply in it to learn, you should do some research and find the college that is great for your learning goals, because chances are you will get just as much out of the experience.  While Cary makes a great argument, I disagree with the message that Anthony P. Carnevale sends in is argument titled “Access to Money and Power”.  He says that going to an elite college gives you a better chance to graduate.  This is not a good fact to use because I believe that the school can’t make a student drop out, the student is the one responsible.  He also says that going to an elite college will allow you to get higher pay after graduation.  I believe that the only reason that this happens is because the smarter people go to the elite colleges, if one of the smarter people were to attend a small university, there is a large chance that they would make just as much money as they would have going to an elite one.  In my opinion, it is not the college that determines he quality of a student’s education, it is the student.