Free Essay. Declining by Degrees a 2006 Documentary

College education in the United States of America has become much more than just education; it is a platform for growth and development in terms of socialization, especially in the lives of the students. It is more of a gate away to most of the students from their homes and their families. According to some of the students, they get too excited because they would be in a position to be free and do whatever they could not do freely while staying in their homes. This paper seeks to focus on the perspective of college studies on the fulfillment of the American dream as well as to keep up with the trends ("Declining by Degrees: Higher Education at Risk"). Various cases are drawn from the video done by MacClenny on declining degrees to highlight how students socialize during their lives in college.

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College studies are more of a fulfillment of the middle-class life of most Americans. As presented in the video, unlike the past days, when it was quite easy to secure a good job immediately after graduating from high school. Students now have to ensure they pass through college to get a good job ("Declining by Degrees: Higher Education at Risk"). The college has become another way that students or youths are taught how to be independent. To leave a life that they can entirely choose on what to do with their lives in as much as some of the choices might be wrong. Enrolling into college sets high expectation from the society where students are required to be well behaved. According to the video, students in college get to socialize on different levels; they are those who join bad gangs and engage in alcoholic behavior while some become nerds and perform even better. Students in college no longer score mediocre grades, which used to be known as Cs are now like the Fs of today. These means that students study harder than before.

According to society, a college education is more proof to the society that a teenager is becoming successful in life. By some students, college lie gives them the chance to socialize and express themselves ("Declining by Degrees: Higher Education at Risk"). The college life enables the students to relate with different people across the globe who come to study. Most of the students in colleges tend to look for part-time jobs, and this is part of what makes the students responsible because they can manage to work for their upkeep during the hours that they are not in school. Lately, the college has been known to produce lowly skilled employees' or rather incompetent employees as given by most of the employers in the modern world. Joining college is usually a big challenge for most of the students in as much as most of the students might be excited to join college and flee from their homes, some of the students are usually not prepared to join college. For instance, the case of Mark in the documentary, he is the first one to join the college in his family where the parents lead a simple life. In as much as mark believes that he goes to school to get a good job and a good life, his mother who is a house worker thinks that mark lacks an academic ethical background, however, mark believes that he enjoys school in as much as he still enjoys what he used to do during high school ("Declining by Degrees: Higher Education at Risk").

In the final analysis of this documentary by MacClenny, the students tend to in college quite early, and hence, most of them are not usually prepared psychologically. This can be seen through the kind of rational decisions that some of the students make.

Education and Religion

Education is one of the most valued basic needs of society. Students both young ones and teenagers spend most of their times in the learning institutions where they wake up so early to spend most of their days in school studying, doing homework and even engaging in other co-curricular activities. The students tend to spend most of their growth and development period during the school premises. It is therefore very crucial for the management and care to be of high-class value, teachers and the schools management teams should ensure that they create an ambient environment within which the students will learn to grow from and socialize with the rest of the students as they develop their brains as well as the socialization skills to a point when they can go face the world on their own. Schools and colleges instill a sense of responsibility into the heads of most of the students. For instance, in the case of the lecture, I chapter 12.1, the case of the Detroit school where the students were deprived of good air due to the faulty air conditioners in the school premises (Barkan 50). The issue became of the whole society because most students were found to have been given sickouts to the point that the teachers demonstrated. Schools are social institutions that are looked upon by the whole society in the United States of America. The learning institutions should be cared for in a manner that they do not affect the lives of the students negatively.

Education and religion are two most important social issues that are greatly believed by the people of the United States of America in as much as students spend most of their hours in school socializing with the other students, the parents in the United States of America have incorporated a culture of prayers. Students and youths have been programmed in a manner that they are assumed to take close to four hours of their week to pray. Education and religion go hand in hand; religion guides the educated into living a life that is considered to be morally correct in society. The dearest values of the nation of America originates from education and religion. They are the backbone of the country's ethical values and rules (Barkan 56). Education is a way in which society comes together to teach the students on the knowledge, norms, and values of education. Education in the united states of America dates back to the era and time where the kind of education given to the students was scarcely formal, children were required to be taught in their own homes by their parents on what the society expected them to be in the future and on how to relate with the rest of the people across the country. The sociological perspective of education has given it various responsibilities such as the functionalism theory, conflict theory, and to also act as a symbol of interactionism among students from diverse backgrounds. Education provides a platform for the socialization of so many people across the globe.

In as much as education is a key factor that aids socialization, the level of attainment and the degree of studies have been identified to vary in terms of ethnicity and race. Education has a greater impact on both the cultural and economic attitude of the people in the society (Barkan 67). Despite the positive influence that education has caused in the lives of the citizens of America, it has its short comings as well as the challenges that it faces such as inequality among students due to racism and rejection of admission of certain students in the learning institutions.

Works Cited

Barkan, Steven E. Sociology: Understanding and Changing the Social World. Flat world, 2017.

"Declining by Degrees: Higher Education at Risk." YouTube, 18 Sept. 2012, www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=1629&v=BcxDVYo2wH8.