photo: kuyman/ BY-NC-SA

Only one in every one hundred people get a college education around the world. This includes every culture, race, gender and religion. If we were to look at where that one person with a college education comes from, they would most likely be from the U.S or Europe. Even though other countries, like China or India, have much larger populations than the U.S, our college graduation rates and the number of people applying to college are much higher.

In the U.S there is no doubt that college has become something for the rich. UC schools and private colleges and universities cost anywhere between $15,000 and $65,000 per year. A college degree has also become something that is expected in American society if one wants to succeed in the workforce. The expectations for getting into colleges has also been raised. There are multiple essays to write, rigorous tests to take, and recommendations to be acquired. In the end, it is all about playing the stupid college game by taking classes and getting good grades. We must try to prove to a board of supervisors and admission officers who we are and why we should go to their school. The American society has come to judge people on the colleges they attended, and therefore where they grew up and their ethnic background. College education is often taken for granted in the U.S yet, colleges hold the position to decide your future and success based on how well you write an essay or ace a chemistry test. The idea that a few hundred people across the U.S who are on university’s boards of admission have the ability to control how well you will fit into the workforce is one that is unfair and gives superiority to too small of a group of people.