Education in America

Synthesis Argument1. You must write a brief synthesis argument about the role of college education in America today as discussed in the prompt at #4 below. The finished final draft must be a minimum of four full pages in length. This means that your essay must end on page five or later (the Works Cited page does not count).2. At a minimum, your argument must demonstrate the following characteristics:A. Be an argument and contain a thesis that responds to the prompt in #4 belowB. Your thesis must assert an arguable relationship between different ideasC. Contain sufficient evidence to support your claimD. Must not be an imitation of another argument nor an uncritical response to another argumentE. Your argument must demonstrate the interaction, a synthesis, of the ideas presented in disparate sources3. Other requirements:A. Your essay must contain a minimum of four secondary sources, three of which must be from academic sources (this may include academic journals, books, and sources identified through the library’s website).B. It must be properly formatted and documented in MLA form, including correct in-text citations and a Works Cited pageD. This is a formal argument and may not be written from first person perspectiveE. You must use proper, Standard American English grammar throughout your essay4. Prompt:In Seneca’s letter “On Liberal and Vocational Studies” he fully rejects the notion that the purpose of education is to prepare a student for a vocation, a job, a means of making a living. He argues that the only study worth pursuing is the attainment of wisdom.In the essay “Who are You and What are You Doing Here?” the author suggests that college represents the only opportunity for young people to “find themselves” and, therefore, argues that students should pursue subjects that interest them regardless of the possibility of ever making a living in those fields.However, the summary of government job data detailed in “Why Did Seventeen Million People Go to College” that students–and all of us through taxes–have wasted trillions of dollars obtaining “pointless” degrees to eventually work in occupations where degrees are not needed.As noted in the Week 10 Discussion Board, nearly all students offered a “free” grade in a general education course without having to attend classes or do the work opt to take the grade and skip the course.So, what exactly is a college education now, what exactly should it be, and where do we go from here? More specifically, in America today what exactly should the role of a college education be?