The Value of a College Education

According to functionalist philosophy

College education has become an important aspect of civilization. According to the theory, every aspect of society needs every facet in order to operate as a complete whole, and every component is connected. About every aspect of life is affected by a college degree. Society supports young people to pursue an education so that they can give back in the form of specialized services such as physicians, lawyers, and cooks, among others. My story is an example of this hypothesis.

The Importance of Education in My Life

Being born a firstborn in a family eighteen years ago was the best thing that possibly happened to the entire family and me. With me as a ray hope for my parents for they had high hopes in me to be a role model in the family. From childhood, I had the passion of excelling in life. This was steered by the fact that I had relatives who had made it in life and I looked up upon them for they were mentors and role models. Looking at my parents, humble and always determined to offer me with what they lacked during their childhood. And what was this? Education it was. They grew up without a clue of what benefits of educations could accrue in the long run. So to them, it wasn’t a priority. Thankfully, along the way, they realized the importance of being literate and the essence of education in a person’s lifetime. By the knowledge of this, it gave me a driving force to acquire knowledge by all means and make my parents proud for they had the goodwill to facilitate my education pursuit.

Passion for Engineering

A young boy who is determined and focused on achieving and gaining knowledge. Each morning I knew in the back of my mind that I had to strive and excel in my studies. This humble upbringing also meant that I had the humility to endure the chilly mornings and the scorching sun coupled up with the hot ground given I had no shoes while going back home for lunch. All this wasn’t in vain though, for I knew what the future held for me if I were to be successful and possibly aid my parents in ensuring my younger siblings access education as well. Indeed, the future was bright. With all this dedication determination and focus excellence to me was nothing new. My parents were proud of me as I gave them a reason to smile and to work harder to provide the necessities to ensure I always stayed at school always. As days went by in shone in my academic endeavors. This meant that I continued the pursuit for a bright future.

Excelling in Education

I excelled in my exams and proceeded with the studies successfully with ease, teachers as well as the community were proud of me. So were my peers. This was a motivation factor towards aiming higher. At this age, a teen I had already discovered my passion which was engineering as I could fumble with any electronic I found on my way always having an open mind to learn new things each day and how the electronics worked and the mechanism behind their functioning. From this my parents coined a name from it and started referring to me as ‘Engineer' and their wish was that I live my dream. This career motivation was key in putting in more effort in my studies. For achieving my dream job that I was so passionate about could present better job prospects as well as opening up more employment options given the thought that I could provide employment opportunities if I had to create a private company. I also looked at my younger siblings and now that I had tested the joy of education it was my view that I give them support in going through the same too. This would also stir up developments in our locality later. The fact that no one in my locality had pursued the Engineering course gave me more vigor to pursue. I always believed that acquiring knowledge was not only necessarily for getting good jobs in the future but also being looked upon as a role model to others and to be self-employed and mentor younger people in the society through talks on the importance of education.

The Value of College Education in Society

Excelling in education also meant that people widen their career opportunities, having different ideologies, developing entrepreneurial skills and diversity as well as a knowledge base. With all these motivational factors I excelled in my next level of education. It is true that indeed success has many fathers while failure is an orphan. I found myself being associated with successful individuals in the society who offered to sponsor me financially in doing my undergraduate degree from a reputable university in the universe. That was when an opportunity presented itself that I was to apply for a scholarship as well as an admission letter to your institution. Therefore, I was keen on pursuing my education to greater heights and to be the best in order to fit in the society and remain functional within it. The instructors, I shall endeavor to put everything that I have learned to use and further my academic prowess. Am ready to learn and share with my colleague's new information and embrace teamwork.

Functionalism Theory and College Education

From this narrative, we see that the society has adverse group of people responsible for various aspects and responsibilities. Teachers helped me learn, the parents paid for my school fee and the peers helped motivate me positively. Every one of these aspects and issues has clearly demonstrated the value of college education. It pushes an individual to be better and evolve uniquely so that he or she can be a functional member of the society and thus help improve its functioning. This is essentially what the functionalism theory is about, everyone plays their part and the whole society remains functional. As a matter of fact, the instructors seated here are functioning in the society as they have helped in bringing dreams closer to reality, the peers played a vital role as they helped motivate someone towards the positive direction. At this juncture, I would urge everyone to proceed being functional for a comprehensive society that propels everyone accordingly.

The Need for College Education

The alternative view would be that the chaos theory which would view the society as a state of entropy where everything is in chaos which has an apparently underlying order. However, we quickly note that this state of entropy has an order which means that everything has its role to play in the apparent chaos. This ultimately supports the argument that every aspect of society requires each other and college is necessary as it plays a part that no other institution would play and thus must exit uniquely.

The Value of College Education

It is important to note that there are several theories that seek to explain the operation of the society and its various elements, however, in my opinion, the functionalist theory is the most effective one as it recognizes the value of each joint, individual, institution and profession in the society. From this perspective and in light of the brief but elaborative narrative above, it is the theory that best explains the need and value of a college education.

Conclusion

In conclusion, college education is a necessary part of the modern society, it bestows knowledge on the students and readies them for the various avenues available in the society in terms of professional service. This is not to downplay the informal education but strengthen it and ensure that it is practiced and applied safely and professionally. As a matter of fact, both forms of education are necessary for the complete functioning of the society. That is the rationale behind children having academic passions such as becoming engineers and pursuing them through various means such as scholarships. Everyone in society yearns to be part of the functioning nature of its very fabric (Hawaii.edu).

Works Cited

Hawaii.edu. The Three Main Sociological Perspectives . 21 April 2007. Document. 21 April 2017.

Vcampus.uom.ac.mu. Functionalist Perspectives. 21 April 2017. Web. 21 April 2017.