Most students also feel very pressured to fill every minute with studying -- how horrible it would be to fail! Zinsser agrees with Carlos Horta who stated: "Violence is being done to the undergraduate experience." Adds Zinsser: "College should be open-ended; at the end it should open many, many roads. Instead, students are choosing their goal in advance, and their choices narrow as they go along." Zinsser's thoughts, therefore, are somewhat similar to Bird's in that many teenagers (for that is what they still are) are often too young to know their ultimate direction. They have to take several detours and trips around the block to know where they are actually headed.

Russell Baker adds his two cents about this topic, as well. With typical wit, he states in "School vs. Education": "By the age of six the average child will have completed the basic American education.... From television, the child will have learned how to pick a lock, commit a fairly elaborate bank holdup, prevent wetness all day long, get the laundry twice as white, and kill people with a variety of sophisticated armaments." So, why then do youth need to go on to college? For Baker,...

Similar to Bird, he notes that going to college does not guarantee an educated person.
Personally, I agree that college most often helps individuals get to know themselves better as they leave the support and anchor of home, family and friends. It is not always about learning in the true sense of the word. However, a human is not just about books, facts and figures. he/she has to learn how to survive in today's complicated world, get along with individuals of myriad backgrounds, and build a self-esteem that will provide a personally satisfying future -- regardless of what direction is taken. For now, college is about the best place to learn these other life needs.

On the other hand, there are many people who do not go on to college, as Bird states. These people should not be overlooked. More emphasis should also be placed in the lower grades on personal development -- no matter if people intend to go on to school or not. Tolerance, understanding, honesty, being openminded...these are the important human elements. These should be taught to everyone at all levels.