People have divergent views about the proportion of students that attain university education. While some feel that the population is too much, others argue that tertiary education should be everyone’s right. This essay will explore both views and conclude.
On the one hand, attaining the highest form of education in the land is a microcosm of societal and national progress in all ramifications, hence, university education should remain a basic right of all and sundry. There is an increased probability of being successful with a university degree in the bag in comparison to other forms of qualifications and nobody should be denied the opportunities to pursue their academic goals to and even beyond the university. One piece of evidence for this is the social class stratification in Europe and America. A significant proportion of those in the upper and middle socioeconomic classes have at least a university certificate which further strengthens the position that tertiary education needs to continue being a civic right of everyone.
On the other hand, the critics of the aforementioned view feel that society is losing relevant hands to the claws of overrated university education as there is an excessive number of students there. To this school of thought, many undergraduates who would have benefitted from technical and vocational jobs simply roam around the tertiary institutions, studying courses that will eventually be irrelevant to their source of livelihood. A classic example is Nigeria where nearly one in two graduates work outside their field of study in the university. It could then be inferred that the years spent studying the primary course are wasted and such people contributed to students overflow in the universities.
In conclusion, there are valid arguments on both sides. On balance, however, I feel that a university education should stand as every individual’s civic right because it is a route to breaking the chains of poverty by landing lucrative jobs.