As another year comes to a close, we say goodbye to one class and welcome in another. As we welcome a class of new students, I think back to my starting ambition; what motivated me to continue my learning in the realm of higher education. For some it’s the few years of freedom from our parents’ house. To others it’s the chance to start over and rebuild a new life. However, for many of us it is to earn the sacred college degree.

Throughout middle and high school I can remember the public service announcements about what type of jobs I could get without a high school diploma. We were motivated by our families, schools and society to graduate high school. This type of thinking became so automatic we merely took courses for credit, just to be rewarded with a glorified piece of paper.

Now students are pushed-more so than before-to be prepared to go to college and earn a college degree. The cycle is happening all over again. We are automatically taking class, not for the knowledge, but for the credit to graduate.

This is the exact opposite of the goals for higher education.

Students should want to be here of their own free will. They should have the drive and motivation to demonstrate their mastery of a certain content area and earn their degree. Universities should not make it so easy for students to essentially buy their degree.

The impact college experiences can have on one individual is literally life-altering, and the university system should respect that and give those opportunities to those willing to work for it.

While some question the foundations of the university system as being biased and elitist in deeming who is fit for a degree, the fact of the matter is some students don’t want or need to be in college. This goes for both those who use Mommy and Daddy’s money to skate through it and those who are being pushed into a four-year institution when they really only want to learn a certain trade.

For students who do not truly wish to be here and rather specialize in a trade, rather than struggling to break into the middle of the pack, they’re being set up for failure in a university environment. Why push them further than they want (or need) to go, when they could excel in something they’re great at?

For students who enter higher education for academic achievement, inflating the system with students who are merely sliding by with minimal class credit lessens the value of their degree.

If we truly wish to uphold higher education as an opportunity for academic excellence, as a society we must allow students to make their own decisions and not push them in a direction they do not want to go.

If we do not change the system of filtering students from high school straight to college before it becomes permanent, the next phenomena will be every student should graduate with a masters degree and so on. Allow students to do as they please and let them pursue happiness, rather than a degree.