Going to college is a total waste of your time and money! Imagine hearing that as a student who just finished four years of hard, grueling, expensive work; or, even worse, as parents who paid for their child to finish that same grueling work. If college is supposed to prepare students to be immediately productive members of the work force, that statement could unfortunately be accurate. In other ways, however, that statement can't be any further from the truth. College can prepare a student for life in so many more ways than for a job. As a student myself, I can see how college can be both wasteful and enriching. I often find myself in my studies asking, "How will this help me later in life?" Yet on the other hand, there are ways that college gives me more control over my life and future.
             In trying to figure out exactly what makes college this way, and whether others feel the same ambivalence I feel, I found help in comparing two essays. One, written by Timothy McDonough, who teaches anthropology at Las Positas College, portrays a positive view of the college experience. Matthew O'Conner offers the opposite opinion in a piece entitled, "College, Is It a Waste of Time and Money?" O'Conner's point is mainly about the raw economics of going to college. He believes that it is an overly expensive, inefficient, and unnecessary way to prepare for a career.
             I found, however, that I tended to agree more with McDonough. He sums up how I feel quite simply: "College gives you options."( McDonough 1) Unlike high school, college does not impose a requirement to fulfill a certain number of units in one year. If you have other plans for your life, you can accommodate those while going to school. But, that applies not only while you're in college, but also when you get out of college. "Life's about choices," McDonough continues. " You come to critical points in your life where decisions have to be made
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