The Issues with the Traditional Undergraduate College System in Modern-day Capitalist America

Abstract

The United States of America currently has a conventional model of an undergraduate college system, which entails a four-year college degree to be a prerequisite for success socially and economically. This model is wrong. This paper will present an overview of the history of the typical American undergraduate college system, namely what the expectations of the traditional model in capitalist America was supposed to be, and what the current situation is today in twenty-first century America. It will then enumerate the problems with this traditional model, including its lack of necessity, its wastefulness in terms of time, and its harmfulness due to the amount of debt it incurs. Finally, I will go over potential solutions to this problem, starting first and foremost with broad based societal changes that will allow for the four-year undergraduate college system to no longer be considered a necessity for every American to join the workforce, and ending with more immediate and short term solutions to this problem.