Stoller and Murray

Both Stoller and Murray introduce the topic of high education but they differ on how they define the purpose of education. Paul Stoller focuses on intellectualism and asserts that in four years college, students should not only be taught about job preparation but they should also learn the skills of critical thinking (Stoller, 2012). On the other hand, Murray argues that college education is important for students with high IQ but instead of wasting 4-year College, students with low IQ should attend vocational schools to gain practical skills (Murray, 2007).

In his argument, Stoller asserts that in America, there is a high level of anti-intellectualism which has affected both social and historical life. There are anti-intellectual narratives in political discourse and the political system is undermining the higher education. For example, Mr. Bruni increases the anti-intellectualism by asserting that 53.6% of college graduates under the age of 25 were unemployed…(Stoller, 2012). In this statement, Mr Bruni tends to state that the degree which these students acquired in college was not necessary. Therefore, students should gain job skills so that they can maintain their competitive edge in the market. Other problem is that America is undermining the education by blocking the resources which students use to complete their education. For example, Mr Romney asserts that interest rates of students’ loan should be double and also he suggests that they should not get loan but rather they should find cheap colleges (Stoller, 2012).

 On the hand, Murray asserts that college education is important in that college degree helps students to get a good job. However, he argues that students whose 1Q is below 110 should go to Vocation College instead of wasting their time in college. Only students who have high 1Q can do well in 4-years college education (Murray, 2007). The problem with college education is that many students are forced by their parents to acquire analytical skills and to get the opportunity of living a quality life. In addition, qualified and unqualified students mix and majority changes their career and becomes interested in practical skills. The institution tries to meet the new demand and implements practical skills programs which takes 4-years instead for 2-year in vocation schools. In many companies, practical skills are valued with respect to certain abilities than college education. For example ‘Walk into Microsoft or Google with evidence that you are a brilliant hacker, and the job interviewer is not going to fret if you lack a college transcript… (Murray, 2007). Thus, vocation education is important in that students will gain practical skills and utilize them in real world.

Both authors value the importance of education but there is a distinction on who should get the education. Stoller asserts that the only way to combat anti-intellectualism is through providing students with critical thinking skills. However, the political ideas focus on developing a population which is high skilled but is unable to think critically in social context. Stoller argues that young people should be educated on how to think critically so that they can innovate and foresee the strategic ways of improving the economy (Stoller, 2012). On the other hand, Mullar beliefs that college education should be offered to students with high IQ since such students will learn analytical skills beyond their intellectual capacity. Student with lower IQ will not have a clear understanding of what they learn and end up wasting their time. Thus, such students should attend vocational skills to learn technical specialties and apply it the modern business (Murray, 2007).