Mr

Dustin Taylor

June 19th, 2008

English Composition II

Controversial Decision Essay

My Argument for dropping out of college

To enroll, or not to enroll, that is the question. At least that's question I found I was asking myself shortly out of high school. After graduating high school in 1994, I moved to Salina and began attending KSU Salina. I had always done reasonably well in school, so I had no reason think that the trend would not continue. I was very wrong. After one year, my grade point average was .9 and I was on academic probation. I had a very tough decision to make. Do I stay in school or drop out and get a job? I discussed my options at length with my family, and we came to very different conclusions. They wanted me to buckle down and continue with my education. It was my view that taking some time off and continuing my education at a later date may the best thing to do.

My parents argued that most people who drop out of school never return to continue their education. If I didn't go back to school, then all of the money they had spent up until that point would be wasted. They didn't like the prospect of shelling out a substantial amount of money and not receiving what they considered to be any amount of return on their investment.

My argument was that if I enrolled for another year of school, I would just be wasting an even larger amount of their money. I knew that I wouldn't succeed if I enrolled for another semester. I also let them know that if I went back to school, I would pay for it out of my pocket. Now that I have returned to school after a 14 year absence, I have plenty of money to pay for my own tuition and books. While working in many different fields over the last 14 years has not only given me an appreciation of the opportunity that was given to me by my parents, but also the chance to give myself that opportunity because of my financial stability.

When I first started college in 1994, I had no idea what I wanted to declare as my major. After very little thought, I decided on electrical engineering. I have other family members who have either graduated with a degree in that field or a field very similar. Those family members seemed to make good money and they seemed to be happy with their jobs. It didn't take long for me to realize that I wasn't interested in very many of my classes. I tried to think of a subject that I had a passion for, but I couldn't think of