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      <title>11A - Argumentative Text &quot;Choosing not to go to university&quot; by Anabela Gonçalves</title>
      <link>https://padlet.com/gonc_anabela/s34uhqnqdn56</link>
      <description></description>
      <language>en-us</language>
      <pubDate>2017-01-09 08:35:36 UTC</pubDate>
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         <title>José Braz e Rafael Matos</title>
         <author>zenunobraz</author>
         <link>https://padlet.com/gonc_anabela/s34uhqnqdn56/wish/145930485</link>
         <description><![CDATA[<div>&nbsp;Mom, dad, I have something to tell you. I have been thinking hard about, this and I have come to a decision. I’ve decided to, when I finish high school, not going to university. Before you get all judgmental, I sincerely ask you to read my arguments, which have helped me to make my mind about this.<br><br>First of all, you don’t need a college degree to be successful. Some piece of paper isn’t the same as having talent for something. If you have talent, you have a job guaranteed, but if you have a college degree, you have nothing. Look at Steve Jobs, or Bill Gates. They have dropped out of college and they picked up their gifts to achieve something, to be someone in life. Now look at our neighbour. She worked hard for 5 years to get her Master Degree in Chemistry and what is she doing now? She is picking phones at a call-center.<br><br>And why is college so expensive? We are basically getting screwed in order to get a degree. We aren’t earning money, because we haven’t any formation, but we are dropping every dime we have to fill the institution’s pockets. And for what? The lessons are the same; the teachers are the same fossil as ever. Look at the US: students are asking for loans, which they cannot afford. In other words, you are digging a money grave that you get for life, just to be called engineer or doctor.<br><br>&nbsp;I would also like to travel. If I go to college, I get stuck in and endless routine of getting up, losing one or two hours in traffic, going to school and repeat. Where is New York? Where is Stockholm? Where is Amsterdam? Well, it isn’t certainly at a campus or a big classroom. People who have travelled at least have memories. They have had contact with other contacts. At college you only have contact with other miserable guys with the same dead-end life goal as you.<br><br>Finally and after you have seen my opinion in this subject I just beg you to please understand my decision.&nbsp;<br><br></div><div>&nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp;&nbsp;<br><br></div>]]></description>
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         <pubDate>2017-01-09 09:46:14 UTC</pubDate>
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         <title>Carolina, Inês, Maria</title>
         <author></author>
         <link>https://padlet.com/gonc_anabela/s34uhqnqdn56/wish/145930621</link>
         <description><![CDATA[<div>                I don’t want to go to university. Should I be what society wants me to be? Should I let my parents and teachers decide my future? Or should I live my life the way I want to live it? Just because I don’t want to go to university doesn’t mean I don’t have a plan for my future.  I thought about this a lot, and I think the best choice for me is not to go to university. But don’t worry, I’m not going to be sleeping on your couch forever. <br><br></div><div>           University doesn’t prepare us for real life. Life is not about what we learn in a classroom, it’s about new experiences, meeting new people and discovering new cultures. I will not stop learning. I will find knowledge in the world. Besides, going to university keeps me dependent, you would have to pay for me to go. <br><br></div><div>                I know that university opens a lot of doors, and that you think is the best option for me to go now, but going to university doesn’t mean I’ll automatically get a job, or that I’ll like what I’ll be doing, or that I’ll be good at it.  This doesn’t mean that in the future I won’t go, maybe it will make sense for me someday, but right now I know I want to do, and it is not to go to university. Plus, there are a lot of successful people, like Mark Cuban, that didn’t go to university.<br><br></div><div>                There are so many people going to the office every day, they never smile, they are not happy. They made the “right choice” (they went to university, they got a degree) and now they hate what they do. I want to be brave enough to choose happiness. I want to love my job.  <br><br></div><div>                Don’t you think I’m scared? I’m terrified. I’m terrified that it won’t work out. It would be so much easier to do what everyone else is doing, but that’s not what I want to do. But a diploma doesn’t define my intelligence. I need your support.  I am who I am, and I fell comfortable in my own shoes. A degree will not shape me as a person, I know me, I don’t need three more years to find myself. <br><br></div>]]></description>
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         <pubDate>2017-01-09 09:47:10 UTC</pubDate>
         <guid>https://padlet.com/gonc_anabela/s34uhqnqdn56/wish/145930621</guid>
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         <title>Alexandra e Paula</title>
         <author>alexandracorreia2016</author>
         <link>https://padlet.com/gonc_anabela/s34uhqnqdn56/wish/145930971</link>
         <description><![CDATA[<div>Nowadays, the majority of the students aspire to go to university to follow and study the right courses that will help them achieve every educational and career goal. Regardless everything, all parents’ biggest desire is to see their child having a better life than they have ever had.&nbsp;<br><br></div><div>Going to college provides a higher education and thus a better way of living in the future. Despite all the stress that it might cause in one being, people will start seeing you as someone really clever and who they can trust when it comes to work and responsibility. Besides this, in other hand, some of those who go to university spend years of their lives working for something that they really want and, eventually, end up unemployed. Going to college does not guarantee success and it costs too much.&nbsp;<br><br></div><div>&nbsp;But what about the other people? People who don’t see themselves studying hard for something that they don’t really want to do. People who weren’t given the ability or possibility of being accepted in an university. Should they be seen as someone inferior, dumb or not capable of working? That would be an ignorant and inconsistent opinion since every one of us has a big importance in society. What if everyone started going to college, studying, working hard to have a good and well paid job and then, eventually, realize every professional goal… Everyone would occupy important positions such as doctors, clever engineers or even qualified judges for the courts, but what about all the simplest tasks? Who would make our bread, clean the streets that we leave dirty without even care, or even civil construction? These people are as needed as a doctor or other job that requires a higher qualification.&nbsp;<br><br></div><div>To sum up, going to college should not be a must but a maybe. Everyone’s choice should be equally considered since it is our future that is in hand.&nbsp;<br><br></div>]]></description>
         <enclosure url="" />
         <pubDate>2017-01-09 09:49:28 UTC</pubDate>
         <guid>https://padlet.com/gonc_anabela/s34uhqnqdn56/wish/145930971</guid>
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      <item>
         <title>Anas </title>
         <author></author>
         <link>https://padlet.com/gonc_anabela/s34uhqnqdn56/wish/145931011</link>
         <description><![CDATA[<div>&nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; As you all may know we are pressured to have good grades in order to get into college, but is it really that important to go to college? Some say going to college is really essential to have a stable life and a better job, others say you can get the same result without going to college.<br><br></div><div>&nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; Deciding not going to college and getting a job makes young adults get their own money and as a result of that they get more independent of their parents and start paying for their living expenses. Since they don’t have loans and tuition to pay it’s easier to start a living on their own, and many take that option as they can’t handle a job while studying. College can also provide independence as they are taking important decisions but still depend on their parents for some living expenses even if they got a job.<br><br></div><div>&nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; Going to college is a really important decision and you have to be certain of it, but many students are still undecided of what they want to do, and because of that they decide not to go. If you don’t know what to do with your life the best decision may be not go to college because, even though you still learn something if you choose any course that interests you, at least you don’t have to pay a ridiculous amount of money to do something against your will, if you find out that you don’t like the course you chose.&nbsp;<br><br></div><div>&nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; Once you hear the word college you may associate it with a stable life and a good job, but there are many examples of successful jobs that you don’t need to go to college. In our decade YouTube is a huge it and it’s growing bigger and bigger in the blink of an eye, and the amount of successful people who make content for this website gave up on college and still earn a great quantity of money, more money that some that have a college degree.<br><br></div><div>&nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; In conclusion, going to college doesn’t really affect your living quality if you are capable of making responsible choices and choose the right path.<br><br></div>]]></description>
         <enclosure url="" />
         <pubDate>2017-01-09 09:49:42 UTC</pubDate>
         <guid>https://padlet.com/gonc_anabela/s34uhqnqdn56/wish/145931011</guid>
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         <title>Beatriz Cavaca e João Mateus</title>
         <author>tiagoti</author>
         <link>https://padlet.com/gonc_anabela/s34uhqnqdn56/wish/145931516</link>
         <description><![CDATA[<div>Students usually go to college after finishing secondary school, opening more opportunities to the future. However, that doesn’t occur all the time. Getting a college degree won’t guarantee you a successful life. The same happens when we’re talking about getting a job without a college degree. But when we’re talking about advantage, the second option will surpass the first one.<br><br></div><div>            Normally, people associate college with independence, freedom and a better life and they’ll always think that every other method won’t get them anywhere. What if I told you that isn’t always true? Firstly, you don’t need college to learn how to be an adult and find a way forward in your life. If you want to get some independence get a home (with your parents paying it) and do the things by yourself, at least you don’t have to pay the fees. That brings us to another topic. Getting a College degree is expensive (whether we’re talking about money or time) and it won´t guarantee a job for you, even if you get a job, it won’t be assured you’ll get the job you want.<br><br></div><div>            As I said early, people think that other method that doesn’t involve college isunreliable. However, going to college or getting a job right after secondary school are similar in relation to get a successful and a productive life, except the price topic. And there’s panoply of jobs that don’t need college degree and some of them are sustainable, well paid. Game development, for example, has been successful in the market. Toby Fox raised 50 000 dollars to create Undertale, a game that has been fruitful until today. <br><br></div><div>To conclude, the idea that when you go to the college you’ll obviously get a good paid job is completely unreal. Besides, education itself is ineffective. The system is many centuries years old, and a few has changed. Who can rely on an old system?  There’s no need to go to college, the only need you have is to get a joyful life.<br><br></div>]]></description>
         <enclosure url="" />
         <pubDate>2017-01-09 09:53:30 UTC</pubDate>
         <guid>https://padlet.com/gonc_anabela/s34uhqnqdn56/wish/145931516</guid>
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      <item>
         <title>Beatriz Tomaz nº5 and Marta Ortiz nº15</title>
         <author></author>
         <link>https://padlet.com/gonc_anabela/s34uhqnqdn56/wish/145932253</link>
         <description><![CDATA[<div>After weigh the pros and cons I believe going to college isn’t the best option. Through the years we were always though that going to college was the best option, but if you really think hard about the subject you can clearly see that the need to go to college is nothing but a fabricated misconception of society. It has no real use in ones future and therefore is unnecessary.&nbsp;<br><br></div><div>If we think about every single person that has made it big in life, we see a clear pattern. Most of them are university dropouts. It seems that in the real world, the world outside of the fantasies of success feed to us for 12 years, a college degree is not equivalent of big achievements. Of course it’s nice to picture a life of non-stopping incoming work after you’re done with U.N.I. It gives a sense of safety and hope for the future. But it’s clear that those who drop everything and star making colossal changes of their own in the world, like Steve Jobs said, “the crazy ones”, are the ones who actually become successful. So, with that, all I can say is university doesn’t necessarily mean job opportunity or success.<br><br></div><div>&nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; We can take as an example well-known celebrities like Oprah Wifrey, Steve Jobs, Bill Gates, Mark Zuckerberg, Henry Ford, Amy Adams and Walt Disney. All of these people have decided that university just wasn’t for them and have become standard modes of achievement. Built networks of millions of dollars and changed the world. Apart from providing a great future for themselves they shaped the world in their time and for generations yet to come. All this without any help from the educational system.<br><br></div><div>&nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; On the other hand, the money you spend pursuing a degree is not compensated afterwards. We spend thousands just to go to college, only to end up in the same job that we would end up in with no degree. It’s seems obvious that college it’s not worth the money we spend and the debt we are left in. Besides we already proved that a good career doesn’t necessarily involve a degree. It’s quite pointless to waist all that money and start your adult life with so little that you can’t build an empire of your own. Instead it seems wiser to simply save that money and put it to good use, in the image of the ones like Mark Zuckerberg and Bill Gates that invested their money and created something grander than each of them individually.&nbsp;<br><br></div><div>&nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; We can see our theory being put to use in the millions of college students that live in inferior conditions just so that they afford college. They live in degrading apartments and pursue in bad eating habits because of how sort they get in terms of money. We see this all around us, young people struggling to pay the bills just so they can have piece of paper that said they are good at5 something (it having no real value). What better example of our thesis than real people with real lives that are seen struggling because of an insignificant (in the world we live in) college degree?<br><br></div><div>&nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; One other aspect that is not referred to often is that college might not make you any smarter. It is implied that if you go to college you will become a mastermind and know everything on the subject you study. That isn’t necessarily true and a lot of this university doesn’t improve in any way the students critical thinking, reasoning or writing skills.<br><br></div><div>&nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; This was proven by a study released in 2011 that showed that 45% of students didn’t cognitively improve in the first two years and, after four years, 36% showed no significal gains.&nbsp;<br><br></div><div>&nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; To conclude, we can obviously infer that going to college doesn’t necessarily mean having a guaranteed job. Based on the examples of the ones that made in big without a degree and on the pros and cons of getting a higher education, it doesn’t appear to be necessary and you don’t seem to lose anything by not going to U.N.I. Of course there are advantages of going to colledge but they appear to be in the shadow of the disadvantages. Basically, it’s better to spare ourselves, our money and our time and simply not go to university.<br><br></div>]]></description>
         <enclosure url="" />
         <pubDate>2017-01-09 09:57:23 UTC</pubDate>
         <guid>https://padlet.com/gonc_anabela/s34uhqnqdn56/wish/145932253</guid>
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         <title>Diogo Mendes Nº7 and Gonçalo Dias nº12</title>
         <author></author>
         <link>https://padlet.com/gonc_anabela/s34uhqnqdn56/wish/145933639</link>
         <description><![CDATA[<div>I´m Garcia Fernandez&nbsp; and I will be 18 years old in the next month. Being now in my last year at school, I have to start making decisions. One of them is “going or not going to college”. After a long time thinking about the benefits and reasons not to go to I concluded that it doesn´t pay off in my situation. My toughest problem is that I have to explain to my parents who already have in mind that I´m going to university my choice.<br><br></div><div><br>My first reason is that nowadays everyone has got a degree, it´s starting to become&nbsp; a common and ordinary thing, and many of those who have&nbsp; a degree are working in places like McDonalds or are unemployed. Then we see people who never went to college having success in their careers. This doesn´t make sense, if they went to college they should have a better job and earn big wages in contrast to others. Steve Jobs, Richard Branson and Dave Thomas are prove of people who never went to college and are now successful.<br><br></div><div><br>Being that&nbsp; my parents aren’t that&nbsp; wealthy, and as I said university can be something that doesn´t payoff in some situations, I shouldn´t waste all that money&nbsp; in those years in college.<br><br></div><div>Many think of college as an investment for making more money further down the track. If that is the only reason it will probably go wrong. We should only do it for the love in the job we want to have; because we dream of having a job in a certain area not because of an economic decision. I prefer to use that money in a really investment in my opinion like starting a business.<br><br></div><div>My parents don´t understand that I don´t need college to learn. There are other ways, sometimes more practical and you end up getting more experienced than college students and becoming&nbsp; more prepared to the world of work. You want to learn something you can do it with a library card, an internet connection or a job, you can rise from the bottom to the top in a career if you´re willing to learn and work hard.<br><br></div><div>In sum, in today’s world success depends only in ourselves, we can either go to&nbsp; college and make it big in the world or not go at all and achieve the same thing. Basically, you becoming someone of importance, only depends on how hard you work and how much you want it. Follow what you believe in and do your best knowing that university isn’t equivalent of success. &nbsp;<br><br></div>]]></description>
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         <pubDate>2017-01-09 10:05:27 UTC</pubDate>
         <guid>https://padlet.com/gonc_anabela/s34uhqnqdn56/wish/145933639</guid>
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