Hi. Welcome to the blog for my IB English B class at Jur Hronec High School in Bratislava, Slovakia. Below you will find links to other websites and discussion questions. My students are required to comment on one of these postings every month and also respond to each other's comments. Feel free to add your two bits, but be aware that all comments are monitored before being posted.
Wednesday, February 2, 2011
Is college a rip-off?
Before you go, look at what you might be paying for. Here is a report on research findings which indicate that undergraduates in the U.S. show remarkably little improvement in their first two years of school. What do you think some reasons for this are? Is school really about teaching thinking skills, or are other (perhaps more important) things being learned? Are undergraduates too lazy? Are teachers or parents to blame? Do you think the results would be better in other countries if they were measured in this fashion? I know the language of this article is a bit advanced. It may help you to look at the comments at the bottom. Some make quite interesting points which you can also react to.
Even though I’m just a high school junior, I am really looking forward to college. I am sure that those who read this comment know me personally. I have to admit, I am not that perfect type of student. I’m not always paying attention, doing stuff I should be doing or spending my time studying and reading. However, I am trying; of course I may try harder, but it is not that easy for a child to plan his work and then keep the deadlines without someone looking after him. But I am sure, that if I was in college and it costs my parents $50,000 a year to pay for my education that I would certainly do better. $50,000 is way too much money to waste.
ReplyDeleteOne of the factors that suggest that undergraduates do not learn in college is social life without restrictions. When kids come to college it is usually the first time they are living without any restrictions, without their parents. And of course they will attend a lot of parties and will not spend a lot of time studying. But life isn’t only about work or studying (I haven’t experienced life in its true meaning yet, but I have heard that).
In people’s mind, especially in Asian people’s mind, you have to do well in school or otherwise you will not achieve success in life. But that is not entirely true. There are a lot of people who failed in school and ended up just fine. The most well-known and maybe a person a lot of underachievers relate to is Bill Gates. He dropped out of Harvard, the most respected university in the world and now he is doing just fine. I mean more than fine. I mean he is like 54 billion dollars fine. That is more money than any magna cum laude undergraduate can imagine. But he had to work hard to earn that money, so as undergraduates or graduates have to work hard to earn their respective degrees.
I think there is more to life than to be successful in college. College is supposed to prepare you for the “real” world but maybe you are already prepared for life. In that case, just drop out and pursue your dream. Pursue your happiness, wherever it is.
The decreasing level of US higher educational system might not be seen as a crisis by the author of the article or by most commentators, however, I am looking at this problem from a quite different angle. Unlike the author of the article, I am not concerned with the lack of qualification in the future career of the college students, since it seems to be satisfying. I am more worried about the moral failure of this society. Universities all around the globe are lowering their requirements, but if this trend continues, it cannot, in my humble opinion, lead to anything good.
ReplyDeleteAt this point, it might be appropriate to point out the sad truth of this problem being current not only in the United States, even though the article refers to the US particularly. In fact, I have been pondering about this problem for a few months now. It happened that the correspondent seminar I participate as a volunteer organizer in (for further information go to http://www.pikomat.sk) has recently experienced decreasing figures of participants. Moreover, the remaining participants have shown lowered level of knowledge gained when compared throughout years. This trend led me to a question why this is happening and what are the problems in our educational system. This might seem rather off-topic, however, I find it an accurate comparison with the happenings in the US.
Certainly, like participants of our seminar, one can always look up all the needed information and thank to the modern technology, it is a matter of seconds. But is it what we, the humankind, trying to achieve? I am under impression that people have been craving for unlimited knowledge for ages. And yet, in the times of the easiest access to it possible, not more but less is expected from students. Of course, it is important to learn how to look for important information. But when I imagine a population that knows nothing and relies on computer encyclopaedias I do not feel exactly overwhelmed by positive emotions. If we are heading toward such future, I feel nothing but fear and sorrow.
I sincerely hope that a change in the counterproductive behaviour of universities comes soon. In any other case, the majority of students will not be motivated and thus will not gain proper academic education. And I fear that can be followed only by total moral failure of our society in terms of knowing. And what a shame would it be, since there is so much to know!
According to the resent research made through American colleges and high-schools, undergraduates do not improve so much during the first semester of their school (45% did not improved significantly). However, their improvements at the end of the second year are usually not as high as was predicted. Some of them even do not improve at all (36%). “They are failing to develop the broad-based skills and knowledge.” – it was said in the article. But it is really an error made by students? And why are these results so general and applicable in almost all parts of America?
ReplyDeleteMost of this reality is possibly made by fact that they are improving in their particular subject but not in general skills. Another thing is that students are more working that studying and most of them understand the college experience more on social that on academic development. There are also differences among undergraduates, but these were created before the school and tend to persist (or even increase in some cases – for example the racial problems).
There can be a question if this problem is general or only appearing in some parts. The answer is that problem is not in particular school; there are differences among schools as well as among students within each school. The situation has changed apart from history. Today students do not assume to inherit work/factory/farm after their parents. Contemporary jobs require knowledge, learning, information, and skilled intelligence. Fortunately, these abilities could be learned in contrast to IQ.
America is said to be the most powerful nation in modern world. If it is or not, surely it has set the system and many countries followed their lead. However, till now some colleges educate more advanced citizens. What is the worst it happens in time when education is very important: “while the education is more important to America than ever before” – it was cited in the article.
American government talks about “a crisis in higher education”: the quantity of students released by colleges is still increasing but the quality of the students came from American campuses is significantly decreasing. There is also difference in what the college should mean for the students. On the one hand parents want colleges to provide safe environment where their children can mature and become successful adults. On the other hand students seek to enjoy the benefits focused much on social life while having high marks with little effort.
In general, I think that college students should be taught not only the subject they want to master, but from other subjects as well. Logically it should not be in the same amount but they should have some general knowledge (because there is high possibility that they would not work in the same section as they are studying). It is true that the system on high-school campuses is quite free. I think there should be higher requirements to students. Think about they are at college for about 4 years (and more in some cases – but not significantly) and they would just fly through these years and learn nothing. But this problem is mainly cause by “freedom” presented in campuses. Many students are first time far away from their home for longer time and there are no boundaries such as parent. They start to try things they have never tried before and therefore they study less. I do not want to say it is just an error made by parents, but there is also some portion from them as well from undergraduates. In my opinion this not only problem in America but it could be mostly seen there because there are many possibilities (or more than in other countries). To conclude, this article is not only about American undergraduates’ problem. This article deals with general problem. As always, it is not only mistake from one side, many made errors there. There is just too much of freedom at campuses. Students are being learned too little from general knowledge. I think the system should be changed in some ways.