I feel kind of bad for parents and teenagers today. How's that for an opening line? Usually we hear empathic statements toward parents or teens, but not often both. But there is one area where there is plenty of reason to lump the two of you together, and that is college. I have been a part of higher education for almost 30 years, and after all these years I really don't know what this college thing is all about. And you might be gearing up to attend, or send your kid to, my institution!
Do you imagine yourself sitting in this room? Better think about that.
Image source: Flickr
I am exaggerating a little. I have some pretty clear ideas what its about, but I still feel bad for you, because in many ways the traditional model of higher education seems on the verge of collapse. Do you (parent and teen) represent the last generation of people who will feed into an outdated system? Or worse, will you be among the last to actually pay for college? Or perhaps more on just a curious level, will you be among the last to earn a degree mainly by sitting in classrooms? These questions represent some big changes looming on the horizon. There are active campaigns to press various authorities to make college free. Certainly something will have to give in regard to the high cost of education, and the typical debt it requires that no longer correlates with a guaranteed career. Because colleges are historically slow to react, adapt and evolve, online learning has languished, and is no where near what people predicted twenty years ago, but my insider perspective makes me think that is about to change. If there is one thing I think I can predict based on my experience it is that the days are numbered when students will still gather in brick and mortar classrooms.
If any of those statements seem extreme or unlikely, then you really are part of the audience I am considering with this post and series. Things are changing. Fast. If you are holding onto the idea you had of college 10, 20 or 30 years ago, then you might be on the brink of making a really big mistake.
Please don't assume I have given up on higher education, or don't believe in it.
If that were the case I probably wouldn't have the heart to write this. In fact, I have a very deep belief in high ed, and I believe it is one of the more essential institutions of a healthy society. To provide an analogy, I think it is like the small, family-owned farm. Small farms are an essential part of a healthy society as they have an impact on local economies, the ability to eat fresh, nutritious food grown with a minimal impact on the larger environment, etc. But I don't know if enough people value the role of such an institution, and my guess is that we will eventually only have massive factory farms that are driven by profit over sustainability. Higher education also plays a significant role in society; colleges employ significant numbers of people, and also contribute to having an educated populace that is better equipped to solve real problems. That's an intentionally vague statement, as things can get dicey when we try to be more specific, and explaining the role of education isn't really the purpose of this post. Suffice it to say that although I believe deeply in higher education, I also know it is flawed, needs to change, and is indeed changing. My goal is to help you, the next stakeholder, to better understand what college is, how it might benefit you or your child, and if you choose to do it, how to make the most of its potential.
Here are the most significant problems I recognize today (I will address each one in a future post):
- The "workplace" is changing much faster than higher education. This has probably always been the case, but the changes are happening faster and faster. Consider how unlikely it is that a typical college IT program can stay ahead of the curve with its own technology and educated faculty.
- Employers have unrealistic expectations of how college prepares students for the workplace. Colleges are not tech schools (but its almost funny how colleges are scrambling to sell themselves as such). Employers have been complaining for decades that they have to train their new college graduate employees, but they keep expecting colleges to provide that training. At the same time, surveys clearly reveal that what employers want most in new hires are good communication skills, but those are provided by courses and programs that are often considered unimportant, or have no return in Investment compared to STEM (when in reality its just that you can't measure the ROI of the most universally needed skills).
- Colleges are lying to parents and prospective students about what they provide. This relates to #2, as colleges attempt stay relevant, not by evolving their programs, but by re-branding their possibly outdated ones.
- College faculty are not self-reflexive enough about what they are providing students. I feel no joy in criticizing my own colleagues and peers, but I know from my own tough soul searching that we often simply fail to make the connection between what we hope for our students to learn, and how that will actually assist them in the future. In this regard, the more technical college programs enjoy a more direct connection (dental hygiene students at my college not only learn to clean teeth, but they also learn that public speaking skills are required because they have to be comfortable giving instruction to patients). In liberal arts, I think we often, in a lazy way, believe too deeply in our colleges mission statements; go here and achieve everything you want in life!
- The general public really has no idea what college is for, or what a student realistically gains from college. This is one of my big soapbox topics, and I share it with every class I teach. If I pay a dime for my own kids to attend college, it will be knowing that the primary purpose is so that they will end up a little more sophisticated (meaning able to talk to more people about more topics) then when they began. After 30 years, that's really the best I can come up with. On the surface it might sound ridiculous, and not worth the expense, but its actually, in my opinion, the real game changer for most people. Now, obviously someone who wants to work as an engineer in a chemical company needs more than just a little increased sophistication, and the science classes are going to provide some rigorously achieved knowledge, but except for a very specific group of majors, there are better ways to learn the essential information required by the job. If my kids end up wanting to study in a math or science discipline, they are going to get constant encouragement from me to take the liberal arts classes too.
- Some parents have an ego-attachment to their child's college affiliation, and ignore reality for the sake of being able to brag at cocktail parties. This one may be a little out of place on this list, but as long as I have anyone's attention I have to include it. I personally know people to whom this applies, and it makes me insane. Perhaps I am just too middle class and frugal to wrap my head around it, but I simply cannot understand how willing people are to waste 10s or 100s of thousands of dollars on higher education, when they know its not really what their kid needs, is prepared for, or wants. Back in the 70s, when the typical college bill was a fraction of what it is today, I can understand how wealthy kids just went to college because it was something to do after high school, and it really didn't matter if someone earned a degree in Creative Ways to Drink Alcohol with a minor (or dual major) in Risky Sex. A typical middle class family could fund that with savings, and maybe a minimal amount of debt. Today, parents are actually urging their kids to attend college, and sometimes those kids end up saddling absurd amounts of debt themselves. If you are sending your kid to college for your own ego, please at least pay for it too.
- As a subset of #6, less privileged kids are pressured to go into debt to keep up. We now have en entire generation that believed the lie that college would be worth the debt, and parents of the next wave of college bound students seem completely undeterred to repeat the crime. These students in the middle choose to attend four-year universities at a premium instead of saving thousands by attending community colleges. Even as the east-coast stigma of community colleges (which in my experience doesn't even exist on the west coast) has gradually waned, high school students still face incredible pressure to make a choice that will crush their souls more than the substandard jobs they will end up taking.
- As a subset of #5 and #6, the students at the lower economic level still end up screwing themselves. More often they qualify for federal financial aid, work harder to secure grants, and attend community colleges, but too often they do so simply because they buy into the idea that they absolutely need a college degree to get ahead in life. This often correlates with an attitude of "just let me sit here and get my degree, man," when they lack the personal motivation to learn. I have heard there is a higher percentage of disengaged students at universities than community colleges, and I always do enjoy a good blend of students in my classes, and I can say, there is nothing sadder than a community college student who mopes in the back corner because he thinks "the man" says he needs a certificate. At least his peer at a four-year university is getting drunk and laid at awesome fraternity parties.
In addition to that list of problems, here are the issues that I believe must be considered by anyone thinking of investing in college:
- The credibility of the college degree is going to decrease as new ways of learning essential information and skills are developed and embraced.
- The traditional economic model of higher education (student pays tuition to large institution) is not sustainable and will be replaced by something else.
- Online learning will completely replace traditional brick and mortar classrooms, which could impact the future perceived value of a degree earned in the traditional way.
- Students entering college during the next few years might pay more than anyone in the future. Imagine buying a car for $40,000, and then six months later your neighbors start coming home with cars they got for free from the government.
And, finally, here is a list of problems I experience every day as a professor. If you do decide that college is the right choice for you, you might want to consider these insights.
- Students waste their time going to college by thinking all they have to do is show up and pass courses in order to benefit from the degree they earn. College administrations are perfectly okay with you taking up space as they get your tuition money in advance. Today, thousands of parents are spending boatloads of money so their kids can waste four years and have only a degree to show for it, which usually results in frustration entering the workforce and reflecting that college was a waste of time. Vicious circle.
- Good students earn lower grade point averages simply because they don't know, or are not willing to play by some simple rules. For example, I would bet my life that a student who makes one office appointment with every professor they take each semester will gain .5 on a 4.0 scale, yet I estimate that less than 1% of students do it. One more example: treating a professor like she is a cashier at the dollar store, or ignoring the fact that a professor said he thinks walking into class late is disrespectful will most definitely suppress a GPA. This relates back to what college is actually for (sophistication), and learning to play the game is part of the education, and it will serve one for life.
- Students today, in general, seem to have very little patience for class discussions. I think it might have to do with the last decade's obsession with standardized testing. I don't give exams in my classes as they are not an effective means of learning to be a more competent communicator, and in the beginning of the semester I think most of my students appreciate hearing this. However, my sense later on is that they actually wish they could just take exams. Being awake and engaged enough to carry ones own in a discussion is just too much work. Maybe this is also related to the change I see now during the few minutes before class begins; in the past student used to talk to each other before class, but now its obvious they really prefer to be on their phones. So here's the deal. I get it that you might be a new generation of people who prefer electronic communication over face-to-face, and I will never be the old man who makes sweeping criticisms of an entire younger generation, but please realize that you are the one choosing to take traditional classes, and these classes are going to be taught by people who are from an older generation than yours. Most of your professors will enjoy what they do, and many will be quite skilled at running a class session, and they want you to be happy in their class. There might also be a few students in your classes who really want to be there and do enjoy engaging with the teacher and each other. If you show up to said classes hoping to just be left alone in the corner with your cell phone or laptop, understand that you are having a negative impact on the whole process. I mention this here as a problem because the dynamic is making it harder and harder to make sense of traditional classes, and I surmise it will begin pushing more professors to turn to online teaching. That is a good or bad thing depending on how you look at it, but in the short term it just sucks for the remaining, mostly older students, who still want the traditional experience.
That will do it for now. As I wrote, I will return with additional posts on this subject. With that in mind, if you have found this helpful, please feel free to suggest topics or ask questions in the comments. And please consider sharing this with any future students or parents who you think might benefit from this sort of information.
Please check out a previous post of mine about higher education and how I think it could be turned inside out by platforms like Steemit: Turning Higher Education Inside Out With Steemit.
About me:
My name is Craig and I have been teaching college courses for almost 30 years. My "career" began when I was still an undergrad and my professor would call me (on my land line) to tell me she was too sick to attend class and then ask me to teach that day's session. She knew I was planning to attend graduate school on an assistantship that would involve teaching my own classes, but it occurred to me much later that I was probably saving her from getting fired. (She had a chronic health issue that the college was not willing to accommodate, but it did end up taking her life at a relatively young age.) I did go to graduate school, and I have been teaching more formally ever since. For 17 years I taught part-time at various colleges around the US, while also working my way up from entry level positions to senior management in both retail and hospitality. I have taught at schools from La Salle University in Philadelphia, to Seattle Central Community College, to Chaminade University in Honolulu, and I have held jobs from Christmas tree salesman to general manager of a large retail mercantile, and busboy at a second rate diner to beverage manager at one of the largest hotels in the world. My relatively unique work experiences has provided some really good insight into what employers look for in new college graduates, and has helped me craft classes that are as relevant as I can imagine. I also believe I am an expert on the specific qualities students should hone while going to college to be as successful as possible beyond. Let's just say that while I was teaching part time all those years, I also hired, and fired, a lot of employees. More recently, I made the transition to full-time teaching ten years ago, and am currently a tenured Assistant Professor at Community College of Philadelphia, the second largest higher education institution in Pennsylvania, where I am a member of what I've been told is the largest English department in the United States. I was the lead writer of our current Communication Studies curriculum, have served as its Chair, and enjoy teaching communication courses to our 350 or so majors.
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This is such a refreshing post - it's going to be quite a few years before my daughter (nearly 5 yo) has to start thinking about this stuff, but my husband and I talk about it quite a bit.
He has a grade 3 education - he's severely dyslexic and ADD, and in small town British Columbia in the 70s they didn't know how to handle him, so he just quit and went to work. Not being able to read or having no formal education never stopped him though, he went on to build a very successful company in Toronto for over 15 years. Now he's a stay at home dad and is revisiting his education, studying for his GED.
I on the other hand have a BFA - but I went out of my way to find an affordable, polytechnic-style school so that I could learn the most that I could about the craft that I wanted to learn. I don't regret it, but I also came out feeling convinced that university is more for the connections you make than the actual academics (which are still important, don't get me wrong...), and is certainly not a necessity for all humans to get by. Of course my husband, who I met in my 3rd year at uni, was a factor in that realization.
But the people that I met, especially many that I went to high school with, just had an unhealthy expectation with what college was going to get them - everything they said 100% resonates with ALL the points you bring up.
The big thing that kills me is the expectation that a piece of paper makes one entitled to a high paying job - both from the employer and parental perspectives. Depending on the human, all that time and money spent on trying to get into college right out of high school would be better spent exploring the world, getting to know yourself and your deepest desires, and finding your place in this universe. College may or may not need to be a part of that grand plan!
Wow, you really nailed some key points! I was nodding my head repeatedly as I read your comment :). My kids are 8 and 6, and feel like my wife and I need to be thinking about it now so that we are better prepared for the inevitable choices we will have to make as a family. I don't think we have to obsess over it, or figure it all out any time soon, but just keep it a topic of conversation. She is a high school guidance counselor, so we see it from two angles. I think our focus right now is to seek out and stay open to alternatives. As much as I am lover of the liberal arts, I almost hope my kids will want to go into a science field because I have a feeling that's where we will see the bigger changes in education. College was originally more about liberal arts, and so I can see that side staying relatively the same into the future. But go to college to learn how to code? Um, no. (Not that that's what I mean when I say sciences).
I have heard many stories of people with less education doing fine in life. Its col that he now still has a desire to go back though. I think sometimes people take that positive life experience without higher education, and use it to argue that higher ed isn't important. You both seem to share my attitude -- definitely issues that need to be addressed, but still quite valuable, just maybe not for the reasons most people think.
I would be interested to hear your husbands response to some interview questions I was asking a little while back. I did some research by interviewing people in hiring positions, and based on the NACE survey that comes out alomst every year that says employers want new hires with better communication skills, I would ask the subjects if the agreed, and then to be more specific about what exactly they mean by communication skill (that is actually an absurdly abstract concept). This usually required getting them to share a real example. Every person I interviewed ended up describing scenarios where the central issue was empathy. One person said he hired a newly graduate network engineer from a very reputable college who threw tantrums in the office when people would show him how to do things like rent a car online. Long story short, I now include multiple approaches to learning about empathy in all of my classes.
I agree college is more about things like connections, along with what I wrote about simply being more sophisticated. This is especially true of schools like Penn State, where you can end being interviewed by an alum at just about any job anywhere in the country! They are like a virus :).
Your last comment is really my motivation for writing about this topic. I had been thinkign for a while about what I ought to be writing about based on my experience. The obvious answer is the subject I teach, and I have written about communication a bit, but in some ways I really don't want to spend more time with those topics. Then it hit me that a different angle would how I could offer my experience and insight to families, and that was a kind of big light bulb.
Well, thanks for the detailed and thought-full comment. I hope you will look out for future posts on the topic. With kids in the same age range it would be great to keep in touch as they grow and we get closer to graduation. Cheers!
Oh, are you still in BC? I lived in Seattle for 6 years, and spent quite a bit of time traveling around Vancouver, and through BC and Yukon to get to Alaska. My heart is partially still in that region.
huh, link me to that post - I'd be interested in hearing his responses as well, LOL! He ran a hazardous waste removal company in Toronto for 15 years, so the majority of his hires were people who couldn't get any other jobs. Many times they were people just coming out of prison, or people with few other skills who weren't afraid to get their hands dirty. He's gotten by throughout the year solely on his talking skills, tenacity, and resourcefulness. He quit that company finally though because he hated the job, and also happened to have a particularly bad colitis flare up.
Anyway, he definitely has a love-hate relationship with the education system. In a lot of ways I know he feels slighted because of not being able to read well, and that's his main motivation for getting back into his education. Despite all his experience, he really really wants our kids to go to college and ironically I'm the one who's like "well if they decide that's what they want..." hippie mentality, lolol
We're no longer in BC - we moved to LA a few years ago because I work in the film industry (in post) and the work is much more prolific and lucrative here. But yeah, nothing beats that pacific-north-wet beauty!!
I was really surprised, and kind of upset, the first time my wife said, "Well, maybe our kids won't even go to college." You can imagine how my reaction might be scripted for the big screen! Now its really funny to think how different I feel just a few years later. I mean, it would kind of suck, but sort of like if they chose to play lacrosse instead of run track (kind of nerdy thing in our family :)
hahah! Well for us it's art and music - don't get me wrong, I'm all for her wanting to be an astronaut when she grows up, but frankly we'd both be shocked if she doesn't go into art and music just based on her parents history... ;)
Hi @derosnec. I finally finished the 2nd post in my new series. Dropping a link here in case you are interested :)
https://steemit.com/life/@cstrimel/what-is-college-actually-for-2nd-post-in-the-series-why-college-an-honest-insider-s-guide-for-students-and-parents
definitely checking it out, thanks!
This is such a timely post, and so well thought out and presented. In many ways I feel that the college debt I accrued is the biggest mistake I have made in my life. My experience in the job market tells me that getting a degree means next to nothing compared to experience; and taking on added responsibility once inside a company, and taking advantage of internal training, is usually a faster track to upper level jobs than the master's level degree in business or whatever. And don't get me started on the traditional educational model. You would be hard pressed to design a worse method of education than to to ask students to sit still and listen while a professor speaks. Not all classrooms are like that, all the time, but it is still the standard model. And it ignores the way humans work - we have hundreds of thousands of years of evolutionary history honing our ability to learn through participant observation and hands on engagement. We have a tiny little span of human history spent learning by sitting still and listening and reading out of a book.
Looking forward to more posting from you!
This post was nominated by a @curie curator to be featured in an upcoming Author Showcase post on the @curie blog. If you agree to be featured in this way, please reply and:
You can check out the previous week's Author Showcase to get an idea of what we are doing with these posts.
Cheers - Carl (@curie curator)
@carlgnash, first let me say I am very humbled by the nomination. I follow @curie’s work and have considered working to become a curator, but I don’t think I’m up to the task at this point in my Steemit career. You can definitely feature my post and quote it any way you wish. I will send a blurb before I close out this evening. Thanks!
Author showcase post is up :)
https://steemit.com/curation/@curie/curie-author-showcase-april-5th-2018
@carlgnash, thanks again for the @curie showcase. It was definitely a nice boost to my motivation, in general, but in regard to this series as well. Here is a link to post #2 in the series, in case you are interested in checking it out. I know @curie spreads out the wealth, so dropping the link for your personal enjoyment :)
https://steemit.com/life/@cstrimel/what-is-college-actually-for-2nd-post-in-the-series-why-college-an-honest-insider-s-guide-for-students-and-parents
We recommended this post here.
I found this and your previous post about turning higher education inside out with steemit really interesting. I've worked in education, schools and university, although my real joy has been informal community learning and ideas like street corner universities. Nowadays, I earn my living through learning at work, usually in the real world of trying to do things rather than in a classroom.
I guess you will have come across people like Howard Rheingold and the work he has done about participatory learning and the Social Media Classroom. I always liked The Institute for the Future, especially their interesting maps, like this one about moving from educational institutions to learning flows:
Source: IFTF.
I notice they have a new publication Learning is Earning - I haven't looked at this yet, but it might resonate with some of your ideas.
I'm glad I found your post via @thesteemengine. I'm a recent college grad. Last May I completed a BA with a 4.0 and cum laude. I'm tunring 44 this month. I dropped out of school after 8th grade and resported to Raves, Drugs and Life. I now have 2 kids and run a business and can;t wait to get my ass into grad school next fall. Having said that, the education system in Amerikkka is BROKEN. My wife and I unuschool our kids. I give far more weight to kids learning arts and sustainability before the three R's, which most average kids can totally learn on their own, especially nowadays with the internet being what it is. My 7 year old is a math wiz, she taught her self algebra a couple of years ago without even knowing it exists. My 5 year old is teaching herself the ukulele and learning how to sing and freestyle rap. And she's good! I do love academia. But I'm glad I went at it as a grownup. I made some lifelong friends and I learned how to learn. I learned more about being myself among the ebb and flow of mainstream society rather than thinking that I have to self-zombify. I would love to see my kids take classes from well-meaning intelligent and talented individuals passionate about teaching their trade/craft/skill/talent. I would love to see my children immersed in an intellectually stimulating environment surrounded and engaged in stimulating relationships. That is the sort of environment that promotes learning and growth as a group rather than in competition for an arbitrary and insignificant socioeconomic status. We're growing food, foraging, learning to build and live sustainable. And we want our form of higher education to be one that facilitates sharing what we've learned with others. I'll be honest, I sped read your article once I got the gist of it. You seem the sort of professor in whose office I would wear out my welcome by the 3rd semester. LOL. Thanks for this, I'm bookmarking it for suture ref. I've been posting my best papers under the tag #academia. There are 2 on my blog now if you scroll. Funny, both articles I chose from @thesteemengine today were related to academia, the other is from @cygon. I guess today is a good day to post another paper. I'll dig up the one I got a $2000 scholarship for. Thanks for some seriously meaningful content. Keep it up!
Thank you for the detailed and thought-full post! I think what jumps out at me first about your comment is that you did the formal higher thing as an adult. This is partly why it is a little tricky to dissect the problem. Most of the problems I see with higher ed are not nearly that big of deal when the consumer is an adult who is motivated to learn (for any multitude of reasons) and willing to engage. I saw your last comment first when I was on my phone and didn't realize it came after this one. I agree, the system is not (necessarily) outdated, as it works quite well for many people. I would equate this loosely to the idea that public education is not failing, since around 85% of high school students do graduate, but that doesn't mean it can't be improved, sometimes greatly.
I appreciate what my kids are learning in their somewhat traditional elementary school. Although my son will get is school-issued ipad next year, which I hate. The only reason they have them is to facilitate the standardized tests, but then the teachers are pressured to make use of them in other ways. That's a digression, but my point is that I recognize that school serves a certain set of purposes, and I see my role as filling in all the gaps. You better believe my kids learning to sow seeds indoors and then put them out in the garden. We raise chickens for the primary purpose of teaching them about how food gets to our plates. We go on outdoor adventures where we learn about we can go a couple of hours without a snack and juice box (smh :). They are also by our sides as my wife and do things like run a town track club, participate in the pta, etc, etc. Everything is a learning possibility.
My one thought about your own kids finding those well-meaning teachers is that we do have to accept that there are always going to be people in professions that are less skilled than others, and sometimes are just out of place. My wife is a high school counselor, and she fights a lot of kids and parents who want to switch classes the moment they have an issue with a teacher. What is a kid like that going to do when they don't like a boss? All colleges have good and bad teachers, but a fully engaged student will seek out the better teachers. For example, I learned early in college that I should register to take classes from the exact teachers my peers complained about (within reason). In most cases they were complaining because the teacher cared enough about their job to challenge their students. Don't get me wrong, I am hoping for all sorts of evolution in education, but even today college does provide a wonderful experience -- it can just be lost on people who really don't want to be there, or simply don't understand what its even about. You should read the comment here from @derosnec as it has some overlap with what you wrote.
I will definitely check out your posts. Thanks fro dropping the links. I know some consider that taboo, but I think if we are honestly connecting on ideas it is not only appropriate but also just helpful.
I would love to stay in touch as our own kids grow up. Its going to be fun to see where we are in ten years.
Where are you planning to go to graduate school, and what is your area of study?
Cheers!
Post #2 in the series is now up. In case you are interested following along:
https://steemit.com/life/@cstrimel/what-is-college-actually-for-2nd-post-in-the-series-why-college-an-honest-insider-s-guide-for-students-and-parents
I don't believe the current system is Outdated. It is outrageouslying expensive, but it continues to prove effective. I believe technology will drive the cost downwards drastically in a few years
It is expensive, but most people qualify for all sorts of "discounts," which is something I hope to add to the series soon. Part of the "value" set by colleges is based on people making poor buying decisions. If more people started at community colleges, saving thousands while getting smaller class sizes taught by caring teachers, the four year schools would get the message and lower tuition. I am not arguing that the price isn't too high, but people who can't really afford it should seek better alternatives. That trend is already happening, with more high performing students choosing community college, so I hope to promote it. I agree technology will help. Thanks for taking the time to comment. If you're so inclined, do you have any specific thoughts about how technology will play a role? I just started playing with freecodecamp.org, which just makes me realize how many skills will be better delivered through free apps.
I have to agree that the college education model that is in place will and needs changing. We continue to educate at every level like we did here in the USA over 200 years ago in brick and mortar buildings. We don't travel in horse and buggy anymore, unless you are Amish, so why not move the education system forward?
The use of technology and the internet can reduce cost for the students and expense for the colleges and universities.
One of the inherent problems that no one wants to talk about is the fact that colleges really have no need to decrease cost for students because plenty of people keep paying the inflated tuition, even though there are available alternatives. So this would be like a car dealer that keeps raising prices, and for some reason people keep buying their cars even though there's a less expensive dealer down the road. You can't really blame colleges for charging a price that the average consumer is willing to pay. So, at this point, technology might save a school money, but they are likely to use that to further bloat their their administration with more special offices and salaried personnel that they can then use to market the school to those willing parents. I am not sure how we break out of the cycle unless more families wake up and start choosing community colleges, and other forms of education, at a higher rate.
We break out the cycle by teaching kids that debt is problem, being six figures in debt coming out of college and your job options are Mac Donald's or Burger King should break the cycle pretty fast. There are too many degrees being offered and pursued by these kids that leave them in the Micky D & BK scenario.
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This is a very informative and enlightening blog @cstrimel. Keep educating the world. Be bless. Shalom
Couldn't agree more with you.Totally agree with the problems that the university provides the students/parents these days.I am sure that if we dig deep enough we would find even more issues caused from the highest level of education.
I decided to feature your article in my weekly Flew Shot.
Thanks! Upvoted :)
One thing I felt the need to share with you is a little theory I have similar to Chomsky's language acquisition. I think reading and math is the same way. Especially if you read novels and non fiction with your kids.
I have deep respect for Mr. Chomsky. So, what is your theory?
Very thoughtful and informative. Thank you for this.