This week's topic is about education. I feel that education system in America is one of the best in the world even though it is not as effective. We have the best schools, universities, and institutions that provide outstanding education. Schools such as Harvard, Yale, Princeton, and Columbia produce the world's best doctors, teachers, lawyers, engineers, and other specialists. Even though we have such prestigious universities and great schools, not everyone can attend because of financial strains or social problems. The irony behind this is that our education standard is below other countries and how our K-12 schools are failing. I think teenagers and young adults don't understand the value of free education for the public schools in America. Going to schools in other countries are consider privileges where you have to pay to attend and how parents sacrifice so much so that their kids can attend. I think American culture needs to change so that people view education differently. Money should not be a issue if people have the determination to succeed and want to learn. An issue I would like talk about is the price of education. I feel like today's education is over value and that tuition prices are too expensive. If want you're learning is not worth that much and how some classes are not useful for a career, then why learn it?
Should there be laws to regulate college tuition, so that it is not over price? I feel that what you learn in a community college class could be worth the same in a university class?
Also in class, we discuss whether some classes should not be required because it would not be helpful. So is it better to take your own classes versus having a well round education that the university choose for you?
In the book, Nonprofit Nation, it really focuses on the difference between public and private school. Most private schools are religious and the biggest religious affiliated school is Catholics. They stated that private schools tend to be college oriented and most graduate attend college, which shows the success of private schools to public ones. Another important stat, why private schools are more effective is how much money they spent compare to public schools, average private school per student was $4,783 versus public schools of $7,703 (O'Neil). Obviously money is not the issue that effects our education system. I attend a private school for 3 years and it was a huge difference for me in terms of learning. My parents saw how ineffective the public education system was and decided to send me to private school to improve my education. I thought I was smart in my 5th grade class but I was just average like everyone else, and going to private school gave me a huge lead in my education. When I went to public high school, I was ahead of everyone and saw how it was disappointing that kids were just learning basic algebra during their freshmen year.
Here is a video about education reform and how Obama wants to raise the standard of education.
In the article, “Fed Up at the University of Phoenix” that I read, it clearly shows that for-profit schools such as the University of Phoenix takes advantage of student's money and provide a poor quality education. I have seen many of their ads online and I can tell this school is a joke/scam because it seems more like a business, then a learning institution. It's true that by running colleges like business, it could promote growth, which would benefit students through better resources but the idea concern is not for students but for the college's profit. These online colleges need to be regulation since they are run like a business and Wall Street needs to get out of this industry. Education shouldn't be profit off.
An question I like to bring up is should online and for-profit colleges be monitor by the Department of Education? They would be regulating that students are given a fair education and the tuition money be properly used.
You mention that there needs to be more of a culture of education in our country. I think that in line with that is restoring the Department of Education to a larger budget contrary to the House Republicans draconian cuts. (http://www.huffingtonpost.com/sherman-yellen/gop-cuts-are-deadly-wound_b_825137.html). I feel that in American culture we often chase the money, it is no surprise then that doctors lawyers and business executives are really the main career choices college graduates make. Some how restoring the culture for teachers might require giving them more pay.
ReplyDeleteIt would be helpful if there was some form of federal oversight for the for-profit colleges. Afterall, they are receiving most of their income from the grants like the Pell grant. I feel as though predatory educational institutions is no different than predatory health insurance or predatory home lending and thus requires due regulation.
You pointed out that many Americans do not value the education system and I think that in many cases that is a correct assumption. Although there are many examples of failed public schools, there are also examples of good ones with high achieving students. However, as is the case with Kaplan and the University of Phoenix, bad press is more appealing than good press so the success stories are less commonly heard. Free education is definitely a privilege, so I agree that the culture around how we view education should change to be seen in a generally more positive light.
ReplyDeleteIn our class discussions this week many people expressed their opinion about education and it seemed that a lot of people viewed it as a means to end, rather than an opportunity to obtain a more well rounded education. I think that if education was more affordable, that view would not be as common. If people did not have such financial stress surrounding general education courses, they may be able to enjoy rather than resent those courses.
In answering your question about whether a university is better than a community college I feel like each has its ups and downs. I thought I was getting a better value when I went to CC as the class size was small and the instructers were way better than having a GTF teach the class. So for the first two years I would reccomend a CC. The only parts about it that made me feel weird were that a number of my classmates were adults but they truely cared about their education. There was no one flipped onto facebook at the CC and everyone was there for themself rather than a peice of paper. Further, the CC had a number of clubs just like thee U of O still giving it a campus feel. The experience of taking upper division classes is really the only time I feel the benefits of having a professor with a Phd teaching a subject they are knowledgable about. It just seems that this experience is valuable but not in every situation and many cost saving measures could be put in place.
ReplyDeleteIn regard to you mentioning elite private universities, I feel that forthe normal person to gain admission it wouldbe extremely hard. Rather, those from elite prep schools would gain admission. Additionally, for graduate programs, it would be harder to gain admission from a school such as U of O than an elite private school which would cost even more. It seems that in too many cases you find yourself paying for a name rather than quality.
Like every other publicly funded instiution in the United States, education is in dire need of reform. However, what we left out in our discussion yesterday was how many exceptional students there are. Yes, the drop out rate is unacceptably high, yet millions of qualified American teenagers clamour to go to top ranked schools like Harvard, Cambridge, and Stanford. The supply of well-educated, deserving students far outweigh the demand posted by elite colleges and universities. So incomparison to the education system 60 years ago, Americans have a come a long way. Pointing that out, we can still do a lot better in providiing a quality education to those who don't fall in that same category of exceptional applicants.
ReplyDeleteIn response to your question about narrowing down classes according to one's focus/major, I think that's one of the main factors separating us from the European and Asian education systems. We are given the opportunity to explore different avenues of academia by taking an art and an engineering class at the same time if we please; thus, giving ourselves an array of options to choose from. Many students often graduate with majors they had not planned on pursuing before their freshman year of college.