Kelcey Dykes
Timothy Nathan
Comp 1
02/10/2015
Overpricing Education In “Are Colleges Worth the Price of Admission,” Claudia Drefius and Andrew Hacker discuss the rising cost, yet the declining value of higher education. They address and subsequently propose solutions to problems such as student’s choices of majors, the neglect of students by the faculty, and the funds misused regarding the institutions to help colleges regain focus of their original mission- to educate the youth. One essential problem Hacker and Drefius address is that of students’ choice of major. Hacker and Drefuis state, “64 percent of undergraduate students are enrolled in vocational majors, instead of choosing fields like philosophy, literature or the physical sciences” (180). They go on to suggest that students choose “impractical fields of study” because they “are a wiser use of college and ultimately a better investment” (Hacker and Drefuis, 180).The authors believe that choosing more impractical fields will make students use their minds and lead to a more thoughtful, interesting and ultimately a more educated youth, and will be worth the money put into degrees. Another issue Hacker and Drefius claim is reason for the declining value of college is that of the faculty. They argue that teachers and professors are teaching only what they are supposed to teach, without being concerned if students are actually learning the information. Hacker and Drefuis suggest teachers become more “caring and attentive” to their students and if applied, will lead to students being challenged mentally which result in students’ academic performance excel. They also address the issues of compensation of the faculty and claim that tenure takes a big role in the work professor put into educating students. Hacker and Drefuis believe “professors who possess it have no reason to improve their teaching” (181).They argue that professors should not only have multiyear contracts that will encourage improvement of teaching, but should receive the same pay as ensconced faculty members that teach the same course. The last issue that Hacker and Dreifus address is that of the institutions. They
