Eng. 101
Professor Lisa Ison
Jan. 29, 2015
Is College Worth the Money
College education is not worth the money because of the poor quality. The quality of education has been in decline while the price of going to college has risen. Education for each student has gone up five times the rate of inflation since 1983. Graduating students aren’t prepared for the work place. College isn’t about learning skills anymore. It’s about paying to have a piece of paper to show employers.
One reason for the poor quality is that most of the curriculum has been diluted with unnecessary classes. Fundamental classes like Math, Writing, English and Computer Literacy are important. However some classes don’t actually contribute to a student’s …show more content…
An art history professor was upset by the statement and made the president apologize, but the president was right. The sentiment can apply to useless classes. There are too many classes that don’t pertain to real life jobs.
Another reason college is not worth the money is that it isn’t teaching. Research has shown the decline in quality of undergraduate learning in the United States. For instance the New York Times followed the progression of thousands of students from more than two dozen schools. For over four years their results showed that many of the students were not being exposed to difficult course work.
In a normal semester one third of the students didn’t have a course that required them to read more than 40 pages a week, and half didn’t take a course requiring them to write at least 20 pages over the entire semester. The average time spent studying was only about 12 to 13 hours per week – that is half the time a college student spent in 1960, according to the labor economists Philip S. Babcock and Mindy S. …show more content…
They could hold administrators accountable for assessing the progress of their students. Parents and students on college tours need to wake up as well. They should ignore the big pretty buildings and focus on the educational content. People need to be realistic about what they are capable of also. Teachers are trying to help students who aren’t smart enough to take the classes. As mentioned earlier catering to the students lowers the quality of the classes.
Another solution to this problem is technology. Online schooling will make many colleges cut costs and increase quality. Almost 7 million students were taking a class online in 2012. The nice thing about these courses is that it allows students to listen to teachers and complete course work without having to pay all the expenses that go with the brick and mortar costs. They won’t replace the traditional college experience but they will force college to adapt. Those that offer poor value for money will have to shape up, or disappear.
One thing is for sure these colleges will have to adjust their pricing and strategy. If they don’t, they will price themselves out of existence. The overall cost benefit for peoples futures will determine the usefulness of a college