Higher education has continued to evolve just as society has in its accessibility and purpose in surviving its students. In Mark Edmundson’s On the uses of a liberal education: 1. as lite entertainment for bored college students, he discusses how consumer culture has turned every aspect of higher education into a buyer’s market which students feed into. William Deresiewicz’s The Neoliberal Arts: How college sold its should to the market expands on this idea from the 90’s through a modern interpretation. Deresiewicz uses the term neoliberalism to discuss how universities are at fault for succumbing to societal influences of ideals based on monetary value. Deresiewicz’s definition of neoliberalism expands on Edmundson’s prior ideas of consumer …show more content…
The terms ‘neoliberalism’ and ‘consumer culture’ effectively portray a society focused on consuming and producing, both elements in a larger market based lifestyle. This market lifestyle revolves around living to produce things for financial gain while consuming things that will improve one’s life financially. This is reflected in a larger university society where universities sell themselves to potential students as being the most beneficial for their consumer needs while later grooming them with certain skills to have an advantage in the workplace. Thus the university atmosphere has become one centered on marketplace …show more content…
Edmundson states, “they are, nearly across the board, very, very self-contained… there 's little fire, little passion to be found” (Edmundson, 3). Edmundson’s critic of consumer culture includes criticism of the students themselves and their lack of passion. Deresiewicz’s interpretation of youth culture undermines this “little passion” by looking for this youth to change the current wave of university culture and its lack of learning. Although it is important to note, that Edmundson’s critique of youth was the students of the 90’s while Deresiewicz appears hopeful for youth of the 2010’s. The youth of today and those of the 90’s in historical context may differ in their passions for higher education and change. While this timeline puts perspective on each context of the work, it is not unfair to criticize Edmundson’s superior tone when looking at the youth of his time. Edmundson’s viewpoint of college students distances himself from those needed most to make his vision of a better university culture come
In the article “The Neoliberal Arts: How college sold its soul to the market,” William Deresiewicz describes how our modern day era of neoliberalism has impacted education. William Deresiewicz makes many valid points about our current education system. For example, he states how a larger percent of students are now majoring in fields that provide you with financial stability compared to that of fifty years ago. In this article there are some ideas I agree with and some I don’t.
In the essay, “College Consumerism Run Amok” authored by Kevin Carey describe how colleges are careless with their money. Throughout the essay, Kevin Carey explains why normal people think the average price of college tuition has risen across the United States. People believe college tuition is rising because students demand colleges to have “creature comforts”, such as luxury dorms, a fully operational gym, and a climbing wall. Also, that the creation for “creature comforts” in colleges has caused academic standards to decline. Yet, colleges market to students with these amenities instead of showing students comparable statistics: the quality of teaching, scholarships, and academic environment. Kevin Carey, in the end, sums up his idea with
Mark Bousquet in How the University Works: Higher Education and the Low-Wage Nation reveals the exploitive nature of higher education’s labor system striving to reap cheap labor from faculty, staff, graduate and undergraduate students. He does so by analyzing how graduate students are used as cheap labor to replace tenured faculty in teaching position, the emergence of corporate managements in higher education, and gives a detailed example of how undergraduates are being exploited by UPS under an education benefit work program (Bousquet, 2008). These points are covered in separate chapters and then in sections in the book which was published by NYU press in 2008; it is currently on sale for 22.80 in paperback or as an ebook for 9.99 and is 281 pages. While Bousquet’s work could have been an interesting and almost compelling read, such thoughts were quickly broken
Instead, Sanford J. Ungar presents the arguments that all higher education is expensive and needs to be reevaluated for Americans. He attempts to divert the argument of a liberal arts education tuition by stating “ The cost of American higher education is spiraling out id control, and liberal-arts colleges are becoming irrelevant because they are unable to register gains i productivity or to find innovative ways of doing things” (Ungar 661). The author completely ignores the aspects of paying for a liberal arts degree or even the cost comparison to a public university. Rather, Ungar leads the reader down a “slippery slope” of how public universities attain more funding and grants from the government, while liberal arts colleges are seemingly left behind. The author increasingly becomes tangent to the initial arguments he presented by explaining that students have a more interactive and personal relationship with their professors and other students. Sanford J. Ungar did not address one aspect of the cost to attend a liberal arts college or how it could be affordable for students who are not in the upper class.
College is a popular topic for most, and Sanford J. Ungar and Charles Murray have a unique way of explaining both their opinions. In his essay, “The New Liberal Arts,” Sanford J. Ungar advocates that the liberal arts should be everybody’s education, regardless of the fact that most Americans are facing economic hardship. The first misconception that he begins to explain is “a liberal arts degree is a luxury that most families can no longer afford”. Career education” is what we now must focus on.”
Tingle begins his article by refuting David Bartholomae’s “Inventing the University”, effectively based on his own social tragedy with the working and middle class. Tingle instantly increases his credibility on the subject as he has experience in both the working and middle class,
How imperative is it that one pursues a traditional college experience? Although it might appear that Charles Murray and Liz Addison are in agreement that the traditional college experience is not necessary for everyone, Addison provides a more convincing argument that higher education is necessary in some form. This is seen through Addison’s arguments that college is essential to growing up, that education is proportional to the life one lives, and that community college reinvents the traditional college experience. Not only does Addison have her own opinions about college, but Murray does as well.
In Charles Murray’s essay entitled “Are Too Many People Going to College?”, he discusses the influx of Americans getting a college education. He addresses the topic of Liberal Arts education, and explains that not many people are ready for the rigorous challenges a liberal-arts degree offers. In addition, Murray explains that instead of a traditional degree more people should apply to technical schools. He believes that college should not be wide spread, and that it is only for those who can handle it. These viewpoints harshly contrast with Sanford J. Ungar’s views. Ungar believes college education should be widespread, because a liberal-arts degree is, in his opinion, a necessity. He argues that a liberal-arts college is the only place that
In the article “College is Not a Commodity. Stop treating it like one,” Hunter Rawlings explains how people today believe that college is a commodity, but he argues that it’s the student’s efforts; which gives value to their education. Rawlings states that in recent years college has been looked at in economic terms, lowering its worth to something people must have instead of earn. As a professor Rawlings has learned that the quality of education has nothing to do with the school or the curriculum, but rather the student’s efforts and work ethic. Rawlings explains the idea that the student is in charge of the success of his or her own education, and the professor or school isn’t the main reason why a student performs poorly in a class. Rawlings
"It is a miracle that curiosity survives formal education" (Albert Einstein). Today, college classes are furthest from the minds of the very students enrolled in them; their curiosity and thirst for knowledge is dwindling. There is more importance placed on the interactions, parties, and other dorm life experiences than the degree needed for a successful career. In Rebekah Nathan's article, "Academically Speaking.." she explores the apathy that students feel towards college classes and suggests that the current structure places too much emphasis on personal experience. This system affords too much freedom to students by allowing them to decide what information is most relevant. Nathan voices many valid concerns surrounding the notion that classes are not as important as they once were. She correctly fears that the devolution of college's traditional learning ambition leads to a loss of class participation, preparation, and ultimately matriculation.
Rick Perlstein states in his article, "What's the Matter with College?" that college should be a time of self-discovery. He thinks of college as a gateway into to adulthood where everyone is suddenly gaining this new sense of freedom and finding their own identity. It was a time one to read their first banned book and see their first independent film. Perlstein seems to consider one's college years as the most defining years of their life. Today, however, students do not have the luxury of attending an institution solely in the name of self-exploration. The college experience is indeed different from what it once was, much to Perlstein's chagrin. No longer are students going to college for the college experience that was once known by past generations, instead, they are going for the opportunities promised by attending college.
The right and privilege to higher education in today’s society teeters like the scales of justice. In reading Andrew Delbanco’s, “College: What It Was, Is, and Should Be, it is apparent that Delbanco believes that the main role of college is to accommodate that needs of all students in providing opportunities to discover individual passions and dreams while furthering and enhancing the economic strength of the nation. Additionally, Delbanco also views college as more than just a time to prepare for a job in the future but a way in which students and young adults can prepare for their future lives so they are meaningful and purposeful. Even more important is the role that college will play in helping and guiding students to learn how to accept alternate point of views and the importance that differing views play in a democratic society. With that said, the issue is not the importance that higher education plays in society, but exactly who should pay the costly price tag of higher education is a raging debate in all social classes, cultures, socioeconomic groups and races.
...hance the College Experience." Student Life. Detroit: Greenhaven Press, 2011. Opposing Viewpoints. Gale Opposing Viewpoints In Context. Web. 27 July 2011.
Not So Much” had defended the actions of millennials of which had been misinterpreted as have other generations past. However, “A’s for Everyone” by Alicia C. Shepard had voiced the opposition’s side, focusing the student and often times parent harassment on professors for better grades of which student entitlement as well as the inflation of grades have been to blame. With these two articles, one could conclude that although this most recent generation has been misunderstood, certain factors has made this generation expect some comeuppance. To put it simply, Generation Y had been bashed by its elders for their behaviors seen as immoral, lazy, and even negligent in their roles of society. Although some may have proved to increase efficiency in the workplace as well as in personal relationships, the human trait of entitlement has, in fact, been ubiquitous, especially pertaining to academic
Light, J. R. (2001). Making the most of college: Students speak their minds. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.