Colleges and universities in the past were limited to one type of student, upper class males, but now colleges and universities are centers of education for people of all backgrounds. People from different backgrounds and opinions congregating at these centers of education, forced many colleges to evolve. By giving colleges and universities a large variety in their students, it forces them to ditch a standard on education. Due to this fact, all colleges and universities must deliver an assortment of options in the effort of giving everyone the best education possible. Evolution for colleges and universities did not end there; due to the birth of the world wide web most colleges and universities now give the option to enroll in online classes. This rise in online education spawned a new form of university, fully online universities. Author Graeme Wood presents in his essay, “Is College Doomed?” a wonderful example of what a college or university should not be. Graeme Wood describes Minerva, an online university with the goal of stripping education to only the essentials. Minerva wants to take away campuses, sports, lectures, and most amenities leaving only their version of education. Minerva’s goal to take away options for students reduces their reach, leaving only a select few with the desire to join Minerva. Limiting students only leads to a worse education, especially since the students are the ones paying for the version of education they desire. College’s most valuable asset is their plethora of options in living, community forming, studying abroad, and variety of classes, this aspect of college in particular is what creates a perfect education for any student.
Living options allow students to have a comfortable educational e...
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...ng their methods against scientifically determined best practices, and having students attend university in a different place every year are pointed towards the correct direction. The most important aspect of education is having students crave education. Curiosity is the greatest force for education. “As Lewis explains, ‘Plutarch said the mind is not a vessel to be filled but a fire to be lit. Part of my worry about these Internet start-ups is that it’s not clear they’ll be any good at the fire-lighting part’ (Wood 516). Speaking to any great scholar would make this point clear. Great educators practice in academia for the love of their subject. Sparking curiosity and improvement in someone will steer them throughout their life. Developing this motivation is the most complicated aspect of education. Motivation develops seemingly by accident but persists continuously.
What stands out about American universities today? Is it the academic opportunities offered to students, experienced faculty, or strong sense of community? Or...perhaps they have lost their focus. It is not uncommon for universities to focus their efforts and budgets elsewhere; by building state of the art gyms, for example, remodeling luxury dorms, grooming campuses, or creating more management positions. College students and professors alike are subject to the nationally occurring changes in higher level education. Colleges are becoming commercialized and tuition is rising, but is the quality of education improving? In “Why We Should Fear University, Inc.”, Fredrik DeBoer is able to provide a personal take on the issue of corporate domination
The article, The Value of Higher Education Made Literal by scholar Stanley Fish focuses on sharing his opinion of higher education and what it has become in recent years. Mr. Fish’s argument is essentially over the “logic of privatization” where students are pictured as “investors” or “consumers” in courses of study that maximize successful employment outcomes. He also believes arts, humanities, and social sciences are overlooked while study courses in science, technology, and clinical medicine are prioritized. Fish also strongly believes the value of higher education has changed due to the desires of students over time, desires of becoming extremely financially secure enough to buy more than needed to justify years of money and hard work applied when in school.
The multiple choices students have today in college have made the university a party environment, resulting in complacent students. Mark Edmundson raises important questions and makes valid points in this essay that are worth thinking about. If people don’t take a look at our present college system and start thinking outside the box, the college education system will continue on its downward spiral of consumerism. It is fun to graduate high school and go to college to party and to have a comedic professor, but there is so much more to college then having fun. People need to realize that by challenging student, students can then start to recognize their own potential end become better for it. Learning and utilizing the information that is being taught in college is essential. “Everyone is born with their own mind, all that is left to do is break out of the stereotypical college student mold, and use
More people are choosing to further their educations, since a larger portion of employers are wanting workers with higher education degrees. Many are questioning whether an online or traditional institution is a better route. While some may say online institutions are essentially better in this day and age, in Johann Neem’s, “Online Higher Education’s Individualist Fallacy” he points out why a traditional college is more often the better route. By implementing an intellectual appeal on an audience that is craving a higher education and looking for the best way to do it, he exceptionally shows that traditional college campuses are not dead in the slightest.
In recent years, under the combined force of technological innovation and market operation, our society has made remarkable progress in improving the quality of education. Universities as the major institutions of higher education are inevitably impacted by the social advancement. In his essay, “On the Uses of a Liberal Education,” Mark Edmundson argues that “university culture, like American culture writ large, is, to put it crudely, ever more devoted to consumption and entertainment, to the using and using up of goods and images” (44). He claims that college education gradually loses its traditional culture under the influence of social changes. Yet university as a significant element in society cannot be viewed separately from that society. A process of dynamic reallocation in which educational resources are redistributed towards
In a letter to columnist Ann Landers, a college professor wrote about his views of the education system. He feels that universities have turned into businesses where teachers are just looking for money and students are just looking for a piece of paper with a title on it. He says that the students of today think they are automatically entitled to a degree because they pay tuition (Depressed Old Prof. 3-B). Adding to the profit motive for schools is the government which, for the p...
In the article, “Revolution Hits the Universities” (2013), author Thomas Friedman argues that massive open online courses (MOOC’s) that are being developed by several prestigious universities are going to revolutionize learning. Friedman suggests that with online courses, learning can be extended to all types of students while pushing the physical boundaries of the classroom. The vast benefits include access for minorities such as those with low income, learning disabilities, and from poor countries, but additionally also benefits students and professors existing in the university system. Friedman’s target audience in “Revolution Hits the Universities” is middle class North American readers who are familiar with the current education systems
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.
At traditional colleges today, students live on campus at some point of their academic career and one physically attends lectures. In “The Future of College?”, Graeme Wood reports Minerva College as an alternative to traditional colleges that eliminates the problems in higher education. Minerva is a revolutionary college that challenges the traditional way of learning by operating online and minimizing the traditional campus size. In “Why We Should Fear University Inc.,” Fredrik De Boer discusses the way colleges are mismanaged and has led to students feeling entitled to avoid discussions due to their feelings. He also points out the continuous competition, to keep the appearance of institutions updated, is being funded by the costly of tuition. The Minerva College experience could replicate the traditional college student experience at FAU because although it is online, students are forced to interact with teachers and one another. Also, the tuition is less costly than at traditional colleges and guarantees diversification.
In their book Paying for the Party, Armstrong and Hamilton discuss how universities take class differences and class projects of distinct women to define what will be their college experience. In their book, Armstrong and Hamilton define class projects as individual and class characteristics that defines a person’s agenda and class- based orientation. Hence, people with similar class projects, not only shared the same financial and cultural resources, but also the same expectations toward school. (Armstrong & Hamilton, 2013). As a result, Armstrong and Hamilton claims that students with similar class projects end up becoming a collective constituency and a representative group for the university, whom in turn must take their interests to form a college pathway for them. Therefore, a college pathway for Armstrong and Hamilton refers to how universities are able to take successfully the interests, class characteristics and expectations of students to mold within the organizational and architecture context of the school. In a way, each college pathway is built not only to represent, but also to provision and guide the different types of students in a college.
Students go to college in search of knowledge, a new lifestyle, and the hope of a job after graduation. For many young adults, college is a rite of passage into an independent, mature new lifestyle. Not only is higher education a rite of passage, for some, it is also an opportunity to have a better life. Overall, college is a wonderful part of many people’s lives, yet the way the college education system is conducted wastes students time and money. College is basically composed of two parts: general education classes and major specific classes. General education courses are the source of wasted time and money, and should not be required of students. A few of the problems associated with general education classes are that they are basically a repeat of high school, unfortunately they can be the demise of students, they are costly, and they waste time.
What if I am too broke to afford to go to college? College is expensive and the costs are continuing to rise. I ask myself this question everyday and wonder is going to college actually worth it. The future of higher education is continuing to evolve and I believe that college is affordable to anyone who truly wants to go. The future of traditional college is in jeopardy. Sometimes going to college and spending the money is not always the best option.
Students come to college expecting a life changing experience to happen. A commitment to higher education is a big step in discovering their potential as a person. College can be the beginning of many things, including a first taste of adult life for many incoming freshmen. But, the way a university operates hasn’t changed since the foundation of such institutions. Since Minerva doesn’t use traditional lectures to teach their students, it will be better able to spark creative thinking skills in their students. Therefore, Minerva will succeed and inspire an enormous amount of businessmen and create a new category of higher education on an innovative online platform (Wood, 509).
Some students within society need to have online learning to complete college degrees due to their lifestyles. While it
In the undergraduate educational setting, student proficiency and comfort with technology are stressed, but the essential mission of most undergraduate institutions (especially, liberal arts institutions such as Dartmouth) is on the development of the individual. The nurturing and supportive environment of most undergraduate institutions helps students mature and develop. The rave and fad of online undergraduate learning causes students to miss out on too many intangibles of an on-campus education. Our current theory on education hasn’t adequately dealt with the intricacies of a web-based education, and therefore the effectiveness of such is highly questionable.