Is Higher Education Worth the Price?

 

Colleges are not worth the price. Bachelor's degrees are required for most jobs. However, I feel that the quantity is not worth the quality of education that is given. As stated in Are Colleges Worth the Price?  authors Andrew Hacker and Claudia Dreifus mention, colleges "have lost track of their basic mission to challenge the minds of young people." Students' minds are not being challenged as much as they should be. There is really no improvement on their critical thinking from high school to college. I agree with the statement from them that says "higher education has become a colossus-a $420 billion industry." Instead of focusing on the criteria that is being taught, college has become a business. It is more about having to go back and forth with financial aid to figure out how to afford an education. 

Colleges are not worth the price. Bachelor's degrees are required for most jobs. However, I feel that the quantity is not worth the quality of education that is given. As stated in Are Colleges Worth the Price?  authors Andrew Hacker and Claudia Dreifus mention, colleges "have lost track of their basic mission to challenge the minds of young people." Students' minds are not being challenged as much as they should be. There is really no improvement on their critical thinking from high school to college. I agree with the statement from them that says "higher education has become a colossus-a $420 billion industry." Instead of focusing on the criteria that is being taught, college has become a business. It is more about having to go back and forth with financial aid to figure out how to afford an education. 

Education would be worth it if more financial need was provided for students. Going to college means the world to some. It really flips their world around. In Ivory Tower, there are David and others  who could have had a completely different life in gangs. David knew that life wasn't for him, and Harvard gave him a chance. By providing scholarships and more need based aid, it would make higher education worth it. Hacker and Dreifus also mention that "colleges should demand good teaching." This made me think that in order for students to get a better education tenure needs to be gone. When teachers obtain tenure, they sometimes have a laxed attitude. They feel that they do not have to work as hard because they cannot be touched. Deciding whether or not to attend college is a choice that may be made for us. My group talked about how just because a person graduated college does not mean they feel that they succeeded. They feel that they have learned nothing valuable from their education. Hacker and Dreifus mention that students "should become more thoughtful and interesting people." The word choice of that statement shows that something is lacking in the educational instruction. Students are not improving in their critical thinking skills. They are not thinking outside the box.