Knowledge, the most powerful and applicable tool know to our species, and yet it is one that we pettily put a price on. The price being considered a "small price to pay" and its true when you speak of Academic Journals, but what about College?
The Ideals of Universities started as a path of betterment of ones' self. The last time I can objectively say this was true was just before Charles Darwin graduated (pg 15 Charles Darwin and Theory of Natural Selection by Edward Poulton).
Now Students are told early on here in America "Go to College to get a better Job!" yet to do so is to put a ridiculous price on the rest of the Student's life. Colleges make it more difficult for students to afford to go to school and to live day to day. It comes down to a choice of food for the week, or study for exams, and that is an unrealistic choice.
Education should be centered around the student's experience and development as an individual, but today it is centered around a business model. It has forced many, including myself to question the validity of the proposition.
The Ideals of Universities started as a path of betterment of ones' self. The last time I can objectively say this was true was just before Charles Darwin graduated (pg 15 Charles Darwin and Theory of Natural Selection by Edward Poulton).
Now Students are told early on here in America "Go to College to get a better Job!" yet to do so is to put a ridiculous price on the rest of the Student's life. Colleges make it more difficult for students to afford to go to school and to live day to day. It comes down to a choice of food for the week, or study for exams, and that is an unrealistic choice.
Education should be centered around the student's experience and development as an individual, but today it is centered around a business model. It has forced many, including myself to question the validity of the proposition.
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@Nicholas - Before the industrial revolution, those who went to college (mostly aristocrats), went there to broaden their thought and pursue knowledge (quaternary activity). But for the rest of us who started going to college in the last few centuries, our primary goal is to earn a living and survive before everything else and thats what our current form of education focuses on - making us ready for a job in the current economy. It all worked as expected until recently. Contd...
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And then something interesting started to happen; every sector started evolving and changing so fast that our system of education can no longer keep up. Before you can get ready for a role/job, it has metamorphosed into something else making what you have learnt obsolete. Now there are companies complaining about lack of suitable talent and hoards of graduates looking for jobs at the same time. I believe, today, colleges should not only teach us the basics but also help us learn to LEARN...
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Finally, regarding the cost of college education, somebody has to pay the bills. If you socialize education there will be a drastic fall in quality making things worse. Colleges need to compete with other sectors to hire the talent and provide us the facilities. And competition among colleges should force them to adapt, cut costs and be more effective in due course. But all this will take time and won't happen overnight. Some generations may have to endure this transition!
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@ Praveen- I see the trade off made due to circumstance, and agree that not only do jobs change routinely in terms of required skills, and that colleges have become stagnant in those terms, however the solution, I think, lay in us changing everything about our society because our society is based on our education. What do you think of changing the system to a barter-trade system for goods and services? I am thinking of Universities offering schooling in exchange for services? contd...
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... Say every other semester students work in the school, say in finance, or library, field work for the university, etc. Reduce the necessary staff to head admins and leaders of each branch of the University's inner workings; head of financials, head of Curriculum planning, head of resources, head of projects, etc, and rotate the student body in this manner? This way no student's value is based on their amount of paper or digital numbers but on their own set of acquired skills up until contd...
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... that point in their life. This would force individual growth before hand, to promote plasticity in one's environment, and still maintain and build an individual by their own standards while at the same time paying for their education by reinvestment in the institution that educated them. At this point plasticity of the individual becomes equal to if not greater than the plasticity of the brain. Thoughts?
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Every organization should try to maximize their effectiveness by hiring apt talent and proper utilization of resources. How can you be sure that the current student body is the best option for the jobs on campus? Colleges are already offering on campus jobs when such opportunities arise. How is this a better option than interest free loans? You trade your services for the best pay for you and colleges will maximize their end of the game! Barter system went extinct for a reason.
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