<p>How is that ironic?</p>
<p>Ironic means to not be expected.</p>
<p>The goal of any education should be to teach critical thinking and independence, and our educational system instead produces fact regurgitating corporate drones.</p>
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That is quite a bold statement with many, many exceptions. There are most certainly colleges that put the academic side before the business side, and to say otherwise would be utterly incorrect. LACs tend to put more emphasis on the idea of teaching for the betterment of oneself, but many larger learning institutions do so as well (e.g. UChicago).</p>
<p>Ironic means going against beliefs of an idea, which, as I have shown, is not true in the case.</p>
<p>LACs…are really the exception and even there the outrageously priced tuitions are normally not justified. But I do agree LACs normally provide better teaching quality than research-based institutions. </p>
<p>LACs also are having to compete with the “diploma mills”. Whether they want to put academics first or not, they’re going to have to compete in the educational market to attract students for revenue.</p>
<p>Not normally justified? What do you mean by this? LACs often offer excellent financial aid, reducing their tuition dramatically. Also, as someone who calls alumni and collects money for their college, I can assure you that maintaining the school (which involves utilities, facility maintenance, campus events, faculty salaries, etc.) is not cheap by any means. In fact, tuition only covers 72% of those costs; the other 28% has to come from alumni, parents of current and former students, and many generous benefactors. Companies who donate to the college also donate based on alumni participation, so the amounts we receive from said companies can vary annually.</p>
<p>That is interesting because I had almost the same talk with my professor at my former university. What he said was that it is extremely costly to maintain the campus and all of the operations. That tuition did not pay for most of the costs and had to be subsidized or donated. The campus is very well kept; the buildings and scenery are state-of-the-art. You’d think that with all that money it would be “justified” to keep the operation running. </p>
<p>But at the heart, underneath everything, the college is a business. And everything on the campus reflects that. The classes are set up for minimal effort by the professor to grade assignments; everything is standardized and bureaucratized. The students are there to get the degree and have a fun time while doing so. The library has expensive, flashy computers that are very popular for the students, meanwhile the top floors where all the books are located remain deserted. There are neat cafes and shops everywhere and lots of tours for prospective students. </p>
<p>Like you said, there are always exceptions, there are good professors and there are motivated students. But colleges are businesses, and there isn’t a “choice” of remaining academic or not, they have to adapt to the market system or else they lose out. What is the solution? I don’t have one but I do know you cannot put a “price” on education. And if you do put a price on it, the free market will drive down the price in order to attract more buyers at the same time lowering quality of both the teaching and learning, both of professors and students.</p>
<p>We are not putting a price on education, but on the institutions which provide said education, and we have been doing so since the 1600s. I guess I really can’t use my own experience to justify my argument as a whole, though. While I do love my college and am very impressed by its intense focus on academics and overall development of its students as both scholars and functioning members of society, I must admit that it is part of the minority that cherishes these values so highly and that we are basically in a bubble within a world that does not always believe in our ideals of education.</p>
<p>There are good schools out there. There are some really great schools out there too. The problem isn’t the schools it is the system. And the effects of the system can be seen all the way up to the top ranked schools where the students have been trained to take test after test after test. It doesn’t mean they are learning anything it just means they can test well. And then on the other end of the spectrum, the majority of universities, are where most of the unmotivated students are. The thing is it isn’t their fault, it’s the systems fault for making college a vocational degree. Another credential to check mark on your resume. What is so horrendous is that in meantime by making it a credential the value of a degree is almost completely diminished. Thus, all college has become is a 4 year party experience and colleges, just like businesses, have responded to what the students demand= having a fun time and spending their parents money.</p>
<p>If it was up to me I would kick 90% of the students off the campus. Then I would get rid of GPAs and the campus administration and bureaucracy. Sounds harsh, but how else is learning going to be made “prestigious” again? Let’s face it, not everyone is destined to become a scholar. You can’t send everyone to football camp and make them professional football players.</p>
<p>If anyone <em>really</em> wants to learn they can simply go on the internet but the only problems to that are being able to support themselves in the form of a job or career. That is my biggest problem right now, and I am scared to death because the notion is if I don’t have a degree then I will have to compete with others for a job as a janitor or McDonald’s employee.</p>
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<p>So the only people who should go to college are the ones who want to become “scholars”?</p>
<p>Yes, and now so more than ever. In fact, we should get rid of the school system that is teaching anything besides basic math and writing skills altogether. The current educational system is still set up to train obedient white collar slaves who have intimately learned the art of sitting in one place for hours on end without getting up and there’s going to be a backlash in the system once everyone realizes all of our white collar jobs are being shipped to India and China.</p>
<p>^ You can’t really ship white collar jobs to different countries. I mean, you can’t outsource doctors or CEOs or Lawyers.</p>
<p>I don’t see why not. Theoretically anything that can be done remotely can be outsourced, and that includes the majority of white collar jobs. I’m not going to get into technicalities though, so you can look it up for yourself. Check out specifically law firms outsourcing to India.</p>