Posted on 01/07/2014 6:29:39 AM PST by iowamark
In the field of higher education, reality is outrunning parody. A recent feature on the satire website the Onion proclaimed, "30-Year-Old Has Earned $11 More Than He Would Have Without College Education..."
"Patrick" shouldn't feel too bad. Many college graduates would be happy to be $11 ahead instead of thousands, or hundreds of thousands, behind. The credit-driven higher education bubble of the past several decades has left legions of students deep in debt without improving their job prospects. To make college a good value again, today's parents and students need to be skeptical, frugal and demanding. There is no single solution to what ails higher education in the U.S., but changes are beginning to emerge, from outsourcing to online education, and they could transform the system.
Though the GI Bill converted college from a privilege of the rich to a middle-class expectation, the higher education bubble really began in the 1970s, as colleges that had expanded to serve the baby boom saw the tide of students threatening to ebb. Congress came to the rescue with federally funded student aid, like Pell Grants and, in vastly greater dollar amounts, student loans.
Predictably enough, this financial assistance led colleges and universities to raise tuition and fees to absorb the resources now available to their students. As University of Michigan economics and finance professor Mark Perry has calculated, tuition for all universities, public and private, increased from 1978 to 2011 at an annual rate of 7.45%. By comparison, health-care costs increased by only 5.8%, and housing, notwithstanding the bubble, increased at 4.3%. Family incomes, on the other hand, barely kept up with the consumer-price index, which grew at an annual rate of 3.8%.
(Excerpt) Read more at online.wsj.com ...
What most people think is the most useless subject, as I once did, is actually the most valuable subject, along with theology.
The maxim of the supposedly benighted Middle Ages is true, "Theology is the queen of the sciences, and philosophy is her handmaid." --St. Thomas Aquinas.
It's understandable that philosophy has acquired a bad reputation in modern times, since modern philosophy is an incoherent mess. People are wise to reject it. Unfortunately, few have been exposed to good, classical philosophy.
My daughter is majoring in biology (pre-med) and dance at a top tier college and getting better than a 3.9 average. She is heart set on going to medical school. I told her to go dance - she will have a lot more fun, wont end up working for the government, and by the time Obama is through will make nearly as much money. Unfortunately she has her mothers hard head and is applying to med school....
a degree in modern philosophy allows you to ask why you want fries with that....
A solid, formal, classical instruction is of great value, but it's hard to find, and expensive. If you can't afford it, you can go a long way on your own. The Summa Theologica, for example, is available to read on-line for free. But that's the philosophical summum bonum. Fortunately, there are other sites, like the Thomistic Philosophy Page, that provide a good, quick overview of classical natural philosophy.
I had more in mind reading literary texts like Aeschylus and Pindar. Their Greek is really tough, you’ll be lost without an instructor. Even Plato can be quite difficult, with a very subtle use of conversational idiom.
Remedial English, Remedial Math, Remedial Science, Remedial Reading, Remedial Social Studies... heck some of those affirmative action kids probably needed remedial sex-ed.
lol
It is interesting that so few kids touch type these days. They spend hours at the computer but still do the ‘hunt and peck’ method to type. They waste so much time.
wasting time is what yoots do best
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