I think we all agree education is good but the price of it is stupid nowadays. It’s sad that in a few years our society won’t have any interest in literature or psychology because everyone is just picking up a trade as opposed to higher education.
You also need to look at it from the university perspective, the sad truth is that the colleges are seeing a lot of kids entering into the system that just aren’t ready for higher learning (as evidence by the massive amount of remedial courses they have to provide).
I can imagine that a decent chunk of school resources are going towards the provision of these courses so students are actually able to start working towards the degree. Do note that these students are still paying, but initially their money isn’t even going to the degree itself.
The goal of colleges is not to provide college-prep, that is something you need to do before you start the 4 year course.
“Oh, to hear the insect on the leaf pronouncing judgment on his brethren in the dust!” (Charles Dickens: “A Christmas Carol.”)
Who are we to declare who is “more deserving” of a higher education? No, I think that it should be our public duty to strive to give every citizen the chance to better himself. I don’t want to pass judgment on a high-school student … before s/he has ever yet entered college … as to whether s/he is more or less “deserving.” Instead of excluding people from access to publicly-funded education, I want to increase public funding for education, and strive … bend over backwards … to open these doors as wide as possible. And then, I want to strive just as hard to give them jobs.
Because I think that I will receive a “pressed down, shaken together and running over” harvest(!) from just such an investment.
And as to your second point, I can certainly attest to the notion that “a high-quality college education” does not come at an Ivy Legue brand-name nor price. For many years, I taught in the adjunct faculty of the second largest community college system in the US. Fully accredited, it actually mostly served adult students who had obtained their Bachelor’s degrees long ago. (Several of my students were PhD’s, whom I always referred to as “Doctor.”) I make no apologies that I put them through a college-level academic wringer. They made no apology that they expected no less from me.
The only problem, at the immediate moment, is that this community-college education, instead of costing $160,000, “merely” costs $85,000.
I am speechless. And, outraged. When I worked there, it cost about $85 a credit-hour. What-the-hell happened?!?!
If someone graduated highschool with D’s in all his classes (a passing grade, but barely), do you think he is ready for college, do you think he can meet the expectations of the professors?
If not, then why should he be given the same ease of access when he’s clearly not cut out for college-grade work?
I don’t really know too much about how they do it in other countries, but here (I’m not too sure about how this works, because it’s a long time since I had to go through the process) we have a joint application system where you can apply to a number of universities and different programs (i.e. chemistry, physics, psychology etc.). You get some points for your grades, some extra points for the programs that are your first, second and third alternatives, some points based on final matriculation exams in high school (actually called gymnasium here) and if that doesn’t give you enough points to get accepted to the program you have applied for you have to write an entrance exam.
There are also limited positions for the programs each year.
The less popular programs are easier to get into, which is maybe not the best idea, but otherwise some programs would probably seize to exist (which is of course considered a bad thing from the point of view of the university).
I’m thinking one reason college is so expensive, here in the states, is because professors have such large salaries. I’m not knocking how much they get paid, just saying it’s a factor. Colleges need to have knowledgeable and experienced professors in order to provide a useful education, but in order to obtain that they need to offer salaries that are competitive with the private sector otherwise those professors would just take higher paying jobs in their field.
I’m still a Lieutenant in 3D modelling. I will share you my knowledge when I’m a major.