What's up Cyberspace? I read an article today on cnn.com (http://www.cnn.com/2012/03/20/opinion/rice-klein-education/index.html?hpt=hp_bn6) about how education keeps America safe. I live in Canada, but we still have the same problem...post secondary education seems to mean much less than it used to.
When I was a kid, I was given the idea that in order to be successful, I would have to attend university. All real professionals had degrees and people who had just a high school diploma were left in the dust. And from what I hear, that's actually the way it was.
So I attended university. I was planning on being an English teacher, continuing to take classes at night until I got my doctorate and graduating to a professor. Sounded like a great plan. But then I hit a few speed bumps, not the least of which being my 'Intro to Philosophy' course, also known as 'Critical Thinking.' At the time, I thought it was a great idea...how could you really have an education if you couldn't think properly? The problem is that I applied that critical thinking to my education.
The warning bells went off. I was trapped inside one of the greatest logical fallacies (to that point in time, anyway) I had ever encountered. Here I was, putting myself into debt...not the I.O.U. type of debt, but the 'if you don't give me my money I will garnish your wages' type of debt. And for what? By this point, I knew several people who had graduated from a post-secondary institution...and one out of the six of those people had a job. It wasn't even in the same field his degree was in.
I remembered a banner that was on the wall in my Grade 3 classroom. It has always stuck with me and it seemed extremely appropriate for this situation. It simply said "There is a better way - find it." I started to think about a different way to educate the population.
First of all, a lot of the problem (almost all of it) stems from the fact that universities and colleges are run as a business - they work for profit. Why does a school have to make money? Sure, there are expenses. But don't most of these same expenses apply to public schools? Then I thought about the public school system and how most of the students who attend public school take it for granted.
I arrived at what seemed to me to be a happy medium. A performance-based public scholarship available to all students. When a student graduates high school, the process remains the same. However, publicly funded scholarships are awarded to all students attending post secondary institutions. These scholarships should be based on academic performance (for example a 90-100% grade avg garners a full ride...an 80-89% gets 90% of your schooling paid for, etc.) out of high school, with a review of their performance after each semester.
This way, a student like myself who is dedicated and strives to do well would be rewarded. A student who just wants to go to school and party would be forced to pay to attend the institution. I don't think that it makes sense to be forced to take 4 steps back before even having the chance to take one step forward. Our population would theoretically be more educated, and that educated population would have a much easier time getting ahead once they go forth into the work force.
There would obviously be many logistical changes that would have to be made to the current system, but in the end I think it's a much better system than the one in place now. In my case, I would probably be teaching an English class right now, getting ready to be taught more tonight.
If the Western World is the 'land of opportunity,' then let's give our population an opportunity. A right to education...a right to follow your heart...a right to make your dreams come true.
Peace and Love
The Critical Stranger
As always, comments, thoughts and suggestions encouraged and welcome!!!
True that. Also, on the topic of student debts. In the current system, a student should not be denied a student loan based on their household income. A student, or rather, potential student, probably does not have much control over the house hold income, and therefor it is not fair to penalize them because of it.
ReplyDeleteIn your system of education, the country would also, in theory, be full of well educated people. These people would likely help to promote new business, product innovation and many other such things that would contribute to a bigger, stronger economy. This could in turn off-set the costs of having a free or reward based post secondary education system.
The current system is terribly broken.