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American Education Broken System

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American Education Broken System
American Education: A Broken System One message is delivered relentlessly in American education: Everyone should go to college. As a result, competition within the college admission game has been increasing for several decades as more and more students apply to attend universities. While many view this upward trend in college applications and attendance as a positive shift in the value of a higher education, professors at American’s universities are increasingly exposed to underprepared students. Due to these rising college expectations in youth, a post-secondary education has become a necessity to enter the white-collar job market. Subsequently, as the number of college graduates increases, the economic markets become over-saturated …show more content…
Since students are apparently feeling an increased pressure to achieve collegiate success, it can be assumed that elementary and high schools are not creating productive, engaged citizens and that this responsibility is falling on universities. The failure of primary and secondary schools to produce civic-minded students has caused many colleges to lower or eliminate admissions standards (Nemko par. 1). However, these lowered standards have reduced the average graduation rates at most colleges to near 40 percent (Nemko par. 2). Colleges should attempt to broaden access, but only to students with reasonable chances of success. Low college graduation rates are indicative of a failure within the system and highlights the limits of the current …show more content…
"Value of College Degree Is Growing, Study Says." New York Times 21 Sep 2010: np. Web. 4 Oct 2010. <http://www.nytimes.com/2010/09/21/education/21college.html>.
Murray, Charles. "Are Too Many People Going to College?." The American: Journal of the American Enterprise Institute (2008): np. Web. 5 Oct 2010. <http://www.american.com/archive/2008/september-october-magazine/are-too- many-people-going-to-college>.
Nemko, Martin. "At Large: Underprepared Students: Short-Term Losses, Long-Time Gains." Change 22.3 (1990): 9. Web. 5 Oct 2010.
Reynolds, John R., and Jennifer Pembleton. "Rising College Expectations among Youth in the United States: A Comparison of the 1979 and 1997 NLSY." Journal of Human Resources 36.4 (1997): 703-726. Web. 5 Oct 2010.
Sherr, Lynn. "Is College Worth the Money?." MORE Magazine: For Women of Style and Substance July 2010: np. Web. 4 Oct 2010. <http://www.more.com/2050/22280-is- college-worth-the-cash>.
Thelin, John, Jason Edwards, and Eric Moyen. "Higher Education in the United States." HISTORICAL DEVELOPMENT, SYSTEM. StateUniversity.com, 2010. Web. 20 Oct 2010. <http://education.stateuniversity.com/pages/2044/Higher-Education-in-United-
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