Top-Rated Free Essay
Preview

way to improve college education

Good Essays
837 Words
Grammar
Grammar
Plagiarism
Plagiarism
Writing
Writing
Score
Score
way to improve college education
!
!

!
!
!

!
!

!

"Ways To Improve College Education"!

Why College education is so important? America's colleges and universities are in crisis.

They cost far too much: America spends thousands more per post-secondary student than any other OECD nation. For all that money, we achieve outcomes: 42 percent of students who enter a four-year institution fail to leave that school with a degree within six years, and studies find that many students' improvement in thinking skills is insignificant or nonexistent. Graduates typically leave with mountains of debt and struggle to find work.In a trend that would have been unthinkable ten years ago, Americans are expressing skepticism about higher education—not just with their voices, but also with their pocketbooks and their time. At all but the most elite schools, application numbers are down, and students are increasingly choosing less-expensive schools, starting at community colleges, or otherwise seeking to control costs.Colleges are feeling the pinch. Specially college tuition has become a major issue for the middle class family. It was too high for them, but the education system of college is the same like it was 50 years ago. There are three ways we can make it right. Require a core curriculum, Improve the technology , and,
Reform the college accreditation System. These three things can really change the college education. A core curriculum should be mandatory for each college students. It used to be common for students to begin their college careers with a general education program made up of core courses in the humanities, social sciences, natural sciences, and a few other subjects. Often these

courses introduced students to great works and ideas; at their best, such courses provided students in disparate fields with a common intellectual experience and turned them into a community of learners. And in any event they leave all students with a common grounding in basic knowledge.Today, however, only a few schools maintain such curricula, and many college graduates lack even basic knowledge of western culture and the world in which they live.American Council of Trustees and Alumni's (ACTA) "What Will They Learn?" project studies the curricula of more than 1,000 colleges and universities. Students' ignorance reflects their poor curricula. A recent ACTA survey found that large majorities of recent college graduates were unable to answer correctly many questions about American history and government—such as identifying George Washington as the General at Yorktown, or the terms of office for Senators and Members of Congress.Each campus constituency has work to do in changing the culture of ignorance. Faculty can build centers on campus to teach liberal learning in a rigorous way.
Technology can really improve the whole education system. Bill Gates recently spoke to community college trustees about the potential of technology to improve and personalize learning in higher education. We know that students succeed when education is tailored to their learning needs, and goals. Technology can strengthen the powerful learning connection between instructor and student, and to give students learning experiences that make the most of their precious time with faculty. Technology can play an important role in making that happen, as Bill explains in his remarks. Technology is just one way to improve how students and faculty interact and relate. In today's world technology has reached its standard level. So it can truly help to improve our college education.

Reformation of the college accreditation system is another vital way to improve the college education. The six main regional accrediting agencies have, under federal law, for decades held the task of determining which colleges within their geographical regions are of sufficient quality to make them eligible for federal student aid—a life-or-death financial issue for almost every school. The accredit-ors are supposed to ensure that schools that receive federal money meet basic standards of educational quality. Students and families depend on accredit-ors for the same reason: to ensure that their very expensive investment will result in a quality education. Unfortunately, accredit-ors have utterly failed to ensure quality. Federal financial aid represents such a large fraction of schools' budgets that very few schools can survive without access to federal funds—or push back when accredit-ors overstep their bounds. The accreditation process can take years and cost more than a million dollars. Start-up schools fight through a years-long twilight existence before they are able to compete. If accreditation agencies started acting like business consultancies and consumer-information agencies, the needed changes to higher education would come swiftly. It's really important to Change the system to improve our higher education.
As we know, education is the backbone of the nation. If we don't improve our education it will be difficult to compete with modern world. The three things I have mentioned can improve our education system undoubtedly. Core curriculum is really necessary for students to understand about all the basic things, which will help them to enlarge their knowledge. Technology is another important factor, it has the ability to improve our education. Reformation of the college accreditation system is also another great way of improving our college education.

You May Also Find These Documents Helpful

  • Powerful Essays

    BUS 323 Final Project

    • 2516 Words
    • 7 Pages

    graduates to go to other universities for a business degree besides UFV. In order to counter…

    • 2516 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Good Essays

    As of today United States faces a lot of socio-economic problems. One of the most critical is the alarming rise of college tuition. Universities are operating more like businesses than actually higher learning institutions, student population not being ready to take college level classes (remedial), numbers College graduates are in a constant plummet, and students demonstrate no improvement in skills ranging from critical thinking to writing. In the book Academically Adrift, Richard Arum and Josipa Roksa discuss these issues and also propose us how we can solve these problems that require imminent action. This book is an extensive research by these authors to demonstrate what is wrong with American University systems, to support their research…

    • 189 Words
    • 1 Page
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    “Graduating with six figures ' worth of debt is becoming increasingly common.” (179) In the essay “Are Colleges Worth the Price of Admission” Andrew Hacker and Claudia Dreifus discussed about how the price of college education is increasing, while the quality of some teachers is decreasing. Hacker and Dreifus gave tips on how to make college education successful. Hacker and Dreifus included the tips they discovered including money, faculty-student relations, classes that should be taken, graduate schools, and teaching techniques; the two also visited schools across the United States from University of Mississippi to Western Oregon and figured out what those schools were doing right to have a good success rate.…

    • 959 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    The undergraduate curriculum (course of study) focuses mainly on liberal arts and sciences, preparation for professional degrees law or medicine, and preparation for other graduate level education. Many four-year institutions also offer continuing education and workforce training programs.…

    • 1049 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Better Essays

    Summary: College For All

    • 1194 Words
    • 5 Pages

    In a land that has been so horribly affected by the recessions and high unemployment rates, what if I could give you the perfect fix for your troubles. The solution will not only create more jobs, but it would also allow those that already have a job a way to move up the corporate ladder providing a better future for the families and for their society. Now this solution is not free, there will be upfront cost associated with the cure, but the longer term out come far outweighs the upfront front cost. While it might contribute to higher taxes for our country, a college education should…

    • 1194 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Better Essays

    When graduating one may not be able to receive their “dream job”. Evidence: In “Is College worth it?” by Dr. William Burnett gives us statistics about graduate employment rate. Recent date from the Census Bureau and department of labor found that 54% of recent graduate are either unemployed or dramatically underemployed (1). ECU graduate Tianna Coleman graduated in January of 2012 with a public health degree. After graduating Ms. Coleman expected for doors to open for her to use her earned degree. Unfortunately Ms. Coleman was unemployed for almost a year eventually she got a job as a Home Healthcare assistant. “I thought that maybe a health degree would guarantee me a successful future, but I was wrong. My degree didn’t mean a lot with graduate school” Tianna stated (Coleman ). Students put in so much time in college working hard for their dream job and end up struggle as a high school graduate. 4 year college degree’s aren’t as valuable as they were in the past. In Dr. Bennett’s book it states that by the year 2018 there will be 14 million jobs available, well-paying jobs, which will require more than a high school diploma but less than a college diploma. Right now, a graduate of a community college, which is a two-year college, on average, makes more than a graduate of a four-year college. My uncle Keith Kerwin is now a radiologist in New Bern…

    • 2174 Words
    • 9 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Good Essays

    The costs of almost everything rose in just a small time period. The rise in costs for everything affected many families financially, including mine. Trying to cover all necessary costs to survive seemed to be difficult as the years passed by. Inequality becomes a problem when ,what we consider middle class, families are severely struggling just to survive. Many of us are unaware of the reality of how money is distributed in the United States.…

    • 932 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    classes I will be able to graduate in the year 2017. I have various plans after the school year.…

    • 1006 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Better Essays

    College Education Flaws

    • 1299 Words
    • 6 Pages

    Martin Luther King, Jr., an American minister, activist, and leader in the Civil Rights Movement, once said, “The function of education is to teach one to think intensively and to think critically. Intelligence plus character—that is the goal of true education.” King is pointing out that education is meant to challenge people in order to shape their minds and thoughts. The importance of education has been written about countless times. Many intelligent writers have written articles on higher education, such as Horace Mann’s “From Report of the Massachusetts Board of Education, 1848,” Jean Anyon’s “From Social Class and the Hidden Curriculum of Work,” and John Taylor Gatto’s “Against School.” In their writings they point out the flaws in the…

    • 1299 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Good Essays

    Process Analysis

    • 788 Words
    • 4 Pages

    and not depriving them of their right to learn. Budget cuts in education will mean lesser…

    • 788 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    No Child Left Behind Act

    • 383 Words
    • 2 Pages

    -Focus on strengthening the curriculum. Subjects should help student in the future. Introduction of GE courses in high school, instead of…

    • 383 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Common Core Tragedy

    • 1156 Words
    • 5 Pages

    Education is taking a step backwards instead of achieving new goals, and the ones in charge approve. The common core initiative, a recent controversial topic in government, is aimed to increase performance in school. However, multiple facts and students themselves are proving otherwise. The system is infiltrating this new standard that will only lead to a drawback in the future of America. There are multiple aspects that parents should consider before allowing the initiative to take further control in their children’s school.…

    • 1156 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Common Core Standards

    • 698 Words
    • 3 Pages

    Today the federal government has taken a role as a promoter of educational opportunity to students with numerous disadvantages. These disadvantages range from poverty to discrimination based on race and sex, to special education needs or even language barriers (Umpstead, 2008). Funds are supplied by the federal government for specific programs to improve educational quality; however, there may not be enough funds to cover all that is needed to make improvements. This is the controversial debate over the No Child Left Behind Act (2001). This act assisted in setting priorities when it came to education, but the accountability measures made it difficult to “use assessments as levers for good practices” (Phillips & Wong, p.38). The Common Core Standards, developed by the education team at the Bill and Melinda Gates foundation, is an education initiative that follows the basis of standards-based education. The purpose is to provide a clear and consistent understanding of what students are expected to learn. College ready is the goal. With this, parents and teachers know exactly what they need to do to help students succeed. It will allow states to work from the same core and share with one another not only what works, but also how best to teach the core.…

    • 698 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Texas Education

    • 917 Words
    • 4 Pages

    Although government is providing and offering many opportunities to afford school, we still struggle to find ways to keep students not only to start school, but also to complete school. So far in what I have been impressed by the government is the requirements…

    • 917 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Rqbt1 Task 1 Wgu

    • 2427 Words
    • 10 Pages

    the fact that about 10% of all high schools produce more than 40% of the countries…

    • 2427 Words
    • 10 Pages
    Good Essays