What+is+the+Purpose+of+a+College+Education?

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Kevin Daniele

Many people in today’s day and age feel that a college education is a mandatory asset to living a fulfilled life. In many ways this is true. There are so many people today that are receiving higher educations, that it has almost become essential that you have a college degree to get a good paying job, or even a decent paying job. With this being true you will find more and more people not getting the same out of a college education as people used to. People now feel that a degree is just something you need so they are going to try and get it as quickly as possibly instead of getting an actual learning experience out of it. The debt that our country is in also has something to do with how quickly students want to finish college as well. Its more of a must to finish college promptly than a necessity due to it being so expensive to receive a higher education, and then there are the people who only go to college for a good time. There are many people that have the mind sent to not really learn anything while they are in college; they are in it for the experience. These people don’t really have an interest in the education itself, rather than the life changing experiences the college life has to offer. Experiences like, meeting new people, and “finding themselves”, is the appeal that the college experience has for these students.

http://chronicle.com/article/Educators-Mull-How-to-Motivate/63718/

This text is about a yearly conference held for professors in higher education. This is a summary write up written by one of the speakers of the conference who feels that it is important for professors to become motivated to teache. At the end of the page there is a quote- "High-impact practices can change students' lives," he said. "Their brains open up. After they become engaged in this way, the hell they'll drop out."

The author of the whole article makes points that especially impact professors that a top reason that students drop out, is because they are not interested, they are not motivated. Why would a student spend a substantial amount of money for something that does not pertain to them. He hit on topics like if student drop out rates keep on raising then their is a financial impact that will personally affect the professor themself. This article I believe is benefical because, its on the topic of education and money. Everyone is out there for thier money. If people are not going to pay for it, how is someone going to get it. Consumer demands, if the professor is not teaching us what we want, we will just drop out cause we will just find something else that will benefit us, our bang for our buck. In the paper different methods are suggested to motivate professors to become better educators. I like the fact that this was given at a conference that many educators attended and listened to.

Ashley Van Buren

The true purpose of higher education is too expanded your mind, broaden your horizon, and too diversify yourself. Knowledge is power the most powerful weapon is a human’s brain. I agree with the author about how higher education has changed and it has changed for the worst. It feels as if today not as many people go to college to do any of those objectives expect get in and out. Even form personal experiences I get asked questions “why would you take that class there’s no point” a lot of my friends would say. People go in to college take their general education and take their major classes and try to get out as soon as possible. No one takes any other classes to expand their minds to learn about different things. College is about doing all of those things your supposed to want to come here to learn and prosper to become a functioning human being in society. Education has changed greatly from what it used too in the 60’s and 70’s because back then people appreciated it more, today too many people take elementary school, middle school, and high school for granted. People actually think that education is a RIGHT when it’s in fact not! It’s a privilege and the sooner people realize this I think that college will become a better system. Look at other countries that don’t give their citizens this opportunity usually kids have to work to help out their family. The higher tuition doesn’t help people wanting to stay in college either but they have the choice if they don’t want to pay it they don’t have to be here. Steven Archibald http://www.deltacollege.edu/ org/deltawinds/DWOnline00/ thetruepurposeofcollege.html

===I decided to go for a point of view of the purpose of college. Many people of course have different ideas of what college should be. Some people go to party, some go because their parents forced them and then there are those who genuinely WANT to be there. I think that most people would agree that the ACTUAL purpose of college is to learn more, get a degree of some sort, and hopefully retain as much information as possible to eventually get a good paying job that without a college degree you wouldn't be able to get. This article states that the reason for college is to learn and get your degree. It says that we are like banks in college, we put in all this knowledge so that at a later date we can access it later, when we need it. I definitely think that this article gives a good reason for the purpose of college, but unfortunately this is not the REASON that a lot of people go to college. It was a good article though.===

http://web.pdx.edu/~ekang/What_is_the_Purpose_of_a_College_Education-.html

Carlene Merino

[] Study Finds Public Discontent with Colleges Lauren Ayres In this article the author, Tamar Lewin, looks at how the general public in the United States feel about higher education. According to Lewin’s study, since 2000 the amount of people who believe higher education is necessary for success rose from thirty one to fifty five percent; while forty five percent a decade ago fell to only twenty eight percent think college is available to a majority. On a financial level, higher education costs are almost unreachable for many of those going through with college. The article states that eighty three percent of students had to borrow too much money for school. It gets more personal when, “most Americans believe that colleges today operate more like businesses, concerned more with their bottom line than with the educational experience.” The money students pay to attend school every year goes into all sorts of programs and running cost of needed materials, such as libraries, labs, etc. As long as our schools are using our tuition for those running costs, instead of the federal budget, students will continue to suffer the cost. At the end of our college experience it is estimated that we will owe about twenty thousand dollars in loans, if we don’t revise the cost of furthering education then we will continually put students into debt. With a large debt it will be hard for further generations to generate wealth which is important for every society to thrive. Another way to look at this issue is that with less people able to pay for school, we will be less productive as a society. I added this article to thise section because I believe it touches on the importance of a college education and how it effects our future with these new costs.

In our English 130 class, we have been discussing the changing shape of our higher educational system. But more importantly, we have been talking about how this system has changed to accommodate our needs. Some argue that this change compromises students’ educational potential. A website that I found examines these subtle changes in the higher education system and challenges students to examine the direction of the university, from simple things such as looking at goals of classes, to examining the importance (or lack thereof) of technology in the classroom. The website has links to other websites that concern themselves with the changing shape of higher education. One link I found was a document from the Association of American Colleges and Universities which provided a doctrine for which education should be guided by. I believe this type of educational material is the exact type of literature the politicians should be reviewing before making decisions that could compromise students’ education, and sometimes their careers.

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-Chris Rimmele

This video I found about higher education explained what students themselves thought about it. Students were interviewed by another student about what they think the purpose of college is. They were asked if they were just in class to to get the grades, or if they were actually in class learning something. Most of the students interviewed said that they are just worried about their grades and aren't really learning as much as they could be in class. They feel that taking classes that are directed toward their specific major would benefit them a lot more. They feel that taking the GE classes are pointless because they aren't going to need most of those classes for what they want to do later in life after college. The last question that was asked to the students was about the attitudes of teacher affects the learning of students. I believe that when a teacher is happy and seems like they want to be there teaching you, it makes you want to go to that class. But then when you get into a class and the teacher seems uninterested in the class and the topic their teaching, you don't want to go or even try.

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-Kirstyn Monsibay

This is an article I found online about the purpose of a college education. Should college just be a place to be able to get a better job later on or should it be more. I hope this article helps anyone looking into this topic. [|http://people.ucsc.edu/~rlipsch/college.html]

Joshua Carvajal [] What is the purpose of a college education? This is an important question, from college we can obtain unlimited amount of methods, theories of teaching and learning, also the process of training and developing the knowledge, skill, mind, and character builds the structure of what is said to be education. Having college education opens many doors to a new beginning. Since knowledge is power the more knowledge one has the further they may go in life, also I’ve found from experience the more knowledge you have the less amount of physical work you must do, typically, when you graduate college you are specialize in a specific way, when businesses look to hire they want someone who is specialized in the position their looking for. When you decide to jump into the work force without a college education it takes way longer to be promoted to a higher position, when you have a college education you can take the position from that somebody that has been working towards for five years and you can take it as soon as you are hired with the company. With only the basic general education with high school gives you it can take a life time to get the top, I don’t look down upon those who decide to skip college and go to, if you work your way up you learn much more from working from the bottom to the top because you obtain all the knowledge from all the positions it takes to get where you’re going. I’ve decided to go to college because we live in a fast pace life where it’s necessary to have a bigger income right out the gate. The most important answer to the question what’s the importance of college would be that knowledge is power.

Sixto Ramirez

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ppZJ9vhWypc http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wAw4JGnzasg -Edgar Orozco I found some random videos about recent college graduates & their debt. Is the cost of higher education worth it? I guess it is because my education means a lot to me. Still though, it shouldn’t be so expensive, especially when a college degree might not get you a good job anymore. Some can’t even find a job. How are you supposed to pay your student debt without a job? I want to believe that I will do ok after I graduate, but I know that there is no guarantee. At first I was going to college so I could get a good job, but now I just see it as increasing my chances of simply getting one. There aren’t many jobs available, and I remember hearing in the news of how skilled workers were getting laid off. If skilled workers are getting laid off, how are graduates with little or no experience supposed to get one? What if I can’t pay off my debt? What happens then? There are many graduates with a debt on their hands. It’s like what happened to the housing industry. Well I hope the economy gets better by the time I graduate. I was hoping in helping out my family with a good education & all. Then I heard the news, we will be the first generation to make less than our parents. That’s just great. Well, all I can do now is concentrate on my classes & find a part time job to start paying off my debt.