What the hell is happening with higher education?

Coming from the viewpoint of a student, an instructor, and a citizen, I can steadfastly state that higher education is becoming less of a privilege and more of a commodity. Some may disagree with the privilege comment, but isn't higher education supposed to be something to work towards and not take for granted? Are students just supposed to go to college just because? What ever happened to the standards used to keep high the excellence of education, if there ever was one? Why is it that going to college doesn't mean much anymore? Short answer: there is no long term plan to employ this supposed educated workforce. There is hardly oportunity. There is much uncertanity.

If you look at other developed nations, you will take note of highly developed, streamlined vocational training programs. Such programs here in the US are not taken seriously anymore and are discarded for the 'less-off' students. Why is that? I had woodshop in high school and I excelled. I would have loved to have gone to school to get trained in vocational education or even a custom-furniture craftsman....the advice I got from my guidance counselors was that I needed to be serious when choosing my profession. Huh? I was serious.

So I went to college. Four years of undergrad, two years of an M.A. program, and three years and counting for a PhD program, and I am 60,000 dollars in debt. I got off easy. I know others who are much worse off with not as much schooling. I am officially on a 300-month payment plan. If I only paid the bare minimum each month, I think I will be 65 when I finally pay off my loans. I am getting heartburn just thinking about it. I guess I could use my Social Security checks (if it still exists then) to pay off my student loans. That's a good plan, right? My god, save us now from this ridiculous state of affairs!!

They sell colleges to young people. They sell it to their parents. College is a product. It is consumed. It's a dog and pony show for a false sense of financial security fours years from now....and parents are eating this stuff up more ravenously than ever. Higher education has become distant from Joe and Jane Sixpack. Most parents do not know about education standard rankings, quality of professors, accreditation of different departments on a given campus, the reputation of the college's dean, president, or even alumni. Most parents see the commercials, hear the form speeches prepared for their visitation days during the semester, and the faux success stories of how the given college has a 95% employment rate post-graduation. How do colleges even measure that? Does Starbucks count as employment for physics grads?

College seems to be one large commercial ploy to create an entire new generation of young debtors. It's a business, not a place to foster your talents. What ever happened to working hard and succeeding and then having that hard work pay off in one large salary at your dream job? It's just that....a dream. We, the future of academia and society, need to reinstall the basic tenets of a an effective and efficient educational system here in these United States. We need to help our universities become what they were before: bastions of hope and progress where one could become a a success story, not a debtor.

During this campaign season, one person, Sen. Chris Dodd of Connecticut, has mentioned education and the sad state of affairs it is in. Why is no one else holding education at the same standards Sen. Dodd currently does? This next administration needs to address not only primary and secondary education woes in terms of inequities of public funding for individual school districts, but also foster vocational schools to create a skilled and educated workforce. Further, let us press our elected officials to raise public assistance funds and grants to assist with those individuals who cannot afford the rising costs of tuition. We want help, not an I.O.U. We want good-paying jobs with healthcare benefits, not part-time work in a cybercafe.