I have been thinking about "college". Is college all it has been built up to be? Think of the premier colleges that cost 50K a year in tuition. What do you get for the 200K, 4 year experience? Could you get a "higher education" some other way? Is the certificate or diploma really that valuable? A college education does not insure a quality job. How many historians are needed? How many creative writers can find a job requiring their talents? The same goes for political scientists, visual artists, musicians, etc. There are talents that are desperately needed in our country -- engineers, R & D scientists, etc.
The bigger question is are only colleges capable of delivering such a high level of education? I have witnessed the greatest musicians around me who are superior to what can be delivered by most colleges; and, they grew to a master level by studying with a master teacher. Do we only need a master teacher? Is a college merely a sea of teachers where a master teacher can be found?
I wager that if a student (who is motivated) had a master teacher in their content area along with a humanist who has vision could probably meet if not surpass what a college education would produce. Think back in your personal education consider the number of master teachers you bumped into. What would you have learned if you could have studied with them on a master teacher/student level for a couple of years?
The intangibles of college would need to be sought out -- community, teamwork, etc. To many students in college, these areas are the most memorable when compared to the the pure academic side of college.
This would probably be a good idea for undergraduate work. Undergraduate work is different from graduate work. I feel the graduate schools have a higher need because the academic community becomes complex and requires a high level of sharing of information (especially in all research areas).
I wonder what a master teacher would cost? 200K.
2 comments:
Just today an article in the LA Times showed that students who graduate from a prestige university have an economic advantage over their lifetime. Perhaps, what you learn is less important than where your learn.
There does seem to be a lot of emphasis on the name of the institution you attended rather than your own specific talents and skill sets, which is frustrating! It seems like the fact that a person is a graduate from USC and is more likely to find a job, just because of the name of the school rather than their particular abilities. There are many wonderfully talented teachers to learn from at colleges and universities with lesser prestige. Now my husband who has a Ph.D. is looking for a job. It's scary when people with these higher degrees are having difficulty finding employment. The other thing is that I'm finding that especially for those of us in the arts, fewer and fewer of us are landing steady jobs within our field of study. A very close friend of mine who was a music major like me, went on to receive his Masters in Music as well. He now works at an Apple store. I'm finding that a number of classmates of mine who teach general music are losing their jobs with the budget cuts. My question too is will my husband and I be able to afford college for our children? If our children even go on to get advanced degrees, will that mean anything anymore in terms of employment?
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