Monday, October 10, 2011

Good

Some liberal arts colleges are looking into capping tuition increases and examining how to give better value to students. This is precisely what liberal arts colleges ought to be doing. Since the Ivy's and prestigious public institutions are basically too big and too embedded to do these things, liberals arts colleges ought to. I might just write to the President of Pomona.

UPDATE: One little detail that stood out in the article - this idea of colleges charging tuition for student internship classes. USC did this. If this isn't one of the most corrupt rackets in the history of labor, I don't know what is. USC charges tuition to students to do an internship - say $2-4 grand per a semester - and then if the students learn anything it is from the employer. Think about this system - the college cashes checks from the parents (possibly borrowed money) so that the student can work a shit job that for the most part, you don't learn much from (since you aren't there every day), and the businesses get free labor. What a horribly corrupt system.

UPDATE 2: One scary reactionary possibility to the college cost thing is for-profit and vocational schools. These places are fine, but they aren't really educational. The problem with American students isn't too much education, it is still too little and too result-oriented. When I was in school, kids were too concerned about grades. They weren't as concerned with learning for learnings sake. This might sound stupid and righteous, but it really shouldn't be a radical idea. Learning is fun when presented in the right way. And the only way innovate things truly happen is when people love what they do and work really hard without a guarantee of a reward. These are the values liberal arts colleges are supposed to instill. We shouldn't run away from the values, just make them affordable, which they are.

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