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| WHY GO TO COLLEGE? Anne Matthews takes your questions on what really goes on within campus walls.... May 27, 1997 |
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Questions asked
in this forum:
How will new technologies change educational opportunities? To what extent do social, moral and political biases of faculty and administrators direct a college's budget? What is the purpose of a core curriculum? Do the present cost differentials between private and state universities and community colleges perpetuate inequality ? Are there any substantial college reform proposals ? Why is a professor's research encouraged more than his or her teaching skills? Additional comments....
NewsHour Backgrounders
May 1, 1997:
A discussion on the rising cost of higher education .
February 10, 1997
Experts discuss President Clinton's plans for college tuition assistance.
December 26, 1996
A NewsHour panel scrutinizes the Democrat's plans for the 105th Congress' education initiatives.
EXTERNAL LINKS:
Financial aid links for higher education.
With regards to a quality education, how does grade inflation factor into that? Do you think that a college degree today is really the equivalent of a high school diploma?
Anne Matthews responds:
The term 'quality education' starts a lot of arguments these days, and rightly so: does a quality education prescribe a program for the life of the mind, like a dietitian devising a four-year plan of balanced nutrition...or is it healthier, in the long run, to say, in effect, 'That's condescending, you're all adults, here is a smorgasbord of knowledge, go graze'? And yes, you're right; grade inflation is very real, but tends to be more pronounced in humanities departments than in sciences, which grade on the curve.
A quality education isn't entirely grades (which can be punitive or unfair; faculty are far from perfect). The college degree is what you make it. Do the minimum, and you'll get a ticket to a higher lifetime income, with reasonable luck, but your mind and character will have evolved very little. The terms of the campus bargain are ancient and clear: learn, or leave; be willing to be changed, or get out. Diplomas render every graduate a walking advertisement for a college, but the institution is not responsible should its product prove defective. The credential is by name and by nature twofold, di-ploma, sealed back upon itself.
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