This “Of Course Public Confidence in Higher Education Is Down” article in the Pacific Standard got me thinking…
In it, Texas State University Professor James McWilliams weighs the perceived value of a 4 year undergraduate degree with its increasingly high cost (and long-term debt). I am going to COMPLETELY side-step the financial question. Fact – higher education is too expensive. Fact – this is a problem that the wealthiest and most resource-rich nation on earth can work on solving.
Instead, I would like to think publicly about what the article’s premise does not explore much – divorced from the question of $$$/tuition/debt, what is the philosophical and practical value of a 4 year college education?
*STEPPING ONTO SOAPBOX FOR A RAMBLING, POORLY-WORDED, INARTICULATE, AND REPETITIVE RANT THAT WOULD NOT GET A GOOD GRADE IF SUBMITTED AS A WRITING ASSIGNMENT IN ONE OF MY COURSES.*
Even my most cynical self is increasingly convinced that *if done right* a 4 year undergraduate college education is a viable and powerful model for individuals and societies. However, the academy as a whole (or as an industry) is slow to pivot on most anything. We are long overdue for some challenging discussions. Can a well-rounded liberal arts education help rising generations build more productive and functional societies? Yes, of course. But, can it do that while providing clearly identifiable and marketable skills for careers? YES! We haven’t done a great job, however, at showing students the many skills CAN be developing in undergraduate courses about biology, history, humanities, math, communications, etc. and how they can leverage them to be successful in countless career tracks.
I have a growing list of articles from the business and tech worlds lamenting how they want to find more college grads to hire who know how to think critically, digest data and information and synthesize it into a convincing argument or report, respond productively to feedback, understand how to communicate and collaborate with others, etc. These are all skills that students can develop and polish through a carefully constructed and engaged undergraduate education.
Its not a headline that the “pay my fee, give me my degree” model DOESN’T make for a valuable undergraduate experience. Duh. The public turn against higher ed as described in this article demonstrates that. Perhaps, too many professors present the “value” of their courses as being almost exclusively rooted in the “content” of the course. When students go through 4 years of professors hammering them about how important their subject/expertise is and graduate into a dismal job market, it is only natural that they look back at all of those classes as a waste. No, Prof. So and So, memorizing Shakespeare was NOT valuable.
Look – I’m an historian. I believe strongly that the content of my courses IS important – learning history and engaging in historical thinking can transform us into better people, better informed about the context in which our modern world is developing, better equipped to know which questions to ask when trying to solve thorny contemporary issues, more empathetic, more humane, etc. I think the “content” of history courses can do all of that. But guess what – if that is the end of what I convey to my students, then I am failing.
So, here’s what I’ve been trying to do lately.
1. I continue convey content, stress that it is “important” enough to study on its own merits, and set students up to use their historical knowledge to be better citizens and humans in general.
2. I make sure students understand that the “content” is not the end-all reason of our time together. No. We can use historical training to develop SKILLS that can benefit every student in any career path they take in the future. Class lecture, group discussion, assignments and assessment – all can be leveraged to build students’ aforementioned skill sets and more: critical reading skills, critical thinking skills, critical research and writing skills, the ability to employ careful objective methodologies in formulating and supporting conclusions/beliefs, accepting and building on feedback, giving productive feedback, working with others, learning how to understand peoples/events/ideas that are 100% foreign to your personal life experience, etc.
3. I make the connection between points 1 & 2 explicit. In other words…
“We are studying topic X and it is important because of blah blah blah.If you take these topics seriously, you will be a better-informed and better human being and citizen. As we learn and study about topic X we are going to use the following methods or assignments to develop the following blah blah blah skills. If you take these assignments and class activities seriously, you will gain valuable and marketable skills that can take with you after graduate and directly employ to build a successful career and life. If you take this course (and 4 years of other courses) seriously, you will fundamentally transform who you are and what you will become in the future.OR, you can memorize names, dates, equations, and formulas, study for exams to regurgitate what you think professors want to hear, focus your energies on finding the most direct path to completing assignments and courses with passing grades, and move through your 4 year college education as efficiently as possible to graduate…having taken on financial debt to secure a piece of paper with a fancy logo on it, but little more…”
This is the process I think we need to take seriously in higher education. In order for students (and society) to look back at their 4 year undergraduate education and think, “Yeah, that was worth it,” educators need to do a better job show students DURING their 4 year education the philosophical and practical values of their coursework. 1. Make coursework valuable by ensuring content is paired with or used for developing character and skills. 2. Explicitly convey these values to students while they are in the middle of it. 3. Help students understand how to take their newly developed characters and skills and apply them moving forward in their lives and careers.
How can we expect students to view their 4 year undergraduate college experience as a true “learning” experience that will transform them (as opposed to just getting a diploma) if we don’t continually show them the value in WHAT they are learning, and HOW they are learning it, and how the entire process can transform them, their lives, and futures. We need to show them that REAL intellectual effort with us for 4 years can have REAL value in their lives.
As an EDUCATOR, this is what I need to spend the next few decades doing…along with research, writing, public engagement, service, etc… I’m happy for the challenge. There’s no other lifelong pursuit I would rather undertake.
Rant over.