Comments on: A Low Cost College Plan for Dummies and Slackers

By: 09allin

09allin — Tue, 30 Jun 2009 09:27:59 +0000

We have somehow made going to college the “Holy Grail”. I run an urban high school and work with economically disadvantaged students every day, all day. Their parents have come to believe that sending their kids to college will make up for their own lack of parenting and their own lack of motivation to understand the world they live in. “Going to college” is talked about as if it is the magic bullet that will thrust everyone up out of a generational poverty mindset. It is also widely believed that everyone is entitled to a free post-secondary education without doing the hard work of learing in K-12. I see/hear this point of view daily, and have come to the conclusion that it is driven by a media inspired ignorance. Somehow political correctness has taken over for common sense and hard work. Don’t get me wrong, I also see hard working people in econmically disadvantaged situations who reach goals that they set and then work very hard to achieve. I just get very tired of people who do not participate in their child’s education insisting that the educational system has sole responsibility for raising their child correctly. This is a large part of what leads to kids in college running up all kinds of debt and not achieving anything. I am all for scholarships and grants to college students. I am also all for very high standards for students, teachers, administrators, and expectations of parents.

By: jstreed1476

jstreed1476 — Tue, 26 May 2009 21:12:06 +0000

I like some of the principles behind your work here, but unsupported claims like this:

As best I can determine, a lot of the students that the President has in mind are dummies and slackers, i.e., those who are too stupid or too lazy to earn their way in and through college. We seem to have quite a few of those. President Obama doesn’t really care if they are dummies or slackers. He only cares that they can vote.

are, to me, a turnoff. I realize you’re writing under a certain persona–all writers do, whether they admit or deny it–but it doesn’t follow that you’re exempt from normal standards of good writing.

Regarding the actual content, I work at a community college and can tell you from long experience that most adult students are neither dumb nor lazy. For a variety of reasons, many missed out on postsecondary education a long time ago, and a year of college now could help them revitalize their family’s economic prospects. Even though community college is less expensive than most other options, they don’t have the tuition money idling in their wallet. They’re willing to sacrifice right now for the opportunity, though, and they tend to work like bees once they’re in the right program.

Your “Five Minute University” notion makes for a clever, very self-satisfied blog post. But it doesn’t quite live up to the serious issues at stake. Sorry to see you on the wrong side of such an important discussion.

By: Imee

Imee — Tue, 12 May 2009 06:33:54 +0000

Hmm. Harsh much? lol. Well, on one hand, there’s so many people in college who didn’t want to go there in the first place (or maybe even just went there to party). On the other hand, there’s plenty of people who can’t afford college but are dying to go.

By: MasterPo

MasterPo — Sun, 10 May 2009 04:32:32 +0000

I agree. It will just further go to devalue the worth of a Bachelors degree making a Masters and even Doctorate more favorable.

PhD’s for all!!

By: Mr. ToughMoneyLove

Mr. ToughMoneyLove — Fri, 08 May 2009 04:41:18 +0000

SJ – My feeling is that those who slip away are probably in the right place anyway. Those who have a true motivation and work ethic for college will find a way to get in and get done.

By: Mr. ToughMoneyLove

Mr. ToughMoneyLove — Fri, 08 May 2009 04:39:53 +0000

Pat – I feel your pain. I have been an adjunct law professor since 1986. Most of my students are very bright. Unfortunately, brains cannot always make up for a lack of work ethic.

By: Pat

Pat — Fri, 08 May 2009 00:35:08 +0000

As a graduate teaching associate at a (somewhat) selective public school and an adjunct at a virtually open-admission public school, I agree with everything you’ve written. Although reducing the flood of new undergrads might undermine my career prospects, 5 years of graduate school and teaching have convinced me of the massive catastrophic waste of higher education.

At my adjunct position, 40-50% of my students routinely fail simple objective tests, even after I’ve intentionally lowered the difficulty to compensate. Significant numbers are functionally illiterate, unable to identify topic sentences, summarize information, or construct a logical argument. These same students complain to my department that I’m being too difficult for a general education course. I hate to be pessimistic or mean, but I would not hire some of these kids if I were a manager at McDonalds, let alone a hospital, engineering firm, or whatever.