The problems with college

[NES_Rules]

I'm writing a paper for Writing class that's due Wednesday about the problems with colleges and since many of you guys are college students, I thought you might be slightly interested in reading it.  It's about half way done now, should have the next half up some time tomorrow.

   There are many problems with the education system in this country, but the two of the biggest are general education requirements and the high cost of tuition.  General education requirements are meant to give students a "well rounded education" but the majority of the time, they just frustrate students with pointless classes and may even cause some to dropout; high tuition costs only deter low income families from sending their children off to college. 
   Having an employee that is well adept at every conceivable subject is what every employer wants, and that is what general education requirements are trying to accomplish, but is it really necessary?  Does a nurse really need to know how to write a research paper in MLA format in order to save a man from bleeding to death?  Does firefighter really need to know the Pythagorean theory to save a child from a burning building?  Of course they do not.  But that is what general education requirements are trying to accomplish. 
   General education requirements are a great thing in theory, but in the real world, they just do not work out like they should.  Every student enrolled in an university is forced to take classes that have nothing to do with their major.  These classes should make the student smarter all around and encourage them to experience things they never have before, but what they really do is frustrate the student.  Most students are balancing a hectic schedule of classes and work.  If students only had to take classes that pertained directly to their major they could either finish their college career in a couple years or they could take a lighter load each semester and take the traditional four years, but because of the general education requirements they are forced to take full loads for at least four years and in some cases five or more years.  However, some students end their college career much earlier, only they do not graduate, but drop out.
   Many college students hated High School and just barely pass their way through and they think college will be different because "all the classes deal with one's major, so it will be fun," but to their shock, college is very similar to High School.  For the first two years or so, they are forced to take general education classes which can be very reminiscent to their High School days.  They see no end to the pointless classes and eventually get burned out and then can not concentrate on the classes that actually do go along with their major.  Eventually, many of them drop out and give up on their high paying job dreams.  But others find a better route; they go to a trade school.
   A trade school is probably the best route for any career field, they only teach one what one need's to know to do their job successfully.  Trade schools do not add a ton of unnecessary classes, therefore, students who attend a trade school can learn as much, if not more, about their field of learning in a year than their traditional college counterpart will learn in four or more years.  Not only do students who attend trade schools benefit because they save time, but they also save a lot of money.  Since most trade schools cost about the same as the average college per year, a student can easily save what they would have normally spent on three or more years of college tuition. 

[Izret101]

I concur.

I know i was more than a little pissed.

My favorite was my math class.
I had an over all passing grade of a C+ but since my final was not over a 75 i was failed and told "better luck next time".
Smug bitch.


Other than that one math teacher all the rest of them were pretty cool
Helpful, understanding, pretty lenient, etc.

There is also (i think it is called) general education tax?
Rediculous. Gov taxes you for trying to be a more productive member of this society.

[Barracuda]

I agree. Unnecessary classes are why I dropped out of higher education. I was carrying a 3.8 GPA but I was burnt out from classes that had no purpose to my major at all.

[Tondog]

Great paper. I agree with pretty much everything you say.

[NES_Rules]

Here's the rest of it.  I could probably write more, but it's supposed to be 750-1000 words, and I've 950.

If students did not take general education classes, colleges would not make as much money per student, and that is the real reason students are forced to take general education classes.  But, if colleges did quit mandating general education classes then they would not have to employ so many professors that teach subjects that few majors actually need.  So, in the end, they would not really be losing or gaining money, not that colleges do not already make more than enough with tuition costing as much as it does.
   College tuition rates continue to rise higher and higher every year, and they really should not be.  Each year many potential students would love to further their education by going to a good college or university, but they simply can not afford it.  Some attempt to work as many hours as they can just so they can make the payment on their loans, leaving very little time for friends, family, and studying time.  Without enough studying time, many receive grades lower than what they expected.  Which may cause some students to drop the particular class, which only further wastes their money.  It would seem obvious that colleges would never lower their tuitions because they would lose thousands of dollars, but that is not necessarily true.
   In 2004 the average cost of a public college was $4,000 and private colleges were $16,000.  It would seem that lowering those tuitions would cause colleges to lose money, but lowered tuitions would encourage more people to go to the school. So instead of having 1,000 students paying $4,000 they could have 10,000 students pay $400.  This would not only let students afford college without spending every free minute they have working, but would encourage people who had not even considered college, at least attempt it.
   Many high school graduates would like to attend college, but they know that they just can not afford it, so they do not even try to get in and work in a convenience store for the rest of their lives instead.  If they knew that they could afford college, they would attempt to get into a college and better their lives. 

[The Metamorphosing Leon]

I see the problem in that so many job REQUIRE college degrees.

In my opinion college should be a place for those who WANT to want be educated.

I sat in my English class yesterday and single handedly discussed our reading because no one else in the class read it...WTF?!?! It was a SIX page story. These people have no wish to be in college, they don't give a flying fuck about getting educated, they just want to go home and watch TV or get drunk or stoned. Yet society, parents, job requirements, what have you, forces them into college and so the people who care about learning, students and professors alike, must put up with these drooling masses

My personal mentality is: "I'm stuck here so I'm going to learn." and so I take the classes I'm going to like and I picked the major that interested me.

[TraderJake]

We engineers get to take a lot of "Gen Ed" Classes Senior Year. Fortunately for us, we get to pick many of them too. If I didn't get a choice in what BS classes I wanted to take I would be annoyed, but fortunately we have the luxury of picking our Gen Ed Classes.

[David_J.]

The biggest problem with college is, that there are jobs that require college degrees and pay barely over minimum wage. And there's no entry level jobs either, so it's very hard for new people to get into the fields. Recently, some people involved in healthcare pissed and moaned there is a shortage of workers, so people read that, and go to college for healthcare, and think they won't have a problem finding work, or they'll make a modest wage... but no, right out of school they will have problems finding work, and when/if they find work, it won't pay enough to pay off the massive college debt. I know there is a nationwide shortage of doctors. But how many hospitals are willing to hire entry level doctors with the education, but no experance?

There was a job opening that I saw online, that required a masters degree in the field I was studying, also required many years of experiance and payed less than $30K a year.

Saying you'll make more $$$ with a college degree is a lie... right when you get out of college anyway. How often does an person who just graduated college find work right out of college? And if you find work, how well does it pay? Not very.

[Hydrobond]

I found a job before I got out of college, and it pays well over 30k.  I'll be starting in September. 
Everyone, and I mean everyone, I know here (as in my school) has found a job before they graduated. 

College isn't always a rip off, you just gotta go into the right thing, and be willing to work hard.

[Three]

get drunk

yo

[Hydrobond]

get drunk

yo

Now there's something I can get behind as well.

[Barracuda]

I think alot of it revolves around where you live also. I know how David_J feels. The area I live in is very poor and the jobs that are here don't pay enough. The companies make things worse by asking for college degrees for jobs such as manufacturing that pay $10 an hour and require no schooling. Seriously one of the local companies pays their employees $6.50 an hour. How do you live on that?

[ganonbanned]

I concur.

I know i was more than a little pissed.

My favorite was my math class.
I had an over all passing grade of a C+ but since my final was not over a 75 i was failed and told "better luck next time".
Smug bitch.

this doesnt have to do with college but whatever.

In my math class, I failed with a 29%.  wow.  I know.  the last half of 2nd semester my teacher thought it would be necessary to usher in a new grading system.  if you get a problem wrong, its considered "incomplete", since technically you didnt show the right work.  this made it so the whole assignment was incomplete, taking off 2 points.  each assignment was worth 5 points, so yeah.  in summer school, all but 3 people had that teacher.

she also sucked because she preached her liberal opinions in class almost every day...bull shit.