College and College Enrollment How do current college enrollment patterns differ from those of 50 years ago? Does this impact you as a student in any way?

When most people talk about college, what comes up most often is the cost of college. One of the most striking things to me about how college enrollment patterns are different from those of 50 years ago is the fact that most college students who enroll, do so knowing that they're now part of this bigger business of the college machine. College enrollment in top schools at least depends on being able to engage in SAT prep training, and getting top grades. Students need to be able to afford steep tuition costs or be willing to take out loans that will help them in mitigating those costs. It's interesting how the costs of college can have such a profound impact on how enrollment patterns of students are able to manifest. This is also true with lower tier schools, such as those on the community college level. For example, those students are often juggling jobs, families and other responsibilities on top of the costs of tuition and other obligations.

Thus, what strikes me about enrollment patterns nowadays in comparison with the last 50 years is namely how much the cost of college has escalated in recent times. One can really see enrollment patterns adapt to the cost of affording college and appear to be impacted in those manners.

Why are some current researchers criticizing college education? Do you agree with them, and why/why not?

While it might seem ludicrous to some, current researchers are criticizing college education because of two main reasons: the cost, and the pillars of a liberal arts education. College tuitions are so high these days that a recent graduate can enter the ever-dwindling workforce with six-figures worth of debt. Thus, by this logic, college isn't giving students a head start or leg-up in the work world. If college is crippling students in this manner, then that means that it's doing them more harm than good, in many respects. Even if someone is receiving a great education, they can't really use it to the best of their ability, if they're slaving away post-graduation working two jobs so that they can afford the costs of their college loans. Another criticism that certain liberal arts schools receive is that they give students far too academic an education to make them employable in the workforce today. For example, students might be knowledgeable about the writings of Plato, the theories of evolution, the paintings of Goya and other loftier subjects, but jobs which harness that kind of knowledge and that skill-set are few and far between. The reality is...

This is unsatisfactory to many critics because the hours spent studying vs. The hours spent drinking and carousing are incomparable. Students are paying astronomical tuition rates in order to spend just a fraction of their time at college doing any actual work to further their minds.
In what way does diversity affect college students' learning? Does it affect your own learning in any way?

Diversity has a tremendous impact on how students learn. My learning is impacted by diversity in that it helps shape the perspective by which I view the world. For example, if someone attends a college which is mostly inhabited by wealthy white students from upper-crust neighborhoods around the nation, they'll come to believe that the world is full of people from homes with plenty of money and comfort: a lack of diversity creates a narrow perspective on the world. This creates a scenario where people too readily see the world from a very one-sided viewpoint, something which is already a problem within mass media. As film and television so often reflect the trials and tribulations, fun and adventures of Caucasians, this media gives viewers a very limited perspective on the world. In a sense, a lack of diversity does the same. A lack of diversity can take the shape of a single socioeconomic class, a single race, or a single gender that dominates -- regardless of the form it takes it does the entire student body a great disservice.

People from a variety of backgrounds can offer different perspectives: on a painting, on a crisis, on a historical battle, or on a film. The dynamic sharing of different opinions and viewpoints allows the students to learn in deeper and richer ways. Students have the ability to become more compassionate or to have greater levels of empathy and respect for others, and to work in a more meaningful manner. The learning experience can thus become an experience where character is being built.

If someone younger than you were to ask your advice on attending college, what would you say to them, based on your experience and what you've learned from the text?

If someone younger than me were to ask for my advice in this regard, I would explain to him or…