Comparing educational perspectives in Marsh and Harrington

¶ … Education

From the first paragraph of his article it is apparent that John Marsh is questioning the value of a traditional college graduation -- ridiculing the pomp and ceremony that is part of the festivities surrounding commencement in Champaign Illinois. But reading deeper into the article by Marsh one can see he and other professors have given altruistically and generously of their time to help create a graduation situation (the Odyssey Project) for low income people in the neighborhood who otherwise would likely not have a chance to further their education.

Mixed in with his description of this alternative educational program with a very modest commencement ceremony is Marsh's questioning of the belief that poverty and other ills are caused by a lack of education. He frankly states that "education alone with not change things" and he believes too much emphasis has been put on education as the way to bring people out of poverty. In short, Marsh, a professor whose education brought him a higher salary then he ever thought he would receive, says the country needs to "stop believing" that education is "a magic potion for the poor or anyone else" (Marsh, 2011, p. 7).

Meanwhile, although he agrees in some ways with Marsh, journalist Mike Rose writes from a somewhat different perspective in his article "What College Can Mean to the Other America." Rose explains that "…Hope and desire are brimming" among students at the community college where he teaches. Not because they are taking classes in the classics (Plato, Shakespeare, et al.) like the courses Marsh taught; but because they are taking "occupational programs" that enhances their basic skills and prepares them for a real job (Rose, 2011, p. 2).

Rose begins his article by panning President Barack Obama's mantra that America needs to "out-innovate, out-educate, and out-build" our competition, in order for the U.S. To "achieve fuller prosperity." The development of innovation through new technologies may be important, but as far as digging the U.S. out of its terrible economic situation, Rose insists, it is "mostly nonsense" (he quotes from an article in The Economist). Instead of looking at "the horizon of innovation" the leaders in America should be "looking straight in front of us at the tens of millions of chronically unemployed Americans." What is needed is "comprehensive occupational, educational, and social services," Rose writes.

The majority of students he sees had "chaotic childhoods" and many went to "underperforming schools, and never finished high school." And yet, at the community college where Rose teaches, most students "…say this is the first time school has meant anything to them… [and] it doesn't take long to imagine the kind of society we would have if more people had this opportunity" (Rose, p. 2). Meanwhile, given the optimism that abounds when people are offered real job skills (and not just liberal arts) -- people who previously were shut out of any economic possibilities -- is giving away to pessimism because of "severe budget cuts in education" due to the recession. Budgets should not be cut that provide career opportunities for folks who otherwise would continue to be shoved to the bottom of the economic ladder, Rose insists.

While Marsh is glad that he got involved with the Odyssey Project, he recognizes now that "…programs like it are neither necessary nor sufficient responses" to the issues that go along with poverty. Both writers agree that education per se will not end poverty. But Rose insists that specific, well-designed occupational educational programs can (and does) help the previously unemployed or poverty-stricken -- but in the meantime he is upset that budget cuts will take away those opportunities for students who want nothing more than a skill like learning "…the air supply system in a diesel engine" or how to "sew supports into an evening dress."