Higher education and learning outcomes

Education

Why we Need Higher Education

The purpose of this paper is to introduce, discuss, and analyze higher education. Specifically it will discuss why people should have the privilege of a higher education. Higher education is the hope for many people to prosper and reach their goals. It gives them the ability to find better jobs, make better money, and live better lives than their families may have lived, and higher education should not be only available to the wealthiest individuals. Everyone should have the privilege of a higher education in this country, if they desire it.

A college education should be within the reach of anyone who wants it, but unfortunately, due to rising costs, that is not always the case. The cost of higher education is rising dramatically in this country, making a college education unattainable for many young people. Two authors note, "The real cost of higher education per full-time equivalent student has grown substantially over the last 75 years, and the rapid rise since the early 1980s is a cause of considerable public concern" (Archibald, and Feldman). In the current economic crisis, higher education is often suffering cuts as state and local budgets shrink, and this is raising the cost of higher education even more. Because of this, fewer people will be able to attend college, and this will have a long-term effect on the country, because our children will not be able to have the privilege of higher education at a time when they need it the most.

Higher education is a necessity for success in life, and people should be able to attend college not based on their ability to pay, but on their desire to succeed. Some people do not want to attend college, and that is fine, but people who really want to and cannot afford it should not be punished by not being able to attend. Some people can qualify for scholarships, but there are not always enough of those to go around, and some people are left behind. This means that they may not be able to get a good job with decent pay, all because they could not afford to go to college. College should not be only for the wealthiest people that can afford to pay, it should be available to everyone, and it should not be so expensive that many people cannot attend.

One of the problems with higher education and its costs is that in the past, the costs were kept low in many institutions, and so people are not used to paying much higher prices. In the 1960s and 1970s, many community colleges were free, funded by states, and when that ended, fewer people could afford to attend these institutions, but they want their children to attend college to have more than they could give them. Today, costs just continue to rise, and that means that even more people will suffer, and the overall educational level of the country could suffer, as well.

Higher education should have high standards for enrollment, too. Another writer notes, "By the fall of 2005, there were some 2,000 four-year colleges and universities in the United States, enrolling in excess of 17 million students (more than three-quarters of them in public institutions) of hugely varying qualifications" (Clausen). Many schools dropped standards for enrollment to attract more students, and now, they are revising standards making it harder for some student to get into schools. Even if a student has low grades, if they want to attend college, they should have the opportunity. Many students do better in college because they are more interested in their courses and in learning, and so, even if they had lower grades in high school they should have the opportunity to attend college.

Higher education prepares the students for the "real" world of work and family, but it can make a true difference in a person's life, as well. Just two examples of many that exist are Oprah Winfrey and Barack Obama. Winfrey grew up poor, was shuttled between relatives, and was molested by members of her family when she was young. She managed to attend college, and it prepared her for her career in broadcasting, which began when she was 17. "She attended Tennessee State University, where she majored in Speech Communications and Performing Arts" (Editors). She began working as a reporter at a television station in Baltimore in 1976, and formed her own production company in 1986. She is one of the most successful women in broadcasting, and her talk show is shown around the world. She is a philanthropist who built a school for girls in Africa, and she is one of the wealthiest women in the world. All this because she has an engaging personality and got a college education that prepared her for her long career in broadcasting.