Introduction
Higher education exists to produce knowledge. This mission is accomplished by researchers and teachers, working in cooperation, with the goal of producing educated citizens. It is through research, innovation, and teaching that we improve our society. Education of the whole person was one of the earliest goals of higher education. Today there are many competing goals that influence the missions and funding philosophies tied to public universities. In chapter one of How to succeed in school without really learning: the credentials race in American education, David Labaree (1997) identifies three defining goals of education. In order to provide context to how the three goals can be in competition or alignment, two pieces will be used to analyze the goals. The first is an article regarding the role of the government in financing higher education (Baum, 1995) and the second document, The Arizona higher education enterprise: Strategic realignment 2010 forward, is the Arizona Board of Regents (ABOR) strategic plan (ABOR, 2010).
The Defining Goals of Education
The three goals of education are: social efficiency, social mobility, and democratic equality (Labaree, 1997). They are best understood by comparing and contrasting them according to various philosophical dimensions used to answer questions like, “how much education should one person get?” or is “higher education intended to be a public or private good?”
Social Efficiency
If higher education’s purpose was solely based on the goal of social efficiency students would only get as much education as they needed for a job, and no more. This educational attainment is not driven by competition or status. It is a combination of private and public interest, but viewed more ...
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...igher education. The three goals cannot all be met without sacrificing an element of one goal for the promotion of another. The goals will frequently be in conflict with one another providing opportunity for critical debate about the central mission of higher education.
Works Cited
Arizona Board of Regents. (2010). The Arizona higher education enterprise: Strategic realignment 2010 forward. Phoenix, AZ: Arizona Board of Regents.
Baum, S. (1995). The federal role in financing higher education: an economic perspective. Paper presented at the National Conference on the Best Ways for the
Federal Government to Help Students and Families Finance Postsecondary Education October 8-9, 1995.
Labaree, D. F. (1997). How to succeed in school without really learning: the credentials race in American education. (pp. 1-52).New Haven, Conn.: Yale University
Press.
The article, The Value of Higher Education Made Literal by scholar Stanley Fish focuses on sharing his opinion of higher education and what it has become in recent years. Mr. Fish’s argument is essentially over the “logic of privatization” where students are pictured as “investors” or “consumers” in courses of study that maximize successful employment outcomes. He also believes arts, humanities, and social sciences are overlooked while study courses in science, technology, and clinical medicine are prioritized. Fish also strongly believes the value of higher education has changed due to the desires of students over time, desires of becoming extremely financially secure enough to buy more than needed to justify years of money and hard work applied when in school.
Wendell Berry, an American novelist, shares his thoughts on education in the article, “The Loss of the University.” In this article, he talks about the disciplines of education in universities, and how the modern university has grown, but not according to the principle of education. He uses an example of a tree which stands for education and the branches, which establish the liberal arts. The trunk stands for the major and the branches are the classes that support your major. For example my major is HES which is the trunk and the branches will be be biology, chemistry and speech classes these classes support what I do for my major. Berry is concerned about how universities are dealing with education as a business. They are not making the education grow, but selling it to the students. For him education is something that should prepare students
Community colleges and universities all belong to higher education, but actually they do not have the same requirements for their students. Peter Sacks is a college teacher. With Sacks’ teaching experiences, he believes that “nobody in the system had much of a stake in shoring up educational standards” which shows his dissatisfied about the current education system. Sacks thinks higher education should only be provided to students who can do excellent job on studying. However, only a few universities hold their applicants to this high requirement. Indeed, the phenomenon that Sacks finds is correct, many community colleges and universities have low requirements for students, but Sacks does not see the good part of this low requirements. If higher education includes different requirements, more people will be able to accept better education than high school, and this will be helpful for themselves and society.
Education holds power over determining one’s class. Knowledge and refinement can set one individual apart from another who lacks the qualities of successful individuals. Finances and opportunities distinguish class meaning the lower class has difficulty in obtaining the same conditions of the upper class. Education ultimately dictates success and power in society. Education is taken for granted and should be recognized for the significance it possesses.
When debating higher education, it could be considered rare to find someone who feels college, here in the United States, is being perceived and applied in the absolute most beneficial way it can be. Generally, many people feel there is at least one thing, and probably many more, that they would change about the way college is either functioning or being perceived by parents, students, or educators. In a climate where so many people feel change needs to come, many opinions on what needs to change and how and why these changes should take place have the opportunity to surface. The two articles to be mentioned in this, one written by Charles Murray and the other by Gerald Graff, tell seemingly opposite approaches, in the specifics, to bettering
Nguyen, Dung. The True Purpose of College and Higher Education. 2000. Delta Winds. Web. 15 April 2014
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In Louis Menand’s “Live and Learn: Why We Have College” he discusses his three theories about the purpose of higher education. The first theory says “college is, essentially, a four-year intelligence test”(57). This meritocratic theory is saying that “society wants to identify intelligent people early on … to get the most of its human resources” and college is the machine that does the sorting (57). The second theory, the democratic one, claims the point of college is not to pick out the elite. Rather, the point is to “expose future citizens to material that enlightens and empowers them” (58). The third theory explains how “advanced economies demand specialized knowledge and skills, and, since high school is aimed at the general learner, college is where people can be taught what they need in order to enter a vocation” (62). All three theories have their
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Education is a vital part of society. It serves the beneficial purpose of educating our children and getting them ready to be productive adults in today's society. But, the social institution of education is not without its problems. Continual efforts to modify and improve the system need to be made, if we are to reap the highest benefits that education has to offer to our children and our society as a whole.
Nowadays, University Education is becoming the most important thing. There are dozens of benefits such as knowledge, social skill, living experience, living standard, thinking ability for better future lives. However, it has generated large number of discussions and arguments. Opponents claim university education is not necessary for a successful life, whereas supporters say that university education is necessary for successful life furthermore university education Allow student getting more knowledge changing the view in life, opening a gate to social change. This essay will argue that, while University Education have both positive and negative aspects, the advantages outweigh the disadvantages.
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