Obama Wants To Fix Education Crisis -- Then Get Out Of The Way
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Last week, President Obama added lowering college tuition fees and raising the quality of education to his administration’s agenda. The president rightly lamented the rising costs of tuition in this country, which have ballooned over1,100 percent in the last thirty years — with no abatement in sight.
But, if the president truly wants to fix the ills of higher education, he would be better served by getting out of the way.
How did we even get here?
At odds with the emphasis on a college education in the U.S. is the high cost of higher education. College tuition in the U.S. ranks among the highest of developed countries, costing over 50 percent of the average income per year. In large part, by making tuition loans available to nearly anyone at very low interest rates, the government has aided and abetted colleges in hyperinflating the cost of an education.
Surely, the rising costs of college must mean a commensurate increase in the quality of education, right? Hardly.
Based on his research of higher education, Richard Arum’s book, “Academically Adrift,” highlighted that students earning degrees today achieve limited gains in the all-important skills of critical thinking, complex reasoning, and writing during their education. He goes on to say that 36 percent of students experienced no significant improvement in learning over four years of college.
Furthermore, compared to decades earlier, professors are spending less time in the classroom in favor of research, and students spend significantly less