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Wow. I just found this article and it blew me away. I have not read a more eloquent description of one of the biggest problems in higher education today. This man really knows what he is talking about; good thing too, he’s publishing a book about the subject.

I think that there is a lot wrong with the modern secondary education system. In my four years at school, I saw a lot of coasting. I was doing some of it, but often I saw my peers sitting back and never participating in classes, putting in the bare minimum and just trying to get by. And the professors didn’t do much about it. It seemed like if the student showed up for class, they were pretty much guaranteed a B. And if they were really fast talkers, they could usually weasel into an A. That is just ridiculous.

The approach suggested in the article of standardized competency exams is excellent. It wouldn’t matter how you learned it; it would only matter if you knew the material. There is no cramming for that kind of exam. You know the material or you don’t. Not only would this be a great leveler (just because someone graduated from Harvard doesn’t make them smarter, I could be just as or more competent in a job, but they were to Harvard, so they are assumed to be more qualified), but it would also hold students to a much higher standard. I alway marvelled at the knowledge of my professors in college; they always seemed to know so much stuff. And it wasn’t like they knew a little bit about it, they were fluent in languages that aren’t spoken anymore, they could recall entire poems from memory, they could perform complex math in their head at a speed to make calculators jealous. Yes, they are professional scholars, but I always felt that they didn’t expect that kind of mastery from us. Even though on more than one occasion they said that they learned this or that when they were an undergrad. I wanted to shout “Well why don’t you make us learn it? Are we not as smart as you? Hold us to higher standard, dang it!” However, this would have resulted in my death by stoning at the hands of my fellow students, so I decided to bite my tongue.

But I wonder what today’s college undergrads would be capable of if they were pushed. If they held a college degree in the same esteem as our parents did, or even our grandparents. There are still plenty of people who don’t go to college; why is it then, that so many undergrads feel that their degree is an inalienable right? Earn your degree, don’t just coast into it.

Maybe  Mr. Murray is correct when he suggests competency exams. It would certainly change the face of modern secondary education, perhaps for the better. But I doubt that the regents of colleges and universities across the country would ever accept such an undermining of their well-established, extremely profitable business. Because regardless of what they say, that’s what college presidents, regents and deans ultimately see students as: dollar signs.

1 Comments For This Post

1. exploringtheinfiniteabyss (August 15th, 2008 at 8:35 pm)

   I’m glad you have found the time to blog again.

   I will read this article at a later date. I have to go to work soon. But I agree that our education system is in jeopardy. Seriously. I think we also need to take a step back and look in our high schools and fix those problems. Then we need to stop making it easier to get into college. But like you said, they only see students as dollar signs so making it easier means more students means more money to them.

   I will definitely continue to pray for you and Kelsey. God is definitely working through you two. Be praying for me as I am still debating about finishing my Awaken application…

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