Exhorbitant Tuition Costs Get National Attention

With the near collapse of America's financial market, the national media is finally taking a look at the skyrocketing cost of tuition at the nation's institutions of higher education. Good Morning America recently highlighted the frightening reality that tuition at a private university averages $23,000 while median income in the US is $50,000.

Sadly, the only solution they featured was from a student at the University of North Carolina: "I think tuition has gotten to the point where government, schools, charities need to start stepping in." Because most Americans cannot imagine what a college education would look like outside the normal university system, their solutions still fit within a framework fast becoming outmoded and obsolete.

The BBC recently noted that even universities like Harvard, who are prestigious because of their research and not so much for their classroom instruction, are doing little to actually educate their students for the real world. While the BBC called their guest's remarks "scathing," they also noted that Harvard declined an invitation to vindicate itself.

These trends make less classroom instruction increasingly appealing. Dartmouth's Professor Emeritus of English Jeffrey Hart recently noted that "the main job in getting a college education is to make sure the large essential parts are firmly in place, after which you can build upon them."

For Hart, the large essential parts are a strong understanding of history, literature, and critical thinking skills. These are the vital aspects of a real education and make paying ten's of thousands of dollars to listen to countless hours of lectures from humanistic professors seem unnecessary at best, spiritually subversive at worst.

Posted by Shawn Cohen