Alexander Hamilton: Pursuing The American Dream

America is facing a national crisis in terms of producing enough college graduates to sustain our new STEM-driven economy, and the current model is admitted outdated, according to an official at California State University (Shockley). Americans must ask themselves how college dropout, Alexander Hamilton would have been able to succeed in his time with the requirements we place on college educations today? The answer is no. Americans have allowed the wonder and excitement that has come with pursuing the American Dream to be overtaken by petty and pointless bureaucracy and red tape that works against the interest of hapless college students just trying to succeed in the world. We can and should do more for them, starting with liberalizing how
College students today have the option to take less time to graduate through the use of online courses that allow for more flexibility to suit their schedules, versus on-campus courses. Globally, distance learning is working wonders across the developing world, from helping to combat religious and political extremism to helping provide water for drinking and irrigation to drought-stricken parts of sub-Saharan Africa. From a cost-savings perspective, both students and higher learning institutions benefit from the direct and indirect affordability offered by distance learning. Criticism of distance learning claim bemoans the loss of some aspect of the collegiate experience, or somehow being less fulfilling educationally. No objective evidence supports these claims. Finally, America must develop robust distance learning programs from shore to shore in order to produce the STEM scholars we need to continue to lead as a country. There can be no argument given these facts that distance learning is indeed in the interests of the American people, our economy, and the future of higher