Summary Of Commercialization Of Higher Education By John Merrow
John Merrow produced the documentary in 2005 doing a thorough research on campuses for 2 years with the purpose to raise public awareness of what is happening in American higher education, where it is heading, to inform the public that the higher education deviation from its original direction and the existing issues to students, parents, professors, higher education administrators and general public. The documentary reveals the challenges higher education is going through directly from freshmen & senior students, full & part time professors, university presidents and higher education administrators that are putting American higher education at risk. This paper will discuss the warning signs of issues existent in American higher education system including students’ attitudes towards their learning, commercialization of higher education & college athletics, professors’ enthusiasm & attitude toward their work, quality of teaching and employment policy in higher education. One of the serious issues in higher education & is students’ aspirations. Most students are coming to college
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underprepared with little interest in studying. Student Matt Morris at Western Kentucky University admits he is not well prepared. Keith Caywood says he was prepared for college but “I got swallowed up”. William Pritchard of Amherst College confirms that “students are not as good as they used to be”. If students at a selective school are not very good, then what about a less selective school students? Some students with no financial issues have no interest in learning and are not taking responsibility in their studies. Robin Bhall, a student at University of Arizona affirms that he does not study & prepare for. Not all students are aimless. Student Ceylon Hollis at Western Kentucky University strives to get education while working full-time understanding her responsibility. Prof. Paulette Kurzer at University of Arizona reiterates that “only 4/5 students out of 200 do the reading, they have no interest, no curiosity in studying and are not demanding” to prove the situation. Another critical issue is university/college teaching staff enthusiasm, attitude in their work and the employment policy. The documentary displays interesting representations of university professors to contrast. Paulette Kurzer, a political science professor at University of Arizona, definitely dissatisfied with her students & her salary feeling undervalued show no interest in her work. On the other hand, representing enthusiastic ones, Tom Fleming likes teaching and keeps his students involved and encourage himself to learn to teach. Colleges are putting their reputation or future at risk by preferring part-time professors or graduate assistants to save but not giving emphasize on quality. The documentary reveals that nationally half of the all college faculties are part-time professors (John Merrow, producer. 2005; Declining by Degrees). Underpaid part-time professors & inexperienced GAs cannot excel in teaching due to over workload and undervaluation. On top of that, as Professor Brian Strow admits that they don’t prioritize their teaching but rather concentrate on research to get tenure track & increase income and publishing articles to consolidate their position. These phenomena demonstrate that colleges value financial issues more than quality. The documentary shows how higher education was in the past and how it is getting market-driven and commercialized. Kay McClenny, University of Texas at Austin, contrasts higher education’s past and present. She states that “a few years ago, high school graduates were able to go to work, earn and sustain a family but today college education is absolute necessity for everyone but college education is getting more expensive”. An official from University of Kentucky also notes that “we are moving toward the system where college education is for ones who can pay for their education”. However, the situation was not always this unsatisfactory. When G.Is returned from war college education was within everyone’s reach” (John Merrow, producer. 2005; Declining by Degrees). This shows how higher education has deviated from its original goal. Another pressing issue being discussed is sports on campus. While engaging in community activities like sports is appreciated, students playing for their schools are becoming victims. Most of them cannot concentrate on their studies, play without any salary and end up leaving college without knowledge and degree. Colleges should allow student athletes more time to focus on their studies. Andre Iguodala, a student athlete at University of Arizona, discloses that he would not have been there if he did not play basketball and concedes he spends 80 per cent of his time on athletic training/activities and 20 per cent on academic studies. Student athletes have to go through twofold, rigorous athletic training and academic challenges than other students which in turn keep them away from academic tracks and they end up bearing the grunt not the schools. Moreover, colleges are increasing their tuition and fees as the main source of income to make more money to build facilities to win in the competition to attract more customers. It can be concluded that schools are not competing with the quality of education they offer. The documentary discloses that “nearly half of all undergraduate students go to community colleges”. All these students cannot be going to community colleges only because of its affordability but rather because of unaffordable tuition & fees of four-year colleges & universities. Higher education tuition and quality should be interdependent of each other. However, regardless of colleges’ high tuition fees, college education quality and graduates’ qualifications raise concerns. Lara Courtier at Brown University says that “business leaders are dissatisfied with their employees’ level of skills and call out for change in higher education”. This means it is time for colleges to meet students and employers’ needs in return what they are accepting from them.
According to the documentary, on average half of 4-year college students drop out of schools and those who graduate leave with a huge debt and colleges accept no responsibility for anything. Definitely, students are paying the price. One of major reasons why college graduates are incompetent is the student employment forced by high tuition & fees while reasons may vary from country to country. It is clear from the documentary that 20% of all undergraduate students hold full time jobs while trying to be full-time students and 68% of them work 15 hrs / week. Working forces students to miss classes. Because of these reasons students cannot concentrate on their studies and cannot accumulate necessary skills to compete in the labor market. The documentary displays warning issues in American higher education such as commercialization in higher education, increasing tuition rates, college & university teaching staff employment, higher education administrative issues, policy, student aspiration and college athletics to increase the awareness of the involved parties and general public to understand what is going on and encourage them to react.
It is already time for higher education sector to work to regain public trust & support, to redirect itself to provide quality education, to value professors’ work promptly, to activate students more, to handle college athletics and competition among colleges and universities appropriately. High school graduates, parents, and all who are involved in higher education are encouraged to watch the documentary for their benefit to make better judgment and
decisions.
1. Declining by Degrees: HE at Risk. Produced by John Merrow. 2005; USA http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BcxDVYo2wH8
underprepared with little interest in studying. Student Matt Morris at Western Kentucky University admits he is not well prepared. Keith Caywood says he was prepared for college but “I got swallowed up”. William Pritchard of Amherst College confirms that “students are not as good as they used to be”. If students at a selective school are not very good, then what about a less selective school students? Some students with no financial issues have no interest in learning and are not taking responsibility in their studies. Robin Bhall, a student at University of Arizona affirms that he does not study & prepare for. Not all students are aimless. Student Ceylon Hollis at Western Kentucky University strives to get education while working full-time understanding her responsibility. Prof. Paulette Kurzer at University of Arizona reiterates that “only 4/5 students out of 200 do the reading, they have no interest, no curiosity in studying and are not demanding” to prove the situation. Another critical issue is university/college teaching staff enthusiasm, attitude in their work and the employment policy. The documentary displays interesting representations of university professors to contrast. Paulette Kurzer, a political science professor at University of Arizona, definitely dissatisfied with her students & her salary feeling undervalued show no interest in her work. On the other hand, representing enthusiastic ones, Tom Fleming likes teaching and keeps his students involved and encourage himself to learn to teach. Colleges are putting their reputation or future at risk by preferring part-time professors or graduate assistants to save but not giving emphasize on quality. The documentary reveals that nationally half of the all college faculties are part-time professors (John Merrow, producer. 2005; Declining by Degrees). Underpaid part-time professors & inexperienced GAs cannot excel in teaching due to over workload and undervaluation. On top of that, as Professor Brian Strow admits that they don’t prioritize their teaching but rather concentrate on research to get tenure track & increase income and publishing articles to consolidate their position. These phenomena demonstrate that colleges value financial issues more than quality. The documentary shows how higher education was in the past and how it is getting market-driven and commercialized. Kay McClenny, University of Texas at Austin, contrasts higher education’s past and present. She states that “a few years ago, high school graduates were able to go to work, earn and sustain a family but today college education is absolute necessity for everyone but college education is getting more expensive”. An official from University of Kentucky also notes that “we are moving toward the system where college education is for ones who can pay for their education”. However, the situation was not always this unsatisfactory. When G.Is returned from war college education was within everyone’s reach” (John Merrow, producer. 2005; Declining by Degrees). This shows how higher education has deviated from its original goal. Another pressing issue being discussed is sports on campus. While engaging in community activities like sports is appreciated, students playing for their schools are becoming victims. Most of them cannot concentrate on their studies, play without any salary and end up leaving college without knowledge and degree. Colleges should allow student athletes more time to focus on their studies. Andre Iguodala, a student athlete at University of Arizona, discloses that he would not have been there if he did not play basketball and concedes he spends 80 per cent of his time on athletic training/activities and 20 per cent on academic studies. Student athletes have to go through twofold, rigorous athletic training and academic challenges than other students which in turn keep them away from academic tracks and they end up bearing the grunt not the schools. Moreover, colleges are increasing their tuition and fees as the main source of income to make more money to build facilities to win in the competition to attract more customers. It can be concluded that schools are not competing with the quality of education they offer. The documentary discloses that “nearly half of all undergraduate students go to community colleges”. All these students cannot be going to community colleges only because of its affordability but rather because of unaffordable tuition & fees of four-year colleges & universities. Higher education tuition and quality should be interdependent of each other. However, regardless of colleges’ high tuition fees, college education quality and graduates’ qualifications raise concerns. Lara Courtier at Brown University says that “business leaders are dissatisfied with their employees’ level of skills and call out for change in higher education”. This means it is time for colleges to meet students and employers’ needs in return what they are accepting from them.
According to the documentary, on average half of 4-year college students drop out of schools and those who graduate leave with a huge debt and colleges accept no responsibility for anything. Definitely, students are paying the price. One of major reasons why college graduates are incompetent is the student employment forced by high tuition & fees while reasons may vary from country to country. It is clear from the documentary that 20% of all undergraduate students hold full time jobs while trying to be full-time students and 68% of them work 15 hrs / week. Working forces students to miss classes. Because of these reasons students cannot concentrate on their studies and cannot accumulate necessary skills to compete in the labor market. The documentary displays warning issues in American higher education such as commercialization in higher education, increasing tuition rates, college & university teaching staff employment, higher education administrative issues, policy, student aspiration and college athletics to increase the awareness of the involved parties and general public to understand what is going on and encourage them to react.
It is already time for higher education sector to work to regain public trust & support, to redirect itself to provide quality education, to value professors’ work promptly, to activate students more, to handle college athletics and competition among colleges and universities appropriately. High school graduates, parents, and all who are involved in higher education are encouraged to watch the documentary for their benefit to make better judgment and
decisions.
1. Declining by Degrees: HE at Risk. Produced by John Merrow. 2005; USA http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BcxDVYo2wH8