Guest Articles

Higher Learning For The Few   by Julie Plancarte

In the last two years, I have been in active pursuit of my nursing degree. I ‘ve been balancing this with raising two children, the demands of a full work schedule, as well as my own personal interests.

I would like to say that it has been an easy transition back into the student role. Truth is, that’s not the case. As an adult reentering the academic area, I’ve observed some things that upset me.

First of all, it’s a fact that enrollments are down at many colleges, even junior colleges which are local and have lower costs. More young people are leaving high school and entering the work field rather than going on to college. This is especially true among the working class. Literally thousands of education loans and grants sit unused as attendance falls. The local community college near my home lost nearly 4,000 students and the numbers keep falling. If one were to look at the factors behind this, I would say that a lack of a good support system, poor study habits, and no motivation play a role in this decision for most students.

Second, very little accommodation is being made in structure of professional courses (i.e. nursing, medicine, law, etc.) to attract nontraditional students who might excel academically if an alternate schedule was provided. Many adults who would commit to a degree program such as nursing, simply can’t balance the full-time schedule that most schools demand. Students who might succeed in a program that offered part-time study, night classes, and computer testing, are shut out. In my opinion, this is a huge mistake, because if I was going to look at the success and motivation of two students, one a nineteen year old, and the other a single mother who is hungry for a different way of life, I would bank on the single mother. I know in my case that I really didn’t push myself to change the way I learned things until I had to put out my own money and sacrifice my time driving to test locations. Adults who are looking for a positive means to change the course of their lives make wonderful students.

Third, there should be more programs and schools that focus on higher paid skill areas (i.e. vocational schools). Many countries have this. Students are tested in High School, and based on their scores, they’re placed in either university or trade schools. This way, everyone has a chance to learn how to make a living at a level that will support their needs. There are many young people who would probably do well with this, but it needs to be more widespread.

Lastly, college costs are ludicrous. It’s crazy how much is being charged for tuition and books alone. Education should be affordable. It used to be that you could work over the summer and pay your tuition for a YEAR at a college in your own state. Now a summer of work barely covers a SEMESTER. Out of state tuition is much higher and so are private school costs.

There is no doubt in my mind that the United States needs to take a hard look at its educational system and figure out a way to raise the bar so that our society has the chance to learn essential skills.

Education should be available to everyone. A realistic means to achieve one’s learning goals should be a reality. Just throwing money out there via grants and loans and having students run up large debts isn’t the answer. We need to change the way we deliver the course work and change program structure. Professors and educators need to think outside the box, otherwise, education will become the sole privilege of the few, and many college campuses across the country will continue to see declining enrollments.

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Copyright  2008     Leland Pulley