Community colleges in Washington state have a lot of 2+2 type programs.
My youngest brother did a 2+2 program at Olympic College in Bremerton, ending up with a bachelor degree in engineering from Washington State University, despite never leaving the peninsula
He now has a government Engineering job at Naval Base Kitsap (formerly PSNS).
For those that don’t know, Pullman (WSU campus) is over 300 east of Bremerton.
I just think there needs to be a way to measure the generated value. I agree that it is screwed up by the large degree of wealth disparity we have (also similar to health care). And maybe there is some society or community aspect to be added.
But I still think we need to compare it with opportunity costs, and asking what people -actually- got out of college, rather than discussing what it ought to do for people.
The limit to this approach is that you have to define what “value” means according to some set of norm. But education is supposed to potentially challenge or change those norms.
For example, how do you measure the value of womens liberation? Some people believe women should be homemakers, in which case this has no value.
I’m not saying you don’t try to measure some of the benefits of education. But it is not a business project that must give a good enough return to its shareholders.
Not a monetary return, perhaps, but an opportunity cost, referring to money that could have been spent subsidizing a different cultural activity.
The limit to this approach is that you have to define what “value” means according to some set of norm. But education is supposed to potentially challenge or change those norms.
For example, how do you measure the value of womens liberation? Some people believe women should be homemakers, in which case this has no value.
It depends I guess. If the idea is that you go to college, and get enlightened, then you ought to feel enlightened after you’ve been to college. You also ought to be able to compare it to other things, like visiting italy or reading a novel.
But I guess your point could be more subtle. Like the effect on society is too small to feel.
Ya’ll are talking like k-12 education was a waste of time and college is where it’s at, and without college we’d be a bunch of idiots.
That is absolutely not the case for many people. For some, college is the reason they turned into idiots.
My k-12 education gave me a diverse introduction to lots of different topics, but they’re all grounded in educating me.
In college I took shit classes like Intro to jazz because I needed the credits and I couldn’t give two shits about jazz. I also skipped all the classes and flunked it eventually (changed it to pass/fail so it didn’t affect my GPA).
Lol. Do you even Wisconsin
You can lead a horticulture…
I only need to go 30 minutes north of Milwaukee to get intensely stared at like I’m some kind of alien
You have less structure being an adult. You dont need college to not have to ask permission to go to the bathroom
plenty of entry level work culture mirrors college culture anyway. just a bunch of young people working together, partying after work together, drink and do drugs together. And guess what, you’re making money instead of going into 5-6 figures debt while not making a dime
That would have been nice. When I started working the next oldest person was like 40
My k-12 education was mostly horrible. Well maybe not mostly. I learned to read and was introduced to some good literature but it was too little too late. I learned some math and a little science. History and geography were severely lacking. I learned a little about cooking and I learned some basics of football. I feel like I could have learned a lot more with a little guidance. Moving every 2-3 years didn’t help in most cases. It did help to move away from a low performing state to a higher performing state in 11th grade.
I guess mine was considered good. It’s embarrassing how low the bar is for a public school to be considered elite. Because it’s astonishingly easy to score in the top 1% of college entrance exams.
And I’m not that smart, I don’t think my IQ would impress anyone.
And it’s not like it’s super secret either…
Sorry to hear that. I guess I went to pretty competitive schools with decent teachers.
I was actually just at a county fair in rural Wisconsin last week as part of my road trip. (I have family there.)
I would say the attendees were 99% white, but decidedly NOT 100% white. So while non-whites are in the extreme minority, for a white person to go their whole lives without seeing a non-white person… naw.
And those folks go into Milwaukee and/or Green Bay and/or Madison every once in a while too. But even if they didn’t… they certainly go to the county fair.
The one non-white person there happened to be named Prakash V. Noir
Naw, I think there were a double digit number of black people, although to be fair I don’t recall seeing any Asians. But I honestly wasn’t paying that much attention.
I took my cousins to ride on some rides and ended up chatting with an African American couple whose kids were riding the same rides as my cousins. I kind of wanted to ask what brought them to the middle of nowhere, Wisconsin, but I didn’t want to be rude / cause offense. They weren’t the only Black people there either; I just happened to strike up a conversation with them.
He was wearing a really nice looking Packers polo. I half wondered if he was affiliated with the team in some way, but most likely just a fan.
I don’t think it’s about personal enlightenment.
Instead I think it’s about its effect on all society.
And it’s not too small to feel. If anything, it’s too big, like a fish trying to notice it’s wet.
Not my college. Maybe yours.
Yeah, the effects of alcohol, puke, weed, coke and shrooms. Stupid bar fights, and going to class hung over. All the while going into severe debt so you can feel even worse about it after you graduate.
What will we do without college?!