College Craziness

Last week's blog talked about a film that was hitting home for a lot of people - Race to Nowhere - that addresses the high-pressure, high-stakes culture that has invaded our schools and children’s lives.  

Why do we allow our schools to foster this type of culture? Is it to prepare our kids to succeed in college? Is it to teach them to do well on MCAS, SAT and AP tests so that they will get into the "right college?" How does one define the "right college?" Is there such a thing?  

Michael Thompson, in Fighting College Craziness, a recent article in Educational Leadership magazine (April, 2011) says "What makes students and families crazy during this transition is their belief that the college admissions process is about finding the right college. It isn't. It's about a child successfully leaving the family and beginning young adulthood. Educators need to maintain that perspective when students — and families — lose it."

I couldn't agree more. There are 1,200 community colleges in this country. Thousands more 4-year colleges and universities. There is someplace for everyone. Unfortunately, many of the students who compete in the "Race to Nowhere " are doing so for the prize of getting into the "right" school. Here's something to consider from an article that appeared in the New York Times (Is Going to an Elite College Worth the Cost?, December 17, 2010):

"In the end, some researchers echo that tried-and-perhaps-even-true wisdom of guidance counselors: the extent to which one takes advantage of the educational offerings of an institution may be more important, in the long run, than how prominently and proudly that institution’s name is being displayed on the back windows of cars in the nation’s wealthiest enclaves.

"In this analysis, one’s major — and how it aligns with the departmental strengths of a university — may be more significant than the place in the academic pecking order awarded to that college by the statisticians at U.S. News."

The Pew Research Center has just released a report incorporating two surveys — one of 2,142 adults 18 or older; the other of 1,055 college presidents — each centered on the question, “Is college worth it?”

Fifty-seven percent of those questioned in the survey of members of the public said “the higher education system in the United States fails to provide students with good value for the money they and their families spend,” according to the report. Moreover, three-quarters say “college is too expensive for most Americans to afford.”

So, what's the message? It should not be about going to a college that your peers will be impressed at (after all, how many of your classmates will even know you went to college five years from now?) No matter where one goes to college (and affordability should be a factor. Graduating with high student loan debt is no way to start your career) you will reap the benefits by becoming involved, getting to know your professors, working hard and having fun.

I cringe when I hear people say "Oh he's not very smart - he's going to North Shore Community College" or "she had to settle for Salem State because she couldn't get in anywhere else." The credential that those students receive from those institutions is just as important (and valuable) as the degree from a selective, private university. 

I'll leave you with this quote from Alexander C. McCormick, a former admissions officer at his alma mater, Dartmouth College, and now an associate professor of education at Indiana University at Bloomington.  

In the above mentioned NY Times article, McCormick says, "Everything we know from studying college student experiences and outcomes tells us that there is more variability within schools than between them. This is the irony, given the dominance of the rankings mentality of who’s No. 5 or No. 50. The quality of that biology major offered at School No. 50? It may exceed that at School No. 5.”