What did you learn in school today?
The question all students hear since the first days of kindergarten. In those days, my head filled with countless thoughts, while today I find myself drawing blanks. As my roommate jokingly asked, “Did you learn anything in school today?” I found myself wondering why I couldn’t think of a single thing I’d learned in class that day. In fact, I couldn’t remember the last time I had.
Higher education once focused on cultivating critical thinking. Now, “education” is an assembly line, churning out A+ students who have little more than their grades to show for their years of schooling. This factory model is employed to increase attendance numbers and job stats, both of which are essential for the bottom line. Today, we’re not taught, we’re trained.
Via: Luna Community College
The dramatic decrease in obtaining liberal arts degrees isn’t news.
Back in 1970-71, the highest number of bachelor’s degrees was in humanities, social and behavioral sciences and education (making up 61.1 percent), but as of 2011-12, students obtaining a bachelor’s in those subjects dropped to 38.5 percent. Meanwhile, the greatest number of bachelor’s degrees obtained in 2011-12 were in the field of business or other (45.5 percent), according to the National Center for Education Statistics.
What caused this replacement of humanities degrees with business degrees?
It could have to do with the increasing concern over job security, especially given the increased percentage of students seeking financial aid in the past six years.
“From academic years 2006–07 to 2011–12, the percentage of first-time, full-time undergraduate students at 4-year degree-granting institutions receiving any financial aid increased from 75 to 85 percent,” according to the National Center for Education Statistics.
Via: Cato Institute
Erin Bradley, a 21-year-old student, was originally a music major and has since switched to the study of communication sciences and disorders. Though she says money was not a factor in her decision, she can’t deny the impact it has on declaring one’s major.
“I think most people really take into account finances when choosing a career path,” she said. “I’m kind of an outlier in that finances weren’t so much of a factor for me.”
Though finances aren’t always the largest factor, there is a plausible correlation between increasing student debt numbers and the rise of students moving away from humanities, social sciences and educational studies.
Another factor in this alteration could have to do with an educational shift in our society that transformed molding minds into remaking them.
The Chronicle of Higher Education attributes this transformation in our educational system to Ronald Reagan’s budget cuts in the late sixties. He claimed liberal educations were “intellectual luxuries” that taxpayers should not be supporting.
Via: City on a Hill Press
The Chronicle sums up Reagan’s argument nicely:
“Learning for learning’s sake might be nice, but the rest of us shouldn’t have to pay for it. A higher education should prepare students for jobs.”
And while the media disagreed with Reagan’s educational cuts, the “intellectual luxuries” students dreamed of became obsolete, and thus began our world of molding collegiate minds for job placement.
“In the early 1970s, nearly three-quarters of freshmen said it was essential to them to develop a meaningful philosophy of life,” according to the Chronicle. “About a third felt the same about being very well off financially. Now those fractions have flipped.”
It isn’t necessarily the students’ fault, though. We’ve been trained for this type of thinking since day one.
Via: Pinterest
Illyssa Sanders, a 23-year-old first-grade teacher, tells me of the diminishing art programs in schools, due to lack of time and funding.
“Reading and math seem to be all that the administration, district and the state care about,” Illyssa said. “Social studies, as well as fine arts, have gone by the wayside.”
With this type of focus, it’s no wonder we’re trained to stay away from liberal art studies in our collegiate institutions. Yet, with the increasingly difficult job market, who can blame students for craving a sense of job security by the time graduation rolls around?
So I circle back to my original question: What have I learned in school today? And instead of drawing blanks from my writing, grammar and law classes, I decide to rephrase my question.
Via: Princeton
What have I learned today?
Suddenly, I’m struck with an array of answers. I learned that replanting green onions generates a new plant; I learned that paper towels are biodegradable.
You’d think being among a new generation of learners who must be taught outside the classroom would be discouraging. But I find myself even more eager to learn about the world around me due to the absence of creative stimulation in my classroom. It feels disheartening at times, but as society shifts, we must adapt to it.
And I refuse to let political decisions and financial struggles dictate how much I’m going to learn.
Feature photo courtesy of: On Time Accounting
