Washington Post:
In an era when college students commonly take longer than four years to get a bachelor's degree, some U.S. schools are looking anew at an old idea: slicing a year off their undergraduate programs to save families time and money.
Want to reply to a comment? Hint: Click "Reply" at the bottom of the comment; after being approved your comment will appear directly underneath the comment you replied to
For many colleges this would work and the student would get a better education. Many colleges have added "fluff" courses to the average degree and have dumbed down what is required. This would force them and the students to focus more on a particular subject area. IE, no more adding a class in underwater basket weaving to get the grade up!
The basic question is: Why education has to be so expensive? wht does it take to teach? A room, 30 chairs & a teacher who wants to teach ...But noooo the universties are loaded with bureaucracy...secrtaries, people who do very little with computers one can do the all the registration online ..plus the professors who spend 2-3 hrs teaching & goofing the rest of the day ... ah ha then their is the football & other big time sports which distract & bring corruption to the education system ... Do we need big time sports? No but then $ is the name of the game ..to hell with what students learn ..I have seen many students who come out after 4 years & know very little cuz they went to college to have good time ...unless we get to basics nothing will change ...
BS story. My wife graduated in three years in 1975. Anyone can do it, any time they like, by simply taking courses in the summer & extending their normal course load. It doesn't require a "plan" by a college.
There's no such thing as a "four year college degree." Some folks take 3 years, some take 5, some take 6 or more.
There are majors, of course, like medicine and engineering in which prerequisite courses have traditionally required at least 4 years. But in most majors, a 3 year degree has been a possibility for decades.
Semi agreed...
I know plenty of people who obtained degrees in three years.
But in defense of the schools, they do have to "plan" classes, facilities and staff schedules to make that possible.
Not all schools do.
I had to be a bit innovative and get my two BA degrees in four years, which I did by not taking 12 quarter hours but instead 18. I had to do this because I only had my GI bill paying for four years of college tuition. It can be done. I still managed to get a 3.85 GPA out of 4.0. Damn that calculus course!
But she had to do summer school, and her degree cost about as much, less living expenses because she still ad to pay for 4 years of credit hours.
In England you go for 3 years, take classes only in what you need, and have summers off. This is how it should be here.
Untill the football angle is worked out, this never happens...
I TOTALLY AGREE!
The failure of the American higher education system. Too expensive. Smells like a Harvard MBA program. All theory and ivory towers. Short on reality.
Now, the real debate should be, "What the hell do we do with our failed Prussian military public education system?"
There is a reason why the call it "kindergarten". Child garden. They plant children like vegetables and feed them only what they want. Many times, the gardeners let the vegetables die in the field. The failure of an entire society to ensure the future of their children.
do the weeds grow up to be republicans...
I think this is a bad idea.
I got laid more my senior year than I did in the three prior years. I would not want to deprive any young man of that opportunity.
and this first year since graduation, doing what ?
and if you were a grad student, you would have gotten even more. they are just giving you the opportunity to get to that grad status that much faster.
3 year degrees aren't B.A.'s, but in name only. You don't get as much education, and if they're talking about going summers, they're not talking about cutting back on the credits, just cramming 4 years into 3 years?
A 2 year college degree is called an Associates.
This talk of 2 and 3 year BA's bastardizes the notion of a college degree. A college degree no longer will mean what it used to. 2 vs. 4 years is a major difference. As is 3 vs. 4.
The reference to UK and other European systems is off-base since the secondary education in those nations is much more advanced than in the US.
A college degree now no longer means anything. Just because one has a degree doesn't mean they are educated or smart.
doesn't mean they are not educated either....
In your view what is it that deems an individual smart and educated? Please enlighten us all.
Let's sacrifice quality of education for the sake of expenditure. Great solution!
okay coach....
I think it is telling that this idea is backed by Republicans. In Europe, high school students are better prepared and in a wider variety of subjects than American high school students. We need that fourth year to catch our students up to Eurpean students. In any case, if the US wants to follow the European model, it includes *state funded* university education. That definitely makes it cheaper for students and their parents to afford.
It was my experience that when I graduated from college nearly 25 years ago, many stayed for a 5th year as they were having fun in college and it was a safe, rather than out earning a real living, or attending graduate school. The only folks who legitimately stayed were the architecture and engineering students.....
B.S. I started college in 1982 and don't know anyone who hung around longer than needed. People who took more than 5 years were those that academically needed more time because they'd switched majors, were working too much to take a full credit load, had to take quarters off due to money needs, etc. Certainly no one I know stayed longer than 4 years in order to extra, unnecessary credits so they could "have fun."
To have fun? Taking college courses is fun?
If you want to have”fun” you can always take a lame job to have enough $ to live on so you can party.
I started college in 1971 and am sill hanging around, a bachelors, three masters and a PhD later. Colleges are wonderful places.
I teach in one of the European university systems which runs 3-year degrees, and I also have quite a lot of experience in teaching visiting American students. There are a couple of points that need to be considered in this debate:
1) the 3-year models used in some European countries is based on specialisation: so you study your chosen subject (and sometimes one other at a minor level, it varies from system to system) for 3 years. You don't take classes from outside those areas, and progression from year to year is dependent on passing all of your classes - any fails mean you have to repeat the year.
2) our equivalent of the high school system is very different from the US model. It is intensely academic, with final year exams of a very high standard which are set and graded at a national level. Those exams are the basis on which students are accepted into their university degrees, often requiring specific grades in the subject students wish to study in college, thus ensuring prior knowledge.
When teaching visiting American students in subject areas which are their major back in the US, they're always at least one college-year behind our students in the subject - presumably because they're taking other subjects. So a 3-year model may well work out in the US, but not without a fall in standards unless the other aspects of the European 3-year model were adopted too.
one of the few things that the U.S. led the world in was our college education system -- I guess we can cross that one of the list too.
three years to get an engineering degree? think again
there are some degrees this should never be applied to. There are others that never should have been at 4
To all college students reading this:
I've hired hundreds of people over the years in the financial service and healthcare fields, and in my experience the best workers by far are those who have a liberal arts degree and some type of food service experience. In other words, I'll only hire people who can think on their feet in a wide variety of situations and can empathize with my clients.
Pursuing an abbreviated college degree with fewer liberal arts electives is the ultimate in being penny wise and pound foolish.
so your the guy that hired the One guy who made the burger, correctly...well i'll be....
LOL you said my first thought after reading that post.
The option completely disqualifies the current pricing as excessive. It is again about greed, for if you are smart enough to attend university, the greedy bankers will make sure it is so expensive your higer income as a result of your talent will be partially consumed by the incurred debt. Taking what does not belong to them, that is what banks do.
Loading comments…
First Posted: 05-23-09 01:03 PM | Updated: 05-23-09 01:12 PM