Two More Reasons

…that college isn’t all that it’s cracked up to be:

…many young people who could profit from a college education are more likely to do so if they don’t go straight to college from high school. My wife, who formerly taught English literature at Rutgers, was just the first of many college faculty to bring this to my attention. The students who have come to college after a hitch in the military or working for a few years know why they are in college, why they are taking a particular course, and what they want out of it, in ways that kids fresh out of high school seldom do. Apart from that, quoting my wife, “Henry James wasn’t writing for nineteen-year-olds.”

I’ve probably told this tale before, but I not only didn’t go to college from high school, but I didn’t even take the SATs in high school (I never did). I worked as a VW mechanic at the local dealer for a few months until I got laid off in the 1973 recession (which hit Flint particularly hard — over 20% unemployment at the time). After that, I was ready for school. I attended Mott Community College (which was just across the street from my house — the shortest walk I had to school in my entire career, including elementary), taking math and science courses in preparation for a transfer to an engineering school, but never got the associates degree. I transferred to Ann Arbor after two years, and from stories I heard from my fellow upper-classpeople, I got a better grounding in the basics than they did in their giant lecture courses (my physics class had ten people in it).

I think that the academic bubble is not far from bursting.

[Update a few minutes later]

More on the expanding bubble.

12 thoughts on “Two More Reasons”

  1. “Henry James wasn’t writing for nineteen-year-olds.”

    As far as I could ever tell, Henry James target audience was insomniacs. Reading “The Turn of the Screw” was a better cure for sleeplessness than Ambien could ever hope to be.

  2. “I got a better grounding in the basics than they did in their giant lecture courses (my physics class had ten people in it).”

    Hmmm. I’ve commented before to friends that my AP Physics class in high school (from a very good teacher) seemed to give me a better grounding than the equivalent class at Duke. I seemed to have a much easier time of it than the other second semester physics students. There were only 5 of us in that class. Similar story with Chemistry (not AP) and Calculus (AP). Calc was a bit of an issue because the ciriculums didn’t mesh as well as the sciences did. I surveyed a course at Duke to try and pick up a few things I had not gotten and I should have just taken the course despite some redundancies. I was a good student with a knack for it, but I’ve often wondered if doing that hard basic stuff earlier over an entire school year is better than cramming it into a semester later. My son got a ‘5’ on the AP AB calculus exam this last year–he was a freshman–and I’d say his advanced algebra 2 class was actually harder than his calc class, which was a one semester equivalent, plus a little. (Sorry for the proud father bit; I can’t help myself).

  3. Seems about right to me. Our society is becoming more criminal which is the expected result when you create more laws and then selectively enforce them. The trend is scary.

    My favorite report card had four A and three F. One F was in reading! I used to read more than I breath.

    Another, from a teacher that was famous at other schools in the area, gave me all C and one B in math. A B in math??? That was the year I was in five different schools for the seventh grade and only there for a month. He used to have us listen to a tape and write an essay afterward. One day I was tired of getting lousy grades and decided to concentrate. He accused me of cheating but couldn’t say how. Yeaahp, actually using my brain is a form of cheating.

    I never went to biology class; just showed up on test days. Afterward I’d chat with the teacher which I really enjoyed.

    I just never cared about grades, but was intensely interested in learning.

    They make no pretense of teaching anymore, it’s all about collecting money. I do regret not going to Harvey Mudd however. I had a full scholarship arranged by a few people that took pity on this poor waif in the late seventies.

  4. Another proud dad here…my son is a senior in high school and is seeking an appointment to the Naval Academy (he accepted their invitation to attend the Summer Seminar in June). The physics instructor at his high school took a position with a school over in the next county this summer, so the school is unable to offer physics to the class of 2011. We found that MIT is publishing videos, class notes, and exams of many class lectures and there is an entire series of lectures from an introductory physics class from around 2001 available for free.

    So my son is doing a self-study of physics this year; I will proctor the exams. The lectures offered by MIT are quite good, and we are hoping to convince the state to give him credit for the coursework.

    BTW, he scored 33 on the ACT, I can’t wait to see his SAT scores.

  5. (Sorry for the proud father bit; I can’t help myself).

    No need to appologize — the bragging of fathers signals the continuation of civilization. That’s a good thing. Some of us in this world don’t even have dads to give us approval either way, so cherish what you got.

  6. I like a comment “tim” made in the “Two More Reasons” discussion.

    Actually, Aristotle was writing for eighteen year olds. Eighteen himself when he went to Athens, he became Alexander’s tutor when the latter was thirteen. Maybe we should try teaching our kids to be great-souled? That or powerpoint.

    If we can’t teach our adults to be great-souled, at least we can teach them great-powerpoint.

  7. No going to college straight out of high school was one of the best decisions I ever made. It gave me time to really mature and get the stupid years behind me. When I finally did go to college, I was ready and highly motivated. I completed a BS in math in 3 years. For too many, college is just several years of prolonged childhood.

  8. I had the same experience recently, having a need to go back and learn the Calculus I should have taken as an undergrad (long story).
    On the advice of a mathematician friend, I took the classes at a local community college instead of the gi-normous university across town.

    Same course, same text, full transfer credit, from instructors who are actually good at teaching and can speak English as a first language. And for a fifth of the cost per credit hour.

  9. I definitely would classify my post-high school self as immature and lacking direction. My parents and the government sent me to a fine engineering institution which I barely passed. When I got out I struggled to find a job for a few years, then got a job I did not particularly enjoy. But after that growing experience, I went to grad school on my own dime and now I do things I used to dream about.

    Still, it’s difficult to separate the cause and effect here. I doubt I would have had any hope of reaching where I am if I had not met the people I did at that first university. They showed me what the ceiling on life can be, something I would have been hard-pressed to find working as, say, an electrician’s assistant in the small suburban New Hampshire town I grew up in. And, despite the fact that I dismissed most of the valuable things I was offered at the time, the bachelor’s degree in EE from a good school has paid off numberous times; far more than I deserved for sure.

  10. Been telling people about the tuition bubble for seven or eight years, now. And am always bemused by the folks who seem to feel such a thing could never, ever happen. Actually looking forward to saying: “Told you so.”

  11. After college graduation I found my BS degree didn’t count for much while I went to work at jobs with criminally low wages teaching the peripheral Knowledge that made the difference.
    I worked as an artist all my life. It was the repeoduction processes that had to be learned the hard way. I learned to operate a copy camers. I even learned to strip the emulsion from film and restrip it onto glass to make a double truck for the newspapers. I found out what “type high” meant. The difference between letterpress and offset printing methods were all about. I could prepare art work for reproduction without having to give long ezplanations of what it was for. I taught this to my subordinates when they worked for me. They all went off and got hired by major companies. I was thankful for that lousy time period getting started andd dtill give thanks to the bosses whoa hired me in my ignorance . I also learned to proofread at 3000 wpm. A worthwhile skill.

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