While the cost goes up, the quality is getting worse

If colleges are factories, their products (the consumers) are lacking some serious nuts and bolts. In recent years, it's come to the public's attention that college graduates are lacking some very basic skills. Employers are complaining that college grads can't read or write! (Makes you wonder how they got accepted into college in the first place.)

COLLEGE STUDENTS LACK BASIC SKILLS

According to recent studies; most college students cannot handle many simple, everyday tasks, from understanding credit card offers to comparing the cost per ounce of food. According to an article in USA Today;

“(students) could not interpret a table about exercise and blood pressure, understand the arguments of newspaper editorials, compare credit card offers with different interest rates and annual fees or summarize results of a survey about parental involvement in school.”

So what happened to that priceless education that we are supposed to be getting in college?

—College has dumbed down. That's what happened!

• College is easy to get in, and easy to get out

  College has never been easier! Standardized test requirements have been creeping lower and lower. According to a recent survey by FairTest, the National Center for Fair and Open Testing, there are actually 236 colleges and universities nationwide that don't even require the SAT or the ACT for admissions. Easy! I willingly admit that I had no business being accepted into a graduate program called “Master of Technology.” I had a Bachelor of Arts degree in French and Spanish. What in the world would qualify me for a technology degree? That's what I thought. However, to my surprise I got accepted and the classes required very little from me. I had almost no papers to write, and I'm certain that most high school students would have no trouble passing most of the classes I took. It was truly very easy to pass and get my degree and although I hate to admit it, I'm fairly sure it wasn't because I was super smart or “worthy.”

   

• Getting an A is easier than ever before

  “Grade inflation” is very real. I hate to say it, but many teachers have become real push-overs for easy grading. Of course not all of them are easy (my statistics teacher was tough) but most of them cave in to the pressures of demanding parents and students who feel, as most high-paying customers do, that they are owed the best service or product. In this case; good grades.

   

  Harvey C. Mansfield is a professor of government at Harvard University and a campaigner against grade inflation. According to Harvey, grade inflation has “resulted from the emphasis in American education on the notion of self-esteem. According to that therapeutic notion, the purpose of education is to make students feel capable and empowered. So to grade them, or to grade them strictly, is cruel and dehumanizing. Grading creates stress. It encourages competition rather than harmony. It is judgmental.”

• Colleges stopped requiring essential courses.

  Colleges replaced the important courses such as English and Economics with exotic humanities requirements (such as Bird Watching) created mainly for the amusement and personal interest of their professors. In 1914, nearly all universities had required courses in English composition; by 1964 the figure was 86 percent; today, it's only 36 percent. That explains why college graduates lack good grammar and can't convert inches to ounces. (That slip was on purpose, people. I'm just making sure you are paying attention)