Reform the Curriculum
The general argument made by Dale Stevens in his work, “The Case Against College,” is that going to college serves more harm than good. More specifically, Stevens argues that colleges serve as detriments to students’ finances and creativity as they manufacture students into a mass of obedient conformists with debts who are not entirely guaranteed a vocation in the future. Students stay longer in College due to general education requirements, which require more money. He stated, “Creativity is innate — the problem is that schools kill creativity. Our education system cultivates a mind-set where students are rewarded for following directions.” In this passage, Stevens is suggesting that teachers encourage students to think in a certain way through operant conditioning where we promote certain behaviors more than others. Consequently, this discourages creative thoughts as they are seen as deviants. In conclusion, Stevens’ belief is that college is rather the unnecessary supplement to one’s resume. The ramification for not reading this is that students may choose to drop out of college without realizing that college is necessary for procuring knowledge and as a “safety net.”
General education courses should be kept as they provide students with the broad range of abilities that they can utilize such as communication and social skills at work. One can disagree with Steven’s notion with STEM. I believe that despite staying longer and paying more in college, taking general education classes do in fact promote a broad range of perspectives. For instance, even though one majors in areas of math or science, it is essential to take English. The reason is that not only it solidifies one’s writing and reading abilities, but it can also help with one to communicate with others. For example, this assignment that I am learning to make an effective argument can be used to defend your argument. For instance, if you were at a debate over a scientific discovery, how can you make an effective argument to support your findings? Classes such as psychology and sociology can provide as a basis for one to understand and cooperate well in group works. General education courses can even help one to decide on a major. At the start of the semester, I was unsure as to what I want to major. I am taking Calculus right now and decided to become a math major because of my interest. Although Stevens might object that general education classes are a waste of time and costly, I maintain that the skills one learns in these classes can help anyone in the long run in their careers.
Stevens was correct on how schools destroy creativity because there appears to be a trade-off between IQ scores and CQ (Creativity quotient) scores. For example, based on my notes in psychology, IQ scores are increasing by increments of ten points after each successive generation around the world. According to source five, based on Torrance’s CQ test results, CQ has been decreasing in U.S. The test was not perfect, but it was quintessential in predicting the likelihood of an individual to demonstrate creativity. Therefore, one can surmise that IQ and CQ are correlated.
(This is a sample of Torrance’s CQ Test where participants were to draw anything out of the diamond shapes)
Even though Stevens was correct that schools deter creativity, most of the decline in creativity can be due to the extraneous factors that occur prior to college. More specifically, the child’s environment at home and during middle and high school can contribute to the decline. Not all homes are the same. There could be certain houses where families do not encourage their children to read books or play outside for inspiration in order to stimulate their creativity. They usually have them develop negative habits such as watching television and playing videogames all day. In elementary and middle schools, teachers prepare their students for standardized tests to the point where it minimizes any creative thought. For example, the No Child Left Behind Act is administered for students from grades 3 to 8 where the tests would indicate their proficiency in Math and English. I clearly remember back then in 8th grade where my English and Math classes tried to rigorously prepare us for these exams. My teachers would constantly make copies of previous old tests as a way to get us used to the formatting and style of these tests. What further showed that creativity was disregarded was how my teachers consistently referred to their answer keys to determine the correct answers. A student from the College of William and Mary who looked at numerous results from Torrance’s CQ test, stated that, “It is the scores of younger children in America—from kindergarten through sixth grade—for whom the decline is “most serious.” Although Stevens might object that primary source of the deterioration of creativity occurs before college, I maintain that the environment before college plays an important factor in which children envelope themselves and shapes them up to their futures.
It is undeniably true that Stevens’ claim that college lately has been getting expensive as each year progresses. Based on his findings, U.S. college graduates on average have approximately $24,000 in debt. To see how much students are expected to pay for college, the graph below portraying the cumulative total of student loans U.S. students signed up for each year is shocking. As tuition rates rose, more students relied on student loans as a way to pay back later. I have sisters who just graduated seven years ago who are still in the process of paying their loans. This got me wondering as to how I am expected to pay my loans since I would be having more than my sisters.
I disagree with Stevens’ notion that students could find an alternative path other than college. More specifically, I believe that more and more jobs rely on students to have a four year degree or higher in order to receive a job. As a result, the economy is becoming more of a “degree saturated market.” For example, according to source eight, the effect that academic inflations make is that employers have the propensity to focus solely on merit on resumes rather than one’s abilities. The author claimed that it would not be incredulous if it requires a bachelor’s degree to become a secretary. This concept was illustrated by Stevens as he mentioned about how India would need to construct new colleges frequently to sustain the growing number of students. Having a degree should function as a safety net for students have some kind of job in the future, especially when markets are highly competitive. Although Stevens might object that having a degree would sustain students in a degree saturated market, I maintain that it would serve as a necessity to find any kind of job during the difficulties that we face in the economy.
( Source 7) I would change the curriculum than have students to drop out of college. There are three significant areas that influence creativity. The first reform is to enhance cognitive development. In other words, learning knowledge must be done within moderation. Learning is significant for students to have some sort of foundation that they can build on; however, the reason why creativity decreases dramatically in college is because the curriculum values knowledge procurement through standardized tests where students learn to the point where they have “fossilized thinking.” I would suggest that there would be a shift from convergent methods to divergent ones by having group work to foster creativity. The second area is for education systems to promote divergent thinking through operant conditioning. According to source two, creativity correlates with one’s likelihood to take risks and tolerate failure. Clifford conducted an experiment where children from different grades to solve problems. The results showed that as grade level increases, the likelihood to make risks decreases. In U.S., teachers have the propensity to reward behaviors that are conforming and quiet, than those that goes against the teacher’s standpoint. I believe that this method can be used in divergent thinking because it enforces a designated behavior. This type of thinking should ideally occur when children are 13 years old because this is usually the time where they face with peer pressure and develop their own identity. The last area that I would change would be to properly “educate” the teachers. In other words, we must enlighten teachers to not judge so quickly upon a student’s response until it is understood fully. In addition, teachers should allow a policy of cooperative teaching with their students and manage students’ stress and frustrations upon their failures. Students should not drop out of college even if it seems that it is not right for them.
Ultimately, Majority of Steven’s claims about education is correct and can be relatable to my experience. I refute Steven’s idea in taking classes that are only geared to what you are interested in majoring because general education courses enriches other kinds of perspectives that can succor one’s success in his or her careers. Stevens does not take into account that there are other factors, even outside of the education system that can affect the degree of one’s creativity. Despite the negative effects that college has on one’s creativity, it still serves as an essential source for one to gain knowledge. The only way for schools to encourage creativity is to change the environment of the classroom where one is liberated of biases and quick judgments by the teachers. Furthermore, the curriculum in any schools need to promote both knowledge attainment and divergent thinking equally.
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