While waiting for my kids at the dentist this afternoon, I read through recent Time and Newsweek articles on colleges. August, of course, is the month the subject of college comes up as some kids go off and others start to think about applying. Not surprisingly, the articles echoed a common theme: American parents place too much emphasis on brand name education. I would qualify that to say American parents of a certain class, but you get the picture. An Ivy League education, they say, is not as essential as you might be led to believe. There are plenty of other good schools (really?).
I suppose it is good advice, at least for those over-zealous parents who can ill-afford the bucks they shell out for an admissions consultant trying to get their kid into Harvard or wherever. Apparently, at least according to one Newsweek article, an Ivy League education will not necessarily assure you of a higher income. Part of me wants to agree; another part is more skeptical. I know how much pedigree matters in getting a job in English (though I would contend there is a significant amount of classism that runs through those decisions). That said, there has been some recent talk of how networked communication lowers the advantages of researchers working at top research universities: we all have better access to information resources. By the same token, I think undergraduates at smaller colleges now have more equal access to educational resources than they might once have had.
In addition, if you attend a comprehensive college like Cortland you'll get smaller class sizes, access to tenured faculty, and faculty who place an emphasis on undergraduate education in a way that you won't at larger schools. In Professional Writing, it's likely every course you take as a major will be taught by full-time faculty and will be smaller than 20. Now you can certainly get that at some private liberal arts colleges, but not for the money. Of course a private school like that will give you many extras, but in the end you going to leave with a BA in your hand, just like you would from Cortland.
It's natural for a college student to be apprehensive about the uncertain job market, the volatility of technological change and the global economy. However, it may be that this uncertainty is an advantage to students like those at Cortland. In short, this volatility would suggest that the past matters less. One's high school record matters less. One's college education matters less. Great, you got your Ivy degree, but that was two years ago. Have you been hanging out in your old bedroom in your parents' house? A more economic education like that at Cortland means you can take more risks when you graduate. Yes, any college education is a significant expense, but Cortland is a fraction of a private liberal arts college. That will make a big difference when you graduate and you come face-to-face with your student loan bills. A bigger debt means having to place more emphasis on a job that will pay the bills right away rather than perhaps following the career path you're hoping for.
Of course, to be honest, my intention is to send my kids to an elite university or college, assuming we can afford it and they get some scholarships. It's a long way off for us: my daughter just turned seven, and my son is five. I recognize the drawbacks of a college like Cortland. In fact, a few years back, around this time, I wrote a post titled "Cortland and the 13th grade" about some of the frustrations my students had with intellectual life on campus. It's a real challenge that we face, but its more a challenge of attitude and perspective than it is about ability or resources. As I've noted several times, students at schools like Cortland (who, following Tom Friedman and Bill Gates, I refer to as the "B- student from Poughkeepsie") often have an ambivalent history with school. They may be first generation college students whose families may or may not place much emphasis on schooling. They may have come to think of themselves as not particularly good at school. Their institutional experiences have taught them the value of passive resistance as a strategy for painless learning and moderate success. In short, many such students may have much to unlearn. That's a big part of my job, along with recognizing that those students have great potential if they will take the risk of believing in themselves.
On the other hand there are many students who are excited and engaged. It's just that I see one of our great community challenges is waking up. It's a challenge for faculty too, and I include myself... to not think of each fall as just another year. We all can fall into this in any of our jobs, getting trapped in the routine. If one can wake up and engage in the moment, in what is unfolding, the opportunity for education and long-term success is as great here as anywhere else. By the same token, the failure to do these things means not learning no matter what the brand of your degree may be.
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