How do we value all students? Why do we give endlessly to the students that already have so much? Over half of Caucasian and Asian students graduate with a college degree. Blacks and Hispanics are below the 50% mark. College degrees are currently under assault in the US, but their is no denying incomes are higher among degree holders. So how do we fix this or do we want to?
I believe education is the key for a better tomorrow for all students. Ignorance drags on society and so does college debt. Every American student should have the opportunity to acquire higher degrees. If we value students who can think and who can learn, we make college free. Universities mirror our society. Unfortunately, inequality is disrupting the lives of most Americans. Students are drowning in debt and great opportunities are rare. Our country is crushing its citizens. We must turn a new leaf.
How do we do this? We begin to value human capital. If we value our students and their lives, we stop blocking the door that leads to the future. We decide we want to live in an educated society, rather than an impoverished third world existence. It is a decision. Is it only important that a few go through the door or that the door is allowing streams of students to cross the threshold?
Currently, we are on a road to nowhere. No homes, no healthcare, no opportunities, no hope. Hope is in the mind of every young person. Why are we failing them? We are failing them because our society is becoming less educated. Less educated societies cannot support thriving democracies.
The aim of education is the knowledge, not of facts, but of values. William S. Burroughs
So how do we shake things up? Education is not a for profit endeavor. It is a gift we give our society. We ditch college housing. We ditch adjunct professors. We ditch the impersonal lectures. We value knowledge and those who teach. We embrace the idea of doing and thinking. Debating and thinking. Creating and thinking. Our universities must become sacred halls of enlightenment. Every student who desires should walk the halls. All barriers should be eliminated.
To live in a society that prefers to build for-profit prisons over institutions of equitable education, is a nation in distress. We can no longer bury Americans in despair. We must decide on a better path. Education can be the road that leads us where American citizens want to be. If our leadership thinks we deserve a lesser existence, we must decide: what kind of future do we desire?
*All photos @Pinterest
Originally published at medium.com