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I wonder how much money could be saved if the US got rid of its general education based system.

by pirocks 10y ago

umanwizard 10y ago
General education requirements in American universities serves the purpose of getting people up to the level of academic high school students in Europe or Asia. We could get rid of it, but we'd have to fix high schools first. This would likely require admitting that a focus on academic subjects isn't appropriate for everyone. In many European countries, a majority of students go to trade-oriented secondary schools and the minority that goes to academic schools leading to university have to study quite rigorous material in secondary school. That's why their university programs can focus specifically on individual specialties. For example, the French academic high school diploma (called Baccalauréat Général) is normally considered equivalent to at least a year in a US university.
- pirocks 10y ago
  Agreed. I think that changing the high schools would be the best way to go about this, instead of finding ways of paying massive amounts to colleges.
  - brianwawok 10y ago
    Why not just make colleges cheaper? I would argue that kids in America have a much better life than say kids in Japan or South Korea, with all night cram schools. And in the end, the innovation in the world is coming out of America not Japan and South Korea, so at least to some extent it must be working.
    - ryuker16 10y ago
      A lot of innovation occurs in Asia. Also, South Korea has a similar college funding issue as the USA with rising tuition. However it's blunted in Asia because parents are expected to pay for it so the loans are more bearable. Pay and status tends to be seniority based so the burden doesn't fall on the recent grad living at home.
- ryuker16 10y ago
  No, because European and Asian schools also have these general ed requirements. Asian colleges have a fairly deserved reputation for being easy. The real answer is tradition and the reason it's not going away is money and because a 2 year degree in the USA is considered a lesser degree called an associates.
  - umanwizard 10y ago
    European universities absoulutely do not have these requirements. Unless we're talking about two completely different things.

I wonder how much money could be saved if the US got rid of its general education based system.

by pirocks 10y ago

I wonder how much money could be saved if the US got rid of its general education based system.

General education requirements in American universities serves the purpose of getting people up to the level of academic high school students in Europe or Asia. We could get rid of it, but we'd have to fix high schools first. This would likely require admitting that a focus on academic subjects isn't appropriate for everyone. In many European countries, a majority of students go to trade-oriented secondary schools and the minority that goes to academic schools leading to university have to study quite rigorous material in secondary school. That's why their university programs can focus specifically on individual specialties. For example, the French academic high school diploma (called Baccalauréat Général) is normally considered equivalent to at least a year in a US university.

pirocks 10y ago
Agreed. I think that changing the high schools would be the best way to go about this, instead of finding ways of paying massive amounts to colleges.
- brianwawok 10y ago
  Why not just make colleges cheaper? I would argue that kids in America have a much better life than say kids in Japan or South Korea, with all night cram schools. And in the end, the innovation in the world is coming out of America not Japan and South Korea, so at least to some extent it must be working.
  - ryuker16 10y ago
    A lot of innovation occurs in Asia. Also, South Korea has a similar college funding issue as the USA with rising tuition. However it's blunted in Asia because parents are expected to pay for it so the loans are more bearable. Pay and status tends to be seniority based so the burden doesn't fall on the recent grad living at home.
ryuker16 10y ago
No, because European and Asian schools also have these general ed requirements. Asian colleges have a fairly deserved reputation for being easy. The real answer is tradition and the reason it's not going away is money and because a 2 year degree in the USA is considered a lesser degree called an associates.
- umanwizard 10y ago
  European universities absoulutely do not have these requirements. Unless we're talking about two completely different things.