4 ms·
I read through the whole article before asking myself, "Just who is this author, and what is the author's background?" The article byline reports, "Suzanne Mett
by tokenadult 13y ago
I read through the whole article before asking myself, "Just who is this author, and what is the author's background?" The article byline reports, "Suzanne Mettler, a professor of government at Cornell University, is the author of Degrees of Inequality: How the Politics of Higher Education Sabotaged the American Dream."
These days, when I look at suggestions for national policy for the United States (which show up here on Hacker News with alarming frequency, even despite the differing topic emphasis of this online community), I really like to hear from other countries about what is already working in public policy on the same topic. Is there some country in the world that does a better job in setting higher education policy than the United States? If so, which one? What improvements can United States policy gain by studying the example of other countries? As an American who has lived abroad for years during my adult life, I find it tedious to consider policy suggestions here in the country of my birth without reality-checking them by the experience of other countries. In this light, what we should consider as we ponder the suggestions in the article kindly submitted here?
(Disclosure: I have a college degree, gained at a state university in the United States at the time the article author identifies as a time of policy transition. I have close relatives who have never completed college degrees, and I wonder what factors matter most for college degrees being accessible, and also what factors matter most for college degrees being useful to their possessors and to the broader society.)
- jamesaguilar 13y agoWhat are you trying to convey with your first paragraph?
- jcampbell1 13y agoJust take it at face value. > > I really like to hear from other countries about what is already working in public policy on the same topic. I think that explains it.
- jamesaguilar 13y agoThat's not from the first paragraph, and, at least to me, doesn't explain what he was getting at with it.
- judk 13y agotokenadult has a very verbose and leafy writing style.
- jamesaguilar 13y agoThanks for the context, but that still doesn't answer my question.
- Perdition 13y agoIn Australia we just have more regulation and standards on what gets to call itself a university and so is allowed to offer "commonwealth supported" courses. There are still "University of Phoenix" type places around but because they can't call themselves a university they don't trick many people (they mostly prey on foreign students). In our system the government sets prices and directly pays the education provider for "commonwealth supported places". The student has to repay the government only a part of that cost, and it is indexed to inflation and you don't have to make repayments until your income is around ~$50,000 AUD. As an outside I think Americas two big problems with higher education is the lack of national standards, which is feed by your student loan system.
- mjn 13y agoI'm not sure how generalizable it is, but Denmark has a fairly strong split between the "proper" universities, which are all state-funded and tuition-free, and private "academies", which may be for-profit or nonprofit, and don't have degree-issuing rights. The for-profit ones typically teach vocational programs. Some of these are reasonably well respected, but as a result of not being able to offer degrees, they tend to compete more on the skills gained than on the certificate. For example they will want to be able to argue that if you spend time/money there, by the time you're done you'll be a skilled 3d animator with a portfolio to prove it. So these are relatively unregulated besides not being able to issue degrees (they can issue private certificates). They also don't receive state support, and students don't receive state financial aid. There are a few weird in-between things. For example the National Film School is very well respected and mostly publicly funded, but doesn't issue degrees, because historically it grew out of the film production scene and doesn't see itself as "academic" (nowadays they could probably gain degree-granting rights, but it's become a point of principle that they're a "film school", not a "university").
- girvo 13y agoAustralia is similar, as far as I'm aware. There are private colleges, that are paid up front etc, but they're sort of looked down on and are usually very industry specific (QANTM being the tech and game programming one in Brisbane, for example).