School versus Education

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Although I was homeschooled through highschool, well for all except two months in 9th grade at a public school in Texas, I am finding that college's placement of importance of completing assignments according to arbitrary deadlines is running counter to emphasizing actually learning from textbooks. In more economic terms, the opportunity cost of time for assignment completion is in opposition to the opportunity cost of time for learning the materials. I found it much easier, being homeschooled, to actually learn the materials - especially since I'm a slow reader who likes to read everything and make certain I understand it before moving on. In college, it is merely a rush from week to week to get the busywork done while providing the college with its much desired $500 per credit hour as I act as their cash-cow.

The business of the University is not to educate - or not merely to educate, if you feel less cynical.

The University exists PRIMARILY as a certifying organization and assoc iation of the appfroved, like a medieval guild or a Bar association. A primary job is to feed you the right stuff [as laid down by the union] and check that it was correctly implanted.

For this, there must be assignments and the theses and exams so the staff can verify that you qualify. This helps you in that you can then get the license to operate [literally if you are a surgeon].

There are secondary purposes - research and even education. For research in a team - which is common though not the only way to go - you must have knowledge and skills close to those of your coworkers. In education - somde learners very much benefit from discipline and supervised exercises.

Bottom line, though - if you want to be educated there are a lot of other options. If you want a degree, be socialized and stick with the program.

I did not invent this system nor do I wholly approve or disapprove.

I'm not opposed to written assignments or other examinations, however the arbitrary deadlines for them are that which causes conflict in time usage between studying - which in itself does not count toward the grade - and assignment completion which is the only thing which counts toward the grade. Deadlines, then, put the emphasis of college upon the churning out of myriad literary fluff rather than upon learning new material.

The reason for this conflict is that it is very difficult to measure studying and understanding...except of course through homework and tests. In a well-designed class, the homework will assist with studying, though that is sometimes difficult depending on the subject.

Ultimately, both learning something and getting the paperwork to prove it will be more work than just learning it. You may need to take fewer classes, if you are having trouble keeping up with them.

Actually, I'm thinking of dropping this, continuing to work at the temporary staffing agency, paying off my current debt of $20,000, saving and investing as much excess income as possible, studying on my own to get certification such as A+, plumbing, wiring, etc. Study academic subjects on the side and CLEP out of everything possible should I ever decide to return to a "higher education" facility to be an agent for funneling money into their accounts.

Consider this, for the A+ certification it costs $168 per test and there are two tests, meaning $336 for the total costs of the tests. The textbooks available for it currently costs up to $80 on Amazon for one of the more expensive ones. That's a total of $336 + $80 = $416 *total*. At Rasmussen College, they divide the A+ textbook into two classes each worth 3 credit hours, meaning 6 credit hours total. It is about $500 per credit hour, so that is $500 per credit hour times 6 credit hours equaling $3,000 for the chance to rush through an A+ certification textbook and not even take the exams, whereas the price of studying autodidactically plus price of exams is $416, so which is a better financial investment?

I agree. Colleges are much more concerned with grades and percentages (of students who got high grades, makes for great marketing) than actually teaching anyone anything.

In many cases, it is more important to have alumni with lotsa cash than to have even visibly smart alumni.