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Show Wednesday, December 7, 1988 Chronicle - Page Seven Editor's Note: This is the third of a special five-paseries on peace. The Chronicle would like to thank everyone who submitted essays. . rt Blame education crisis on greed of Americans America is faced with a crisis in higher education. It is a crisis which stems from a newly found American attitude toward life which sees all things only in terms of relative economic merit This includes higher education, which is increasingly they were able to reach. This undertaking of education by the people to whom it was available provided a solid base of researchers and teachers in many i important fields. But we are losing ground rapidly. There is no longer an overabundance of researchers, and teaching is rarely pursued seriously anymore because of the low status and pay that teachers unfortunately receive. Talking to college students, one finds most are pursuing a career in whatever field they think will provide good job opportunities and high status. This leads to a great overabundance of students in the fields of engineering, business, law, medicine and so on, while at the same time many of the humanities, arts and languages suffer greatly from a lack of students. Because of popularity, the competition within the "desirable" fields often becomes so great that many eco-.nom- ic seen as only a means toward economic success and nothing else. The pursuit and completion of a college education is perceived as the most assured way of getting a job with a steady and reliable income. This view toward higher education produces sever- departments must take the responsibility of creating al side effects: a growing competition for degrees "weed-out- " classes by assigning as much work as poswithin only a few popular fields while other areas of sible until students are scared away. As a negative education starve for students, and a loss of interest in side effect, this may. turn away many students who doctoral degrees, particularly in the fundamental scimay otherwise be interested in the field but have a ences. These and other problems stemming from low tolerance for busy work, and it only tends to America's current attitude toward education must increase the cutthroat competition ihat goes on between students. soon be solved if our nation is to retain the leaderWhile the competition in certain undergraduate has for and held it many ship has increased, graduate education has become areas find must to once America a politically. way again produce people who are truly interested in pursuing something which is no longer seen as profitable. education for the sake of learning and not for individ- Many students don't view a doctorate as being useful ual economics; otherwise, we risk losing sight of ourexcept for teaching and research, both of which are selves and our environment through a lack of comgenerally perceived as unprofitable. Master's degrees are sometimes pursued, but this is usually for the prehension of the world about us. of increasing graduates' chances in the job educatbenefit idea the the of Renaissance, Starting during market. Those pursuing-- master's degree rarely go ing oneself to the utmost extent became very popular, almost to the point of romanticization. The notion of on to teaching or research jobs, leaving a large gap in these professions and in doctoral programs. And who the "Renaissance man" as being the most and educated individual possible was something is this gap filled by? Mostly by foreign students and a sought after as a goal by many. This attitude carried decreasing number of devoted Americans. There is into America, which was one of the first countries to nothing wrong with foreign students receiving an acknowledge the necessity of an educated populace American education, but there is something wrong when many of the programs in the sciences and other by establishing a public education system. Until recently, education in America has been seen such fields are almost exclusively filled with students, many of whom take their degrees as a great privilege, particularly the pursuit of a college education. A college degree was often sought and experience back home with them. Without enough teachers and researchers to prosolely because education was seen as one of the most the fundamental knowledge and discoveries stuvide vital steps in Many capable which much of our technology is based upon, we are dents would pursue an education to the highest point years-economic- ally . . well-round- ed non-Americ- self-improveme- nt. an cheating ourselves from future economic prosperity. It seems the way to begin attacking the problem is by once again making teaching and research attractive for students and also promoting benefits for the pursuit of an education beyond a bachelor's degree, Since the individual pursuit of economic gain is so ingrained in our society's attitude, any solution must begin to work within the context of providing attractive economic rewards for furthering education. This means teaching and research jobs must be given the status they should have in our society; the salaries and benefits of these professions must be made equal to or greater than those offered by industry. But the only way that will happen is if elected officials are convinced the additional money spent on these salaries will benefit their constituency. In order to do this, our higher education system must begin doing better public relations work than it has been doing. Some type of national committee should be formed specifically for the purpose of "selling" education to both lawmakers and the public. However public relations is handled, Congress and state legislatures must be persuaded to make the hard choice of reinvesting in education, even at the expense of other programs. This is the only way to assure ourselves a solid future. Economics, howeyer, is not a permanent solution. A long-tersolution must be found which will steer American attitudes back toward a true interest in education. This interest should be for no other purpose than and society's betterment. This is not a process which is easily enacted, particularly in light of America's preoccupation with hedonistic wastes of time such as television. Nonetheless, it must be done if the American people are to compete in an ever more sophisticated and complex world. of education in America is not ; A that vital so nation can compete successour only m self-betterme- nt fully, but also due to the necessity of a public in making wise voting decisions. Democracy can only work if those involved are able to make intelligent decisions about issues and canwell-inform- didates. If America does not its attitude toward find that we've been digwe education,' may someday ging a deeper and deeper hole out of which we will no longer have the resources to climb. Michael Giddings is a senior majoring in physics. Kinko's Professor Publishing o NO COST TO DEPARTMENT o LOW COST TO STUDENTS . TURNAROUND o FREE CAMPUS PICK UP AND DELIVERY o FREE QOPYRIGHT PERMISSION! ASSISTANCE o CONVENIENT LOCATION o OPEN 24 HOURS o FAST i Packets submitted by December 23, 1988 will be guaranteed ready for students on January 3, 1989. 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