Posted on 12/06/2016 5:14:25 AM PST by RoosterRedux
Again, how bizarre that colleges audit high-school diplomas by giving college-entrance tests (their theory being that straight A’s from Selma High school in California’s Central Valley are not comparable to straight A’s at the Menlo School in the Silicon Valley), but the schools themselves are not audited. Surely higher education would not object to a national college-exit exam as a requirement for receiving a bachelor’s degree. Call it a smaller version of the bar exam, or perhaps a reverse SAT or ACT test.
Passing an exit exam would help ensure education consumers that tens of thousands of dollars in borrowed money, per student, at least led to quantifiable or demonstrable knowledge on a nationally shared basis, necessary for an informed, participatory citizenry.
Comparative pass rates also might inform parents whether sending children to Stanford really does guarantee liberal education in a way that a B.A. from nearby less expensive San Jose State University might not. (If President-elect Trump wished to carry out his promise of ending more regulations before enacting new ones, he could, before mandating college-exit-exam rules, cancel the executive-order regulations from the Education Department that rob students of their due-process rights).
(Excerpt) Read more at nationalreview.com ...
Let the States and/or private concerns fund the individual colleges that they support while implementing Federal total defunding of all so-called “universities”. These schools are not too big to fail and perhaps some should, especially when football and other sports are the major reasons they can survive at all.
Re-establish intense instruction of all sorts at individual colleges, assigning tracks for students leading to true employment. Federally defund the wicked, incestuous, and basically unproductive “University” system.
Jack Hammer has nothing to worry about - he got a Ph.D. in Bourbon and Women, even if it only took four years.
I don’t think the university system can be reformed, any more than Islam can.
I’d love a GED-equivalent exam. A lot of companies won’t hire a workers without a college degree. A lot of 18-year-olds could pass a test proving that they already have the equivalent of a 4-year degree. Save yourself 4 years. Save yourself $100,000 in debt. Just go to work and skip over the Liberal brainwashing. Who needs it?
I recognize that there are professions that require real education. That’s a separate issue. But most college students aren’t doing STEM work.
No one really believes in human equality, especially the secular liberals who do nothing but spout lies about equality.
“...skip over the liberal brainwashing...”
Ministries of Propaganda brought to you by the Democrat Party.
IMHO
Now VDH wants to raise this to a new level with the Feds in charge. Guess who will set testing standards, so that common sense schools like Hillsdale will be tested out of existence. It will be the AP US history test on steroids.
This is Hanson's second really dumb position (after opposing Trump for a year) in recent times.
It’s not a place for higher education anymore.
It is a place where liberal get young kids who are away from home for the first time, and then brainwash these kids.
Universities also should be required to test their grads via the GRE.
The results, of course, would be hidden even deeper thwn Dorkbama the Muslim eunich’s records.
Correct!
Not every one on earth NEEDS a college degree...not all employment REQUIRES it.
If Grade Schools and High Schools actually TAUGHT and educated young people, kids could walk out of there with skills and the ability to succeed. They would be TEACHABLE in any job training, in months.
Instead, public schools in the US are glorified baby sitting institutions. They sit on these kids and coddle them unmercifully. Once they leave or ‘graduate’ they are fit for absolutely NOTHING.
DAILY, I talk to university (many graduate level) students who CANNOT make a proper sentence with a subject and predicate. Many CANNOT make themselves understood either verbally or in writing. Also-they are totally irresponsible and immature.
They are all in for a real cold shower when they ‘graduate’
Most college work amounts to little more than directed reading of overpriced tomes written by tenured professors. Add in a term paper and you are good to go. The learned professions are of course an exception.
I've been advocating for this kind of ‘exit exam’, and it doesn't have to be ‘federally controlled’. Plus, such testing would have to be fact-based, and not subjectively interpretable (e.g. no essays, no opinion-based questions). For lots of subjects (biology, math, engineering, chemistry, accounting, foreign languages, anthropology, geology, business, etc.) it would be very straightforward to test based on universally accepted fundamental skills and knowledge. Medicine and Law already have their respective ‘exit exams’. It would be more difficult to do this for some degrees (e.g. english majors, history - maybe, because of the bias and subjectivity involved in the interpretation of history, etc.), but it's doable.
As we move to more and more ‘online’ education, and less bricks and mortar-based education, we will need standardized means to determine competency. It will, ultimately, make education cheaper, IMHO.
Nope, will never work. ANY “exit exam” must be standardized to be valid. To be standardized, someone must control. If the states, it will not be standardized.
There is no way to keep this out of the feds’s hands, which is to say, the elite academics. Trust me. I’ve just retired from almost 40 years as a college prof and I’ve seen the way such standards come into existence at every level-—elementary, high school, college. You would have PRECISELY the Marxist, non-fact based questions dominate.
“Not every one on earth NEEDS a college degree...not all employment REQUIRES it.”
I don’t disagree with your premise, but I do believe the world is becoming more and more complex, and specialized, and as such education beyond high school is becoming more and more important. That’s not the same, however, as saying that everyone requires a standard college degree. What I’m getting at is that being competent in a specific trade is also getting more and more complex, because of the advancement of technology. So, trade schools, beyond high school, are becoming more important if you want to pursue a skilled trade. Ultimately, you will have to learn on the job, but you won’t be starting from scratch.
“Passing an exit exam would help ensure education consumers that tens of thousands of dollars in borrowed money, per student, at least led to quantifiable or demonstrable knowledge on a nationally shared basis, necessary for an informed, participatory citizenry.”.......
What’s good for the goose is good for the gander. I swear that a lot of “smart” kids going INTO college actually come out dumber, not all but many.
I understand your point, but there's really no way to incorporate political philosophy into chemistry, engineering, math, and a variety of other disciplines (obviously, economics etc. would be more susceptible). The bigger danger, as I see it, is that the questions would most certainly be solicited at least partially from faculty at different universities, and I have no doubt that some would teach specifically to their questions in order to give their students an edge on the exam. That said, there are ways around this (e.g. random computer-generated questions).
But IF public education was doing what they are paid to do, then kids could come out of there with a little more in their favor.
And besides, what ever happened to vocational education in High Schools? I went to a vocational HS and it was fine.
Also, there is nothing wrong with a two year associate degree in med assist, IT, dental assist, radiology, stenography, etc...
That's what I meant. The 4 year long taxpayer funded party for all and sundry is completely pointless.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.