The Failure of The Higher Education System

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Higher education is considered an essential portion of schooling in the modern era, often failing to educate students on the most important aspects of life.

Higher education is oftentimes considered an essential portion of schooling in the modern era. Developed countries around the world encourage their youth to pursue a college degree, and the United States of America is no different.

Unfortunately, there are a number of basic subjects that higher education universities and community colleges do not cover, leaving students unprepared for everyday real-world situations.

higher education
Higher education isn’t necessarily the best education.

General Education

Most American places of higher education have a general education requirement. English majors are forced to take unneeded algebra courses while hopeful mathematicians are required to learn world history. Well-rounded education is deemed the standard that should be followed, and many would agree that this is a reasonable approach.

Unfortunately, the well-rounded education that is taught is not necessarily the education that young adults need.

While young college students are encouraged to memorize Shakespearean plays and recite math equations they will likely never use, they are being robbed of important portions of an education that they will never formally receive.

What Young Adults Are Never Taught

Universities are supposed to provide the tools necessary for young adults to learn the basic components of adulthood, yet it seems there are a lot of these basics that are being overlooked. Young adults often refer to relatives or the internet to answer their everyday questions, because higher education college is not answering their desperate cries for help.

Voting- As soon as they reach the age of eighteen, young people have the right to vote in the United States of America. Sadly, the majority of young people do not exercise this right at all. While some forego the voting process by choice, others simply do not understand how it works, and the American school system is not making it any easier. Higher education university curriculums do not require professors to teach students how voting works, when they need to register, or how they can register in their state. This decreases the number of young people visiting the polls, though they are the generation that will have to live with political choices for the longest period of time.

Insurance- Insurance is important in all countries, but especially in countries that rely on it for healthcare. While young adults are losing their insurance left and right, they are not being taught how to regain insurance, how insurance law works, or which kinds of insurances are necessary and which are not. This lack of education only drives the number of uninsured students upward, leaving them without the healthcare options that everyone needs to have.

Taxes- Most people have to file taxes in the United States of America, and while young adults are aware that this is the law, they are not being taught how to complete their civil duty. Being the poorest generation America has seen, youths of today cannot always afford to seek out accountants, leaving them only with the option of using internet-based tax filing software. Students are being forced to teach themselves how to do their taxes, making them more likely to see denied claims and consequences from the IRS.

Basic Law- College students are not being taught what their rights are in our country. Oftentimes flocking to the internet to understand both local and federal law, young adults are more likely to receive conflicting information than if they were to learn basic law as a part of their higher education curriculum.

Personal Finance– Without any general guidelines for personal finance choices, American youths are oftentimes unaware of their options and common recommendations for responsible money management. Even if millennials are able to make a significant amount of money in the dismal economy they have been born into, they will have to take specialized courses or approach financial professionals to learn how to properly manage their earnings. Young working class students are even less likely to learn how to manage their money, decreasing their chances of future success.

higher education personal finance
Understanding personal finance might be the most important aspect of a true higher education.

Will The Curriculum Change?

University curriculums are ever-changing, but they follow the same trends. The general education standard has but a few required subjects, often including:

English- Basic English courses for the general education requirement are frequently no more intensive than what young people are required to learn in high school.

Math- General education math classes usually incorporate mathematical focuses that are not often used in real-world situations.

Science- Science classes have a wide array of options, many of them interesting but not always commonly applicable. It is up to students to choose which higher education courses they find to be the most useful for their own personal interests and needs.

History- College-level history classes teach the importance of historical findings, yet they do not always relate them to the modern world.

A Second Language- One of the few general education requirements that is frequently applicable in the real world, college students are commonly required to learn another language, whether it be French, Latin, or Spanish. Some languages tend to be more useful than others.

Health Education- Health education does not necessarily mean that students are required to take a gym class. They can also opt for more book-intensive courses. Unfortunately, these courses do not usually take on the topics of health insurance and American healthcare.

Today’s general education requirements are unlikely to change any time soon. College students will continue to be robbed of relevant everyday knowledge, leaving them solely with internet research and secondhand information from friends and relatives. Until we see higher education universities willing to adopt new concepts for everyday issues, it is likely that young people will suffer the consequences of being unable to face adulthood.

Fortunately, there are many steps you can take to educate yourself into a higher awareness! 🙂

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