The Expectations of a Higher Education

A blog post was recently published that discussed recent trends in college majors. It cited a study of Yale University that showed a drastically declining number of English majors, contrasted by a large increase in the number of economic majors. This may be due to the increasingly common view that college is largely a monetary investment.

Why is college being viewed as a monetary investment? Well, largely because the students themselves have a larger stake in it than ever before. As of 2014 the debt of American students from their student loans has totaled well over 1 trillion dollars (Frizell). This increase in student loans has corresponded to the increase in the cost of college itself; which, was largely due to the increase of total students applying to college.

But, not only is college viewed as a monetary investment by students, it's also viewed as a monetary investment by parents. This pressure from parents to "succeed" (an American saying that often translates to: go to a competitive college and earn a lot of money) is largely in effect at my school, New Trier High School. I was discussing this subject with a classmate of mine who said that she received a low ACT score the first time she took the test. In response, her parents got her a tutor and her score increased significantly allowing her to get into a better school. This story is so common at New Trier (my own parents payed for both a class and a tutor) because the school is located in a high-income neighborhood. But, the reason why people want to be able to afford a tutor in the first place is because it essentially buys you a competitive ACT score. A competitive ACT score gets you into a competitive college. And (if you take the right major, like say, economics) the prestige of going to a competitive college will merit a high-income job (or at least that is the theory held by many parents in my neighborhood). My dad offered me similar advice saying that I should consider going to a larger school with more "name recognition" instead of the smaller liberal arts schools I have been looking at. Clearly, parents want their children to be "successful," will steer their education from the sidelines in that direction.

Roughly 20 students of my schools graduating class received a perfect score on their ACT

Although I will not feel the financial pressure of the many students taking on college debt because my parents can afford (and are thankfully willing) to put me through college, I do feel the pressure to succeed. It's the reason why I took solely business electives until my Junior year, and the reason why I will in all likelihood take yet another math course my senior year that I couldn't care less about. After all, with so many Americans (many far less advantaged than I) striving for "success," I feel a twisted sense of guilt whenever I consider striving for something else.

Silencing Our Students

This past week, I got sent to the advisor chair (my school's equivalent of the Principal's office) for the first time. Why? Well, because I was "planning to spit sunflower seeds out the window" and "being argumentative". I didn't have any sunflower seeds. I only spoke up when I was trying to explain that we are normally allowed to have our phones out in class (it's a very independent class) after a peer of mine was sent out in class.

What's the significance of this story? Well, this interaction and the events that followed opened my eyes to how silent a student's voice really is.

After being sent to the advisor chair, I asked the substitute if she could come to the advisor chairs office with me because I strongly disagreed with the reasoning behind why I was sent there. The sub refused and told me to get out. After this I went to the advisor chair's office, and explained the what had happened. Having heard my story, the advisor chair essentially told me that "I usually give kids a couple of morning detentions in a situation where they were sent out of class, but since this is your first time being sent here, I'll let you off with a warning." So in other words, he told me that I was in the wrong, and the only reason why I wasn't being punished was because it was my first time getting in trouble.

What I found to be more fascinating was that he told me he essentially had a standard punishment for all kids who are sent out of class. So regardless of what I say, I just look like every other kid trying to explain how they didn't do anything wrong, and as a consequence, I will be given the exact same punishment. This situation might have been avoided if the substitute would have talked to the advisor chair with me, but she simply refused, avoiding all accountability (that I thought existed) in the process.

Clearly, regardless of how innocent or guilty you are, you have almost no way to prove your innocence because the teacher doesn't have to talk to the advisor chair with you, and at the end of the day you just become another kid who is saying that he did nothing wrong. So regardless of what you say, you are simply giving the "usual" punishment.

Unfortunately, I wasn't able to find any articles on students getting in trouble unjustly. This is probably because the only people this affects are students and teachers, and evidently students opinions aren't valued so the only people that really get heard when kids get in trouble are teachers. The reason why I find this story so important is because it entirely goes against everything we are taught in schools; expressing our opinions, advocating for ourselves, and standing up for what we believe in.