Week 4-Angela Moy

Angela Moy
A01
Week 4

 In Fredrik deBoer's 'Why We Should Fear University, Inc.' goes on to detail how colleges and universities are becoming sites that strip individuals of their passion and right to explore new ideas and express free thought. The critics of campus political behavior paint student activists as overly-sensitive and enforce the ideals of conformity. College campuses are slowly being transformed from places of education and new thoughts to carbon copies of corporations.

Even outside of political speech, I see the effects of corporatization in the university. We pursue a major that makes the big money instead of following our dreams and passions. We stay hush on things that are wrong to avoid the trouble, conflict, and consequences. There's a HUGE price tag on education, especially good education and most definitely on higher education. Education being something that should be a universal right. Those who actually make the decisions about our education do not look like us or come from a similar background. People who know nothing about our struggles get to decide whether or not we deserve assistance in paying enormous tuition fees. And where does the money even go? Students are still being waitlisted for classes they NEED in too small lecture halls with too few professors to teach them. The university officials don't even hold backgrounds in education yet they run every aspect of it. 

Even just to get into the university is a process that is also corporatized. We have PAY to apply for college. We PAY to take ACT's, SAT's, ToEFL's, tests that we are required to take for colleges and universities to even look at our applications. And for those scores to even be noticed, those who can afford it pay thousands of dollars for tutoring. I remember in my junior year of high school, I forgot to apply for AP test fee waivers in time, so I had to pay out of pocket. $50 for TWO tests, them being literally test packets and bubble sheet. So much money goes into being educated instead of the actual education.

It really just hurts and is disappointing that so many people do not get the privilege of attending universities or furthering their education because of money. Something so arbitrary to the learning itself, but apparently crucial to the system. I am really thankful for scholarships and financial aid. Without it, I know there's no way I would be able to pursue a degree in higher education.




Questions: Why does the US continually choose to invest more in its military when we fall so far behind other countries in education? Why doesn't the US do anything to fix its illiteracy rate (14% of the population)? Why is tuition continually increasing?

I chose this photo because I feel like her words really capture the price—monetary and metaphorical—of attending university.

References:

#moneymatters [Digital image]. (n.d.). Retrieved from https://scontent-sjc2-1.xx.fbcdn.net/v/t1.0-9/18033380_398575693857946_8915679708399659514_n.jpg?oh=78ede71da99822dd386f6ad6a738fba6&oe=597A9F10

DeBOER, F. (2015, September 09). Why We Should Fear University, Inc. Retrieved April 20, 2017, from https://www.nytimes.com/2015/09/13/magazine/why-we-should-fear-university-inc.html?_r=0