THE REAL ISSUE IS QUALITY AND PRICE OF UNIVERSITY EDUCATION

THE REAL ISSUE IS QUALITY AND PRICE OF UNIVERSITY EDUCATION

By Domenick J. Maglio PhD. Traditional Realist

The media made a tremendous scandal of 50 individuals involved in cheating on university entrance systems. Coaches were bribed and people were employed to take the ACT/SAT and other tests to assist privileged rich and famous parents to insure their adolescents will qualify for a prestigious university.

First this should not be shocking, as it has been going on for generations. Wealthy families have donated millions to build foundations and to start new programs. This has given them great influence in admission policies and student selection. Even relatives of alumni of the university are given preferential treatment in admission acceptance. Furthermore, students who have been given athletic scholarships often have not only been given leeway in admissions but have been paid for their athletic prowess.

This “university payola” scam is old and recurrent news. As the price of a college education skyrockets, parents find more sophisticated and creative ways for their adolescents to gain university admission. Higher education has become a big moneymaking business that will attract these types of questionable interactions. Money talks but in academia it should be merit.

The pathetic reality is: as tuition has radically increased, the quality of a comprehensive education has just as precipitously declined. Universities were institutions of higher learning whose mission was to elevate the knowledge, thinking ability and professional performance of students in particular fields. Each college discipline was supposed to establish and maintain higher academic expectations and standards.

Too many graduates have demonstrated a great fervor for perceived social injustices. It appears that being a political activist is the student’s major motivation while learning the nitty-gritty workings of their profession is a nuisance to be avoided. Too many of the students have been indoctrinated that the business world of capitalism is corrupt while being persuaded that socialism is more effective, a more fair economic system.

Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (AOC) is a wonderful example of a recent graduate from a highly regarded institution, Boston College.  She was reported to have graduated with an economics degree, summa cum laude. Ms. Cortez has demonstrated many general knowledge gaps in her education. “Unemployment is low because everyone has two jobs. Unemployment is low because people are working 60, 70, 80 hours a week and they can hardly feed their families.” Politifact found these to be false.

She claimed the Democratic Congress amended the Constitution to prevent FDR from being re-elected. However, this law was passed three years after he died. This and many other of her statements have been found to be incorrect. Probably the most outrageous and absurd statement to date has been the world will end in 12 years due to climate change. This was announced without any substantiating facts as if she were a demigod.

“I think there are a lot of people more concerned about being precisely, factually and semantically correct than being morally right.” This statement of hers best illustrates the heart of AOC. It demonstrates as a social activist being morally right is the prime virtue for her. “Being precisely factual and semantically correct is unimportant as compared to the progressive religion of climate change, open borders, gender and women’s rights. Without actual logic and factual information it is not possible to make realistic and effective strategies and decisions.

More and more people have witnessed political interviews with young adults where they expose their ignorance of history, socialism and current events. Although it shows moral naiveté it often demonstrates a profound lack of context and accuracy. This should not be surprising when our public schools have practically eliminated civics, history, geography and cursive writing from their curriculum. Without these subjects being taught our youngsters are without the knowledge, interest or ability to decipher the original documents of our founders or the present working of our Constitutional Republic.

The “dumbing down” of our public schools has forced colleges to provide a lot more remedial courses. This has led to accepting many unqualified students weakening the standards and expectations for college students. For the vast majority of colleges accepting questionable students through their admission policies has increased the likelihood that our next generation of students will have less historical perspective than students today.

Until colleges begin to enforce new vigorous admission policies we will continue to witness the rich unfairly using their wealth for the sake of their children’s future. The greater issue is not cheating to get into college but what do gain students for the debt and time consuming experience in education.

Domenick Maglio, PhD. is a columnist carried by various newspapers, an author of several books and owner/director of Wider Horizons School, a college prep program. Dr. Maglio is an author of weekly newspaper articles, INVASION WITHIN  and a new book entitled, IN CHARGE PARENTING In a PC World. You can see many of Dr. Maglio’s articles at www.drmaglio.blogspot.com.