The progression from getting educated from a young age to going to college to then getting a job has become a standard in the past few decades. Where if 20 years ago it would still be completely possible to easily get a job straight out of high school, in today’s age it is almost socially required to be educated to a high degree and have tons of experience for an entry-level job. That would be fine, if not for the issue of tuition costs of said education.
The college life we think of now is full of student loan debt, creeping deadlines, strict teachers, and high costs per class. The number of students that graduated in 2012 was 71%, or 1.3 million students, high than any other previous year. Most of the payment does not even go to the teachers, it goes to the administrative team which has a salary 82% of an average American. Professors are underpaid, and often undergraduate students. The teacher-to-student ratio on average is 1:18, for a class that students have to struggle to pay off decades after attending the school, they should be able to have more benefits such as better availability for feedback.
American debt right now is nearing 29 trillion dollars, 1.28 trillion of which are just student loan debts from over 44.8 million Americans, but that is just the college experience. For many, the only good high school options available are private schools which have their own expensive costs, not to mention standardized tests. In order to increase the chances of attending a college or university, one is advised to take AP tests, SAT and ACT tests, among many others. Those costs can stack up fast, and the College Board, the organization behind many of these exams, has around 55 million dollars in profits a year.
In general, the monetization of education is not bad. Teachers are severely underpaid, however, the cost is going towards the admissions and system behind colleges, not into the pockets of the teachers who could improve their courses and make the costs of tuition reasonable, not to mention the increase in quality of said courses. Behind it all, it is only the tip of the iceberg of the financial problems in America, where big corporations cut corners where ever they can to underpay the workers and those who keep the system running, all to get profits directly into the pockets of select few individuals. Until action can be done to distribute more resources to help students, the problems will only get worse.
Sources:
saintsfan505. (2017, March 9). Extorting millennials: The Monetization of Higher Education. Medium. Retrieved October 31, 2021, from https://medium.com/@saintsfan505/extorting-millennials-the-monetization-of-higher-education-be1c6c6f5295
Katz, L. (2015, May 4). Report shows consequences of monetised education system, but does little to dispel it. The Conversation. Retrieved October 31, 2021, from https://theconversation.com/report-shows-consequences-of-monetised-education-system-but-does-little-to-dispel-it-41179
Gerenraich, J. (n.d.). Monetization of education. BEACON. Retrieved October 31, 2021, from https://wybeaconnews.org/9763/uncategorized/monetization-of-education/
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