The college experience is like a shopping mall

Clara Barros/Staff Writer

“The University is a shopping mall with classes in between.”

These were the words of Manuel Serra, a senior majoring in political science. As a soon to be graduate, Serra aired his grievances about what I call ‘the commodification of the college experience.’

“My focus has always been [political] theoretical work,” Serra said. But, unfortunately, he saw his passion hindered by the political science major, which in his eyes, mostly consists of training and molding students to go to law school.

Serra’s frustration comes from a very noticeable reality: the fact that the goal of higher education in the United States has long ago shifted from forming well-rounded, critical individuals to increasing profits and building a workforce for the market.

There is no hiding this financial drive at FIU. The University’s “Worlds Ahead” campaign explicitly states on its website that “being Worlds Ahead” means preparing students “to compete in today’s global economy.”

In the same line, pushing students to graduate in four years under the threat of charging double tuition is what Serra aptly calls a  “degree mill,” designed to rush people out of college — and into jobs — in order to take in new batches of students, thus generating more profit.

If a university’s mission is reduced to preparing students for the real world, and if it consists of drafting executive summaries, managing revenue and working for companies, then there’s an increasing impoverishment of the academic experience and intellectual inquiry. There’s also a reduction of the role of college to the role of a technical training school.

This can already be seen in the growing standardization of the educational process. Companies like Pearson, who hold a monopoly of textbooks — many of which are very basic and low-quality from an academic point of view — also offer ready-made PowerPoints to university professors, rendering classes dull and unchallenging for students.

The consequence is obvious: we defeat any enthusiasm that anyone might have about studying. We consistently fail to engender and foster academic curiosity and pleasure in learning — and we do it so well that, as Serra put it, “people don’t see the endpoint of going to school if it wasn’t to get a job.”

By the “cheapening” of higher education, students who came here genuinely looking for a profound development of their intellectual capacities are hurt the most.

The value of a degree is further called into question when a person realizes that they can find everything on the Internet for free and at their own volition. There are enough resources for a learning experience that is equal or superior to the one offered in college. Well-versed in political theory, Serra admits that most of the things he learned while at FIU were self-taught.

In this context, what has become of the so-called “college experience”? To Serra, it has become a delusion. And I add that graduation now simply marks the moment of transition from ‘studying how to work’ to ‘working to pay off your debt.’

There’s only one way to fix this college commodification, and according to Serra, there has to be a “complete structural change.”

The reality of higher education is merely a reflection of a society whose entire existence revolves around profit-making. Even though there are no immediate solutions, I must repeat: Education is not a product. Students are not customers. The University is not a business.

 

DISCLAIMER:

The opinions presented within this page do not represent the views of Panther Press Editorial Board. These views are separate from editorials and reflect individual perspectives of contributing writers and/or members of the University community.

 

Photo by Element5 Digital on Unsplash.

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