Your Opinion: Eliminate "gen ed' to contain college costs

Dear Editor:

We continually hear that the cost of higher education is prohibitive; that rising college expenses preclude many from attendance and create massive debt for many who do. Politicians are virtually unanimous in decrying this reality, yet no one ever does anything about it and costs continue to escalate.

Want to know how we can reduce college costs by 40-50 percent without little or no negative impact on the students? Drop "gen ed."

Gen ed is short for general education. College students spend, in most cases, the better part of two years taking classes they have (or certainly should have) already had, are of very questionable value and little interest, and cost a bundle. Why? Because that is the way we have always done it. If you have been to college, can you name anything that you value from your experience in gen ed?

If general education is not the job of the high schools, what is? The reality is that making students take 60 hours of general courses amounts to two things: a statement by the colleges that high schools are not doing their jobs; a cash cow for the colleges.

Just over 50 percent of the students who go to college in Missouri graduate. Those who drop out have spent a lot of time and money taking classes that, even if they had been able to persist, would be of little or no benefit in their chosen field.

Why not allow students to get to college and immediately begin working on their area of interest and expertise. They could graduate in two or three years instead of four and five and thereby save 40-50 percent. If they get into those courses and can't cut it, we need to look to the high schools to see why they are not better prepared.

If you are thinking that this is a decent idea, forget it? The college lobby is much too strong and there is way too much money involved to ever allow anything this practical but it is kind of fun to consider how easily this crisis of higher education could be remedied.

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