After asking several students what the word “university” brought to mind, the most common responses included parties, alcohol and freedom. Classes were mentioned only as an afterthought. As a major transition from childhood to adulthood, universities are supposed to help people learn the skills they need to be successful in the “real world”. Classes cram everybody's head full of information, which is forgotten by the next class. Perhaps the parties frequently attended at fraternity houses have something to do with their lack of memory.
So what is a university? Is it really a place of higher learning? Or is it just a new home for the social lives of those students who are wealthy enough to attend? Yes, university does help students learn to analyse the world they inhabit. Yes, it expands their knowledge, and yes, it is an essential part of the process of securing employment. However, universities are so glorified that people often forget about another school of thought: college. College, in comparison, teaches hands-on skills in specialised fields. The other major difference between the two schools, however, is the cost. For the difference in the amounts of money, it is necessary to take a closer look at the merits of university.
University costs approximately five thousand dollars a year for tuition alone. Add to that the costs of books and residency, and you will see that there is a vast sum of money involved. College tuition is only two thousand dollars a year, with books and residency costing half the price. There are many people who cannot even afford college, leaving university out of the question. Is this how our society should be? A haven for the rich and a hell for the poor? How can we balance out our culture's wealth if the wealthy keep getting employed, and those less fortunate cannot get the same level of education necessary to even be considered as contenders for a job? University is causing an even wider social gap than necessary and this gap will be the downfall of our society, and our economy. You can preach OSAP all you like, but having new grads start out with inconceivable debts is no way to start a future, and many of them never quite manage to find their way out of the hole.
Today, North American culture places university on a pedestal. No longer do students have the option of choosing to continue education - it has become essential in order to acquire a job, and therefore a steady source of income. Corporations simply do not hire high school graduates if there are university students in the running. It is assumed that a university student has a hunger for learning; however, this may not be the case. Some students long to attend a post-secondary school, and find the price far beyond the amount of money that they can pay. On the other hand, some students may not want to continue their education, but they have the funds necessary to attend. They have no choice but to go. If they can afford it, they are required by society to attend. Decent jobs just are not available for high school graduates.
When, in life, will the skills learned at university be required? When will someone actually need to know how to calculate the hypotenuse of a triangle? Should it matter if a prospective employee does not know the date when Canada first became a federation? What is it about university that makes people so single-minded in their determination to believe that university is the be-all and end-all of education? What is it about our society that we choose to cater only to the upper classes?
How can we improve our society? Men may be born free, but they live in the chains of their financial income. Higher education needs to be accessible to anyone with the will to learn, not just those with the money to buy their freedom.
