As a professor, here is my humble take:
The K-12 system needs to improve; too many students arrive in college without the skills needed to complete college work.
Both primary and secondary educational advisers need to do a much better job of helping students find a college track that makes sense for them. Schools spend too little time and money on advising programs and too many students are lost not knowing what classes or major to take. It doesn’t just hurt the students’ college years, it hampers their career and earning potential for years to come.
Colleges have de-emphasized learning and academic standards in favor of a “get their money and keep them in school” mentality. Students should be required to perform or lose their place not coddled to keep the tuition dollars flowing.
The other problem in secondary education today is not the professor-student ratio, it’s the administrator-student ratio. Two decades ago there was one administrator for every 125 students, now it is one administrator for every 78 students. Meanwhile administrator salaries are significantly increasing. It is now typical for a college to pay its president the equivalent of what they pay adjunct faculty for 80-90 course sections. Yes, that’s right, the average adjunct professor would have to work 20 years to make what a college president makes in one year. The proliferation of administrators and their inflated salaries is driving tuition costs up while providing little benefit to the schools and their students.
Finally, college should be free for students who can demonstrate academic ability and can fulfill academic requirements once they are in college. That’s the system most other nations have – the ones passing us in level of education. It will also make college like the business world – perform and you get compensated – a much better preparation for real life than out current system.
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