Anyone else bored with hearing “Higher Education is Broken”?
We do a lot of reading here at EduCred Services, and I have a confession: when I see an article title that starts, “Higher Education is Broken…,” “How to Fix Higher Ed by…,” or similar, I want to skip it. Not because there aren’t important points being investigated within the text, but because said problems are rarely new; because “higher ed” isn’t a single, unilaterally acting entity; and because framing a situation as “an entire industry is broken and on the verge of a cataclysmic breakdown” doesn’t really encourage anything but panic. Are there problems with Higher Ed? Of course—show me an industry that doesn’t have problems. Can we reasonably claim that Higher Ed is broken? I don’t think so.
If you know me, you know that I care deeply about the nuance of language, and I don’t think “Thing = Broken” is the right way to talk about a topic so complicated. Higher Ed certainly has areas that need attention and repair, but like any living organism, Higher Ed is more than its problem areas. When you break your leg, you have a broken leg; you don’t become a broken leg, and there’s a treatment protocol for repairing the injury. Every day, we work with organizations that are diligently icing, elevating, splinting, and healing Higher Ed’s broken leg.
It is easy for us to observe and comment on the troubles that plague an industry, and it’s similarly easy to propose our own ideas on how to solve them. Most people who have even a passing familiarity with the Higher Ed landscape could pitch a listicle like “5 Things Higher Ed is Doing Wrong and How to Fix Them.” But, today, let’s look instead at the valiant efforts of the people actually doing the fixing—the people who see Higher Ed’s issues but who are inspired by its potential—they put their proposals into action and should inspire us all. To that end, I propose (see what I did there?) to share 5 encouraging observations I’ve made about Higher Ed over the past year:
Institutions care deeply about their missions – I am never not impressed by the passion that the institutions we work with convey when talking about their mission. Building and running an institution requires a lot of work (and most of it isn’t glamorous), but when we speak with people about their organization’s mission, no matter how long the institution has been around, everyone’s still excited about it. Creating a higher education institution is (and should be) a labor of love. Too often, we read articles criticizing the “system” and forget that, at its heart, Higher Education is educators—humans who want to share knowledge with and help other humans. There’s beauty and power in that, and, even with all its broken limbs, Higher Education should be celebrated for it.
There is a program out there for everything, and new ones are being developed constantly – With few exceptions, if you can fathom it, you can study it. This, I would argue, is freedom in action. Students have more choices than ever on how to spend their resources, time, and brainpower. Whether their driving passion in life is for bagpiping, ecogastronomy, or bicycle design, there are options to earn vetted, accredited degrees in virtually any niche. This allows students to build their careers, lives, and dreams with intention and specialization.
Flexibility and accessibility are more important than ever – I have seen, first-hand, an institution change a policy to improve accessibility for a handful of students that live on the other side of the world, or to allow one student to enroll from a particular state. These minor changes don’t get much press, but, for that one student who can now earn college credit while pursuing their dream, the minor changes can mean everything.
Change is slow – This can be frustrating, perhaps, but it’s not necessarily a bad thing. Higher Ed, if we must view it as a single mechanism, is large and complicated; large and complicated things don’t (and shouldn’t) turn on a dime. Example: remember when pogs were a thing in the early 1990s? What if some shot-caller in Higher Ed had handed down the decree that student transcripts should only be printed on pogs (they were everywhere at the time!)? Well, in addition to having to comply with a very weird and expensive change, we’d also have a records storage nightmare. Most of us get frustrated with the apparently glacial pace of change, but all of the processes and red tape we bemoan can also protect us from betting the farm on a flashy trend or the impulses of capricious leader.
It is really, really hard to fake legitimacy – One of Higher Ed’s most robust safeguards is accreditation. It is a lengthy process that requires institutions to provide evidence that they are doing what they said they would do—it keeps students from getting catfished and makes sure that having a degree actually means something. Also, thanks to the internet, honest reviews are everywhere. For every fake school out there trying to take people’s money, there’s a Facebook review/Google review/Reddit page with people sharing their personal experiences. These days, a little bit of research goes a long way, and prospective students have unprecedented access to inside information on any institution.
Long story long, Higher Ed has a lot of great things going for it. While there are certainly problems to contend with, let’s not paint with such a broad brush that we color over the noble aspirations that 99% of institutions were founded on. The next time you read a doom-saying news story about Higher Ed that makes you want to throw up your hands, remember:
There is no “finish line.” Education will evolve and change as long as people exist. We’ll always be working to make things better—that’s just part of being human.
There are a lot of smart, resourceful, driven people—just like you—who are working on these problems, too.
“Optimism is a strategy for making a better future. Because unless you believe that the future can be better, you are unlikely to step up and take responsibility for making it so.” – Noam Chomsky
