English | Distance Learning Systems (DLSI)

Humanities Crisis

“Crisis” and “decline” are the terms of the day in conversations of the humanities. A primary stimulus for the issue is a stunning factoid: only 8% of undergraduates major in humanities. But this number is deceiving. It does not consist of degrees in carefully relevant areas such as history, literature and some of the social sciences. Nor does it take consideration of the many needed and optional humanities programs learners take outside their degrees. Most essential, the 8% contains only those with a serious educational interest in literary works, songs and art, not those dedicated to generating the creative works that humanists study.

Once we identify that deeply caring about the humanities (including the arts) does not need specializing in philosophy, English or foreign languages, it’s not at all apparent that there is a crisis of interest in the humanities, at least in our colleges. Is the crisis rather one of severe financial reality? Humanities degrees on average start making $31,000 per year and shift to a normal of $50,000 in their middle years. (The numbers for authors and executing performers are much reduced.) By comparison, company degrees begin with incomes 26% greater than humanities degrees and shift to incomes 51% greater.

But this information does not show that business degrees generate more because they majored in business. Business degrees may well be more enthusiastic about making profits and so agree to jobs that pay well even if they are not otherwise satisfying, whereas individuals enthusiastic about the humanities and the arts may be willing to take more satisfying but lower-paying jobs. Higher education teachers, for example, often know that they could have made far more if they had gone to law school or gotten an M.B.A., but are willing to agree to considerably reduced pay to teach a topic they enjoy.

The Credit by Examination Approach

Too many students are targeted on the classes they need to take – English, Psychology, Chemistry and Accounting. It’s simple to see why. Pick up a college course book and you will see that degree programs are set out as series of classes to take. Successfully pass them all and you graduate with the degree you desired. Yet, this is actually a superficial way to look at higher education. As it turns out, classes are not the real foundations of degrees – credits are.

Take a closer look at your college’s course book. What you will see is that you actually need a certain number of credits to graduate, usually 60 for an associate degree and 120 for a bachelor’s. This is a key understanding, because once you move your focus from classes to credits, you can begin studying methods to buy them for less. The costly classes your university provides are just one way of getting those credits, even though most learners thoughtlessly believe it’s the only way.

In reality, there are three methods to generate higher education credit:

Classes at four year colleges/private universities
Classes at community colleges
Credit by examination

Most students are acquainted with the first two choices. But hardly anyone knows about credit by examination and even less understand its complete prospective.

Credit by examination represents college-level topic assessments like CLEP and DSST. With this strategy, you take a large test covering a whole topic rather than a semester-long course. Successfully pass the examination and you generate credit just as if you had taken the class. What this implies is that you can possibly cut lots of money off the price of finishing by replacing as many of these examinations for classes as your higher education will allow. Unfortunately, many colleges and universities have tight “residency requirements” restricting how many credits you can get this way.

Advanced Placement Courses Role

Learners in high school have many choices in terms of seeking the kinds of training they want. Many regions offer Magnet Programs that provide improved knowledge in specific areas (Arts, Science) which students are keen on seeking later on. Other educational institutions have implemented the International Baccalaureate Program, which has become highly popular, for its focus on separate, globally-minded query. There is also Advanced Placement Courses, a traditional mainstay of high school improved program.

There was lately interesting news brief on the current state of Advanced Placement Courses in United States public education. The piece stated that 1 in 3 United States High Schooler’s, in public educational institutions, took an Advanced Placement Courses Examination this year. Of that, 33% of High Schoolers, 1 in 5 received a passing score on the test. These are really quite impressive numbers. First, a third of United States, openly educated students is seeking advanced instructors in high school, presumably, on their own accord, though with the support of their family and instructors. Second, the opportunity to engage in serious work in United States educational institutions is available, and with knowledge of what is out there, students have real opportunities. One third of scholars are certain enough, during high school, that educational accomplishment is really important and that the work they put in during high school will pay off in college.

And, it will. A passing score on an AP Examination is worth a credit at most colleges, amounting to a significant savings in money. Enough time spent in high school can be an appealing factor in higher education and kids realize this. Significantly, Advanced Placement Courses is a wide effort and covers topics from Math to English to the Arts with many areas of expertise in between. There were 34 different subject examinations given most lately, indicating the breadth and depth this method has achieved. After all, this is a high school program with 34 college degree course choices.