“No one is going to give you an education. You need to overthrow them.”—Unknown
I saw the above cartoon amidst separate discussions about college credit during high school. I don’t know the source of the statement. (The characters are, of course, the work of the great Charles Schultz. I don’t think the words are his, however.) It caught my eye because I have long said we need to overhaul the educational system in the U.S.
I have an advisee who will be graduating in a few weeks with 265 credits and degrees in Exercise Science and Chemistry after only three years at the University. In other words, he completed three years of college in high school. He is quite the impressive student.
This is becoming increasingly popular among high school students, and I have had several students arriving with an impressive number of college credits from high school. This begs the question: “What is a ‘degree’?” Additionally, we are led to the question: “What is an ‘education’?” Too often, the two words are treated as synonyms. They should not.
‘Degrees’ are becoming increasingly meaningless (especially when we consider what two years of COVID-19 has done to education). What is a high school degree, a bachelor’s degree, a master’s degree, and/or a PhD? Why are PTs now DPTs?? There is a joke I often tell as a PhD: “A BS is ‘bullsh**,’ an MS is ‘more sh**,’ and a PhD is ‘piled higher and deeper.’” These are just degrees that are awarded for completing a checklist of requirements. They do not necessarily equate to a meaningful education.
To be “educated” should also not mean that we can regurgitate facts (or have successfully regurgitated facts to pass a test). Education should not teach to a test—a reason why I think state standard are generally quite meaningless. To be educated means that we have gained the necessary knowledge base to succeed professionally and contribute to our communities in a meaningful way.
I responded to a friend who shared the news report (presumably from my sharing) about an Ohio teen graduating college (an associates degree) before graduating from high school by stating: “While it works for some, I think for many it simply waters down the college degree. The biggest problem is that we have a distorted perception of what a college degree should mean and who should need one. If we can make K-12 (and I would suggest K-13) the equivalent of a college degree–and these programs are proving that they can be–then a BS/BA could carry the weight of a MS and fewer colleges would be creating BS Master’s degrees for the sake of enrollments. There are too many of us with PhDs that are working too hard at creating jobs for ourselves and hot hard enough at doing what we should be doing–educating.” I know many of my colleagues will disagree with me (I mentioned “academic rigor” in a meeting recently and was met with the response: “ When I hear ‘academic rigor,’ I hear ‘privilege’.”), but I stand by my opinion and take my role as an educator very seriously. I don’t want to waste my students’ time or money. I want to prepare my students to have an impact on their world and not simple be someone’s employee.
I think it time for a revolution in education. It may cost me my job. It will certainly cost the jobs of some of my colleagues. It doesn’t worry me, though. I value my education more than my degree. Perhaps, this is better stated: My education is more valuable than my degrees. My education has continued beyond my degrees. I can do more than teach what I know. (In fact, the more I teach, the more I realize I don’t know. What I teach is that I don’t know and this what the students need to know to figure out what I don’t know.) Some of the most educated people I know are people with the fewest letters after their names. These are people who have “overthrown” the system.
Be your best today; be better tomorrow.
Carpe momento!