The The Bachelor of Arts Degree in America - Term Paper Example

of Unit The B.A Degree in America The Bachelor of Arts (BA, B.A, AB, or A.B) is a bachelor’s degree given for an undergraduate course or program in science, liberal arts, or both. The course usually takes three to four years. The academic period depends on specialization and the institution offering the course. B.A and Bachelor of Science are basic undergraduate degrees in the U.S. In most academic institution in the U.S, a campus-based B.A student is required to meet 180-quarter hours or 120 semester hours for an undergraduate degree. With the advent of E-learning, many educational institutions are now offering online B.A degrees. This paper adopts the view that Bachelor of Arts degree has been cheapened in the U.S. Lack of Verification Unlike courses like engineering and nursing, Bachelor of Arts program lacks definite measurability. Engineering and nursing degrees keep themselves up as they rely virtually and intimately on concrete and definite human interests. Existences of definite issues like a patient die, a bridge breaks down, successful operation and many more are inevitable tests. They check up the results and imposes emphasize on these and other similar units or degree programs. Each of these programs has verifiable results. B.A lacks verification in the U.S. People have nothing distinct that they can anticipate from Bachelor of Arts degrees. No academic institution has created a set of standards or policies concerning the course. Therefore, outsiders have nothing based their examinations of the success of the degree. B.A does not stand for any valuable reason, which can give it special guarantee-marks in the parenthesis (Keller, 1918). Poor Teachers Several colleges in America have poor teachers attached almost irretrievably to the faculty. They are very many that there are no enough good teachers to feel their positions. The market has no enough number of good teachers. However, it is still hard to choose a good teacher, as there are no factors to define a good teacher. B.A department does its recruitment of teachers in a hurried manner without considering certain factors. The department usually does snap and whimsical appointments. In future, it should consider all the necessary factors so that it can pick well-groomed teachers. In addition, the department or faculty ought to have a system to pressure underperforming teachers to work to the expected level. Every teacher ought to work to his/her best because the faculty would not be as bad as it is if every teacher were working to his/her best. Poor Students Nothing worthy can be achieved from the system until positive change is executed. Young Americans who go through the program gain less. Many companies have complained of the low quality of students who go to colleges. Many students have been thus rejected by companies who claim that the graduate do not meet their standards. The students are the results of their social environments. Therefore, the program has to be improved to allow generation of well-groomed graduates. Students’ Complaints Most students taking the Bachelor of Arts program lack knowledge of what they will do after leaving campus or college (Osterman, 2011). They are thus cannot specialize. The faculty leaves them to try disingenuously or ingeniously every unit offered in the program. They have no factors to analysis their futures. The faculty has not established their life-status soon enough. Students thus have no cut-and-dried occupations that they can predetermine theirs. The social environment in American does not call for early specialization. Professional schools offer specialization. Professional schools consider B.A. as something certain, vague, and indispensable before a strict specialization. Directors of professional schools see something valuable in colleges. They see a group of liberally educated students who they want to give specialized skills as professionals like doctors and lawyers has significant social functions. A large fraction of college graduates goes into business. A specialized form of business exists in a business school. Academic programs in economics are not meant to teach students the means of dealing with the stock market or to be a bank-teller. If educators could teach business, they would show more proofs of practice instead of just promoting all kinds of doubtful ventures. A business-man-to-be wants a cultivated mind out of college. He/she wants a mind that is adaptable and has an extensive range of interest so that he/she can have something extra besides business. Students want liberal education. Many students in colleges know they are joining their fathers or have certain preordained positions. They thus do not want specialization. Liberal Education Liberal education is not specialization. Instead, it is a selection. It is a process of finding of mind. The discovery involves exposing informed and oriented mind to particular influences. The problem with the mind is its indefinite capacity to oppose the introduction of knowledge. There is thus the need for school mastering for opening the mind and making it sensitive to the imposition of discipline (McMillan and Eric, 2011). In education, which is liberal, a student is exposed to various and many directions of intellectual influences. In this case, a student must force the mind to acquire information. Not so long ago, the store of human knowledge was smaller than it is now. The plan of what was valuable knowing was an established matter. Both of these aspects led to a predetermined program of study. Wrongly or rightly, the college degree preordained as something definite. Educational institutions had set courses like Greek, Latin, metaphysics, mathematics, and others for study. Every student had to take almost the same course with specific subjects, which were necessary for everyone. B.A. had particular prerequisites fixed for the study. The method gave B.A. program a dignity of conviction. However, the style was less adaptable to the current situation. It had little room for new selection and variation with resulting alteration to the environment. Its inertia was not good for the newer disciplines. The resistance of the old style caused the forces of the new time to take the college courses from the hands of decision makers in the department to the hands of the students. The selective style secured freedom for the students. The new style is irrational and cheapened the degree as it gave decision of the program of study to the inexperienced and usually whimsical students. The elective system went to the elementary schools. However, sensible people are now discovering the barriers of the elective system. They have awakened to the fact that college course and other programs of learning ought to be prepared by people of perspective and experience and inexperienced students. Colleges making decisions regarding B.A. ought to adopt a scheme that set the required course. Students can only be allowed to choose between colleges. Students ought to do little choosing. He/she should not make a decision to evade certain particular units. Students should have little choosing. The B.A. department should allow students to make choosing that does not involve irreducible minimum. Irreducible minimum is the essentials features of the discipline. It includes what a considerate, mature graduate wants to have. It also includes that he would have chosen if he/she had a chance to choose. Lack of Courage There are several changes requiring change, but there is a lack of courage for implementation. One way of improving college degree entails abandoning several classes to fate. American colleges ought to aim at the students. The government offered funds to the students, and through them; the government gave fund to the nation. Therefore, changes ought to be effected to alter the situation. The government gave funds to the colleges and not the faculties with funds. Therefore, colleges need to have courage to implement change. Courage is needed to execute change on the problematic courses. Some particular disciplines may end being completed after five years. Specialization Advocators of specialization claim that a youthful specialist remedies a defect of attention to one. A youthful specialist learns the seriousness and application of purpose. However, in reality a specialist remains narrow unless he/she pursues other programs on his/her own. An ordinary man will never pursue any other program and thus will remain half-educated person who thinks he/she know it all. The will be not time to catch up with what was not learned as advanced age will resist the drudgery. Again, a person would not be able to learn easily even if she read a lot, as he/she would have learned through a skillful introduction. There should be proper exposure to various influences of college courses. One influence is not enough, as a real infection can never be known until everyone is consciously tried. An influence coming later can easily become a prepotent to an earlier that had been thought to be real. A person should make a rational selection of intellectual interest based on fancy, vague, or whim yearning. Education ought to work to educate a student to develop enough knowledge for different key intellectual disciplines to develop an intelligent extraordinary special interest in one or more. People who are exposed to various different key intellectual disciplines produce great credit on the colleges they attended (Jonaitis, 2011). General education is a degree program that portrays deep assurance that satisfying and successful lives need a wide choice of knowledge and skills. The skills consist of the ability to reason quantitatively and logically and to communicate efficiently and effectively. They also include the ability to understand the sciences that development people understanding of the natural world. For instance, Penn state’s general education consist of units on speaking/writing, quantification, Health and physical activities, arts, natural sciences, and humanities. Penn state’s general education ensures a student acquires computer-assisted searching, scientific observation and experimentation, and listening and reading skills. It also enables his/her to widen quantitative and evaluative knowledge. In addition, general learning enables him to develop health and communication skills, and others. Therefore, general learning all-important factors that affect every aspect of the human race (Schneider, 2013). Specialist advocators claim that general learning makes a student learn nothing. The claim that a student would not understand anything if exposed to many issues. However, it is advisable to student to be exposed to multiple things, as it would widen his /her view. He/she is thus better than a student who specialized. It is possible to offer multiple disciples to a student. For example, in case 13 subject chosen from the above-mentioned lists are allocated three hours each for a year, the total would be 39 hours excluding the usually 60 hours of Bachelor of Arts. Again, depending to the exposure level of the student to a particular unit, the lesson time of the subject can be increased or reduced. However, disciplines like history and social sciences cover much ground and thus ought to be allocated more time. A well-prepared student would acquire large scope of knowledge properly and automatically. Elementary Courses Elementary courses do not give a student perspectives or essentials. Most of are not prepared well. Some faculties consider elementary courses as a first step to specialization as a student get glimpse and essentials features of the course or a discipline. However, this view lacks interest in beginners. It represents laziness and an inexistence of general conspicuous characters of specialization champion. Nothing strikes youth as he/she find perspectives and vistas as he/she works through tough undergrowth. Allowing finding his/her way, would influence to develop special interests that are positive and good for future specialization. However, most students have no thought of becoming specialists. The use of elementary is a thus basic mistake. There are some elementary courses loosely constructed. A student can thus not get into essentials due to the inexistence of influence on him/her to determine essentials. Every department ought to determine its essentials for real actions. Departmental schedules and courses are jumbled up with bric-a-brac, curios, and antiques whose key function is to collect dust and obstruct movement. They need to be cleared away to an irreducible minimum. For instance, he/she can be liberally educated person if he/she has read “Paradise Lost,” or “Hamlet,” and not the “Castle of Otranto.” A student is not biologically liberally educated if he/she can dissect several frogs, but lacks the knowledge of Darwinism. The elementary course should explain clear characteristics of the realm of living and learn of his/her subject. Information Course Professors ought to start with elementary information. Historical research is easier if a student knows what the actor did before a teacher force him/her to understand why they acted in a particular manner. It is a fact, which is primordial and on which mental activities spend themselves. Many programs in economics do not succeed because students have no information of the economic facts. A beginner requires a set of information whether he/she will specialize on a particular course or not. A professor ought to classify and interpret information accordingly. He/she should rely on acceptable theories of the unit he/she is teaching. The theory-end has to have key dogmatic and overlooking exceptions for a time, as students are susceptible to blind following. Most teachers do not relate their B.A. courses to real life issues. In the case it is not done, the study becomes an earthly specter or a teacher becomes a misfit or is mistaken. Information calculated and illustrated to fit to previously known, tangible facts or previously unknown facts that relate with the topic. Connection of a topic to the real subject enables student to develop more understanding of the topic. The college course ought to stir interest of all students. The student should have an understanding of student-nature. He/she should also understand his/her materials and understand essentials in them. Rising Fees About eight of the top ten and over half of top 100 Universities are American in the global rankings. The scientific contribution of American Institutions is unequaled. American institutions produce world’s scientific papers and Nobel Laureates. In addition, university/college graduates earn better than those without degrees do. However, rising fees and growing student debts, combined with shrinking educational and financial returns, are undermining the view that university education is a good investment. Concerns arise from things like high levels of debts for universities and students, reducing quality of graduates and sharp increases in fees. The cost of university/college education per student has increased significantly since 1983. The cost of university/college education increased from 23 percent to 38 percent median yearly earnings in 2010. Consequently, the last 15 years has seen a doubling of debt per student. Two-third of university/college students takes out loans. In 2011, bachelor’s degrees graduates had an average of 26,000 U.S dollars in debt. Most students now have about 57% chance to complete their courses. Despite the increase in earnings, universities/colleges have done little to improve education. They only spend much on competition in league tables, which mostly rank everything else except the hard-to-measure quality of graduates. Universities/colleges are spending more on support and administration services. Therefore, the high cost of university education combined with the lack of improvements on the courses offered, have lowered the perception of the high standard of university/college education. Conclusion B.A is cheapened in America. There are several reasons pointing to this. First is the lack verification in B.A as in other disciplines like engineering or nursing. Secondly is the lack of quality teachers. Thirdly is the students’ complaint. B.A and the American society have not given students something to expect. They do not know what they are to do after the end of the program. The fourth reason is the existence of liberal education. Liberal education allows students to make decisions regarding the disciplines they are going to take. Students are inexperienced. Therefore, experienced and professionals should make the decisions regarding the discipline. The fifth reason is the use of specialization. Specialization narrows the scope for the study by a student. Instead, of specialization, generalize learning ought to be used. The sixth reason is the use of elementary courses that do not provide clear irreducible minimum. Seven, the high-rise university fees combined with low levels of education, have lowered people’s perception of universities/colleges. Lastly are the manner information use and the lack of courage for implementation of changes. B.A information needs to be organized. Again, the information ought to be related with real issues in the world. These reasons thus prove that B.A degree has been, cheaper in America. Works Cited Jonaitis, L.A. "Basic Writing in America: the History of Nine College Programs." Research and Teaching in Developmental Education. 27.2 (2011): 79-81. Print. Keller, A.G. “The B.A Degree in America.” The Scientific Monthly. 6(2) (Feb., 1918): 142-156.Print. McMillan, Charles, and Eric Baxter. "Higher Education in Ontario: the Need for Research Universities." Canadian Public Administration. 54.3 (2011): 437-453. Print. Osterman, Paul. "Job Training in America: Making Sense of the System." Work and Occupations. 38.4 (2011): 500-507. Print. Schneider, Claudia. "Researching Transnationalisation and Higher Education in the Context of Social Mechanisms." Journal of Contemporary European Studies. 21.4 (2013). Print. Read More