by Dr. Lisa Dunne
In Miami last week, I had the opportunity to engage in some meaningful conversations with higher education thought leaders in the traditional sector. Though we differed in our socio-political positioning and our institutional missions, there was something we all agreed on:
Education is broken. And…we can fix it.
In an interview with the Higher Education Partnership Network, I was quoted as saying that most institutions of higher learning are not truly student-centric, and I think this is a topic worthy of deeper discussion. If you’re an educator, a parent, or a student, take a glimpse in the looking glass to see if you recognize any of these organizational behaviors on your campus:
Sleep Deprivation and Poor Time Management: The peer-reviewed research is replete with studies on the explosion of sleep deprivation in the youngest generations, and yet, college schedules (like K to 12 schedules) are not built to the child’s brain or the teen brain; they are built for the convenience of adult schedules. Additionally, classroom schedules are fragmented and chaotic, leaving students with little time to escape the college bubble and find meaningful, connected work and purpose outside of the classroom.
Student Indebtedness: Today’s students are facing astronomical student loan indebtedness. Colleges are bloated and overpriced. There are too many middle-men, too many unnecessary expenditures, too many out-of-touch ideologies that are ensnaring our youngest citizens in the web of loan debt. In one of the private colleges where I taught, we had students living in their cars while taking out 140K loans to pay for school—and eating in a cafeteria that charged $15 a meal for lunch. Any parent who has successfully run a family budget knows that neither of these pricing strategies are teaching our students to be financially wise, mature, and stable.
Ineffective and Impersonalized Methodology: Much of higher education today has become a non-relational zone where students listen passively to ego-centric (not student-centric), pedantic tirades. Students are trained to be spectators, not participants. The relational dialogue that once humanized education has been replaced by lectures that exalt illegitimate authority and crush critical thinking.
One-size-fits-none Assessments: Students should not be defined by the summation of their multiple choice exam scores, and yet in most institutions, meaningful, reflective, real-life projects have been replaced by Scantron tests. Why? Because bubbling one out of four possibilities is a more accurate measure of student knowledge? Not a chance. Scantrons take the center stage because they are easier for the professor to grade, not because they more accurately measure student knowledge. Papers, projects, and real-world artifacts are much more effective knowledge measurements, but these demand a more significant investment of time from said educator.
Education versus Indoctrination: In much of American education from K to college, socio-political nonsense has replaced authentic education. Last week, a student in our local community college was telling me about an uproar in her English class when a student sneezed and a classmate dared to say, “God bless you.” The professor snarled and informed the students, “There will be no blessing in this class.” Now, Deuteronomy says that we all get to choose for ourselves blessing or cursing, life or death, and if you as a professor want to select the latter choice in that terrifying dyad, you go right on ahead. But leave your students to make the better choice—blessing and life. Sadly, this type of environment has become the norm. Instead of educating students, faculty and administration have taken it upon themselves to become pseudo-parents of children they didn’t earn, birth, or raise. If you have the distinct honor of being entrusted with educating someone else’s children, you should be supporting their parent’s values, not undermining them. Their kids don’t belong to you. Or to the state.
At the end of the day, many of the systems and structures that are currently propping up higher education are not student-centric. On the contrary, they are built around the lifestyles, the preferences, the schedules, and the socio-political positioning of faculty and administration, not students. Colleges have lost their way as educators, and as a result, the American people have lost their faith in education.
These are some of the many reasons we built CVCU as a debt-free, mentor-driven, faith-based institution. We wanted to create an environment that reflected the highly effective individualized learning methodologies of the homeschool movement. We wanted an environment that honored the voice of the parent and the pastor, and we wanted an environment that taught students how to think and how to speak up for their beliefs through the development of critical thinking skills and benchmarking that flow from the Socratic method.
If you’re an educator, what changes could you begin making to your classroom or your organizational structure to move the needle away from the self-seeking behavior and toward greater student-centricity? How could you become more of a guide on the side and less of a pedantic sage on the stage who is currently filling a pail instead of lighting a flame?
If you’re a parent, ask yourself if you would invest your time, talent, and treasure into an institution that, for all intents and purposes, does not truly have the best interests of your precious student at heart. Do your homework. Ask about the debt. Ask about the assessment methodology. Ask about the educational philosophies. Find out if your “Christian” college can correctly identify the differences between and male and a female.
If you’re a student, ask yourself whether you would (or should) attempt to thrive in an overpriced, non-relational, cookie-cutter academic methodology when God has designed you as a Psalm-139 treasure: a fearfully and wonderfully made reflection of his image.
The fractures, frailties, and fallacies upon which modern education is constructed have created a faulty foundation. It’s time for a change.
The bad news? Education is broken.
The good news? We can fix it.
Learn more about our model or join us on the mission at AcademicRescueMission.com . It’s time to shift the culture of education for the next generation. Our future depends on it.
Dr. Lisa Dunne is an industry disruptor in the field of communication. After teaching at the college level for 20 years, she saw the cumulative dysfunction of modern education and wanted to be part of the solution She has founded 34 homeschool academies and a college built on the homeschool model. She holds a Ph.D. in human development and is currently working on her 7th book, The Bachelor Epidemic: Confronting the Rise of Artificial Attachment, with her colleague Dr. Brian Reiswig. Learn more about her work and speaking availability at DrLisaDunne.com.
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