The Relationship Between Higher Education and Society

Attending public schools as a child, I remember learning the basic skills on how to add and subtract, read, and write. These basic skills are necessary in order to function in our society and work force in the United States. As we all know each child learns differently, some learn faster than others and some slower than others. Our public schools have become overcrowded and we do not have enough teachers to fit the needs of each student. Some students get left behind and are not learning the skills needed to move on to the next level. What these students are not learning they can learn in higher education such as a college or university. In this report, I would like to express the importance of a higher education. I will use the works of John Henry Newman, Jon Spayde and Mike Rose, all three writers believe in having an educated society. Our students’ needs are changing, there are a growing number of immigrants with children coming to the United States from all over the world. They bring with them the language and culture of their country. The age in which they arrive to the United States determines how well they learn English and what skills they will need to acquire to become productive in our society. The task of teaching our children the basic skills is becoming harder and harder each day, making it harder for our education system to achieve their goals. There are a high number of students graduating from high school who does not have the skills needed to meet the needs of the work force in our society. A higher level of learning is needed to make our society literate.

The relationship between college and university are influential in our society. To have an educated society in the United States brings a safe and peaceful environment to live in. Society is defined as "a group of people with a common culture or a way of life. A group of people who unite to share a common interest" (Holt, Rinehart and Winston 678). An educated society also avoids social problems such as poverty, gangs, drugs and health related sickness. Most of all, having an educated society helps our country’s economy. For example, a citizen that acquires a college degree earns respect and can get a good job that pays well. If these citizens do not have proper educations they might have to work in a job they are not happy with and get low salaries. In our society education matters, the higher educated a person is the higher their income.

John Henry Newman believes that an educated person is a happy person. Mr. Newman believed education is that of training good members of society. "Its art in the art of social life, and its end in fitness for the world" (Newman 48). By educating our society as Newman stated, we could bring about an open minded citizens that work in their community and this helps put a stop on individualism. For example, there is a lot of gang related activities in the City of Los Angeles. I believe one of the problems is that our young people do not have anything to do. So the only choice they have is to turn to the streets. There they are able to get drugs and learn the way of the streets. This means they can only get themselves into trouble. There are so many after school programs kids and young people can participate in, such as girl scouts and boy scouts which have positive affects on young people. However, there are no volunteers to give up a little time to help others. This is why I believe we have social problems such as drugs and gangs in our cities.

Our society needs to become culturally sensitive. In the recent years the population in the United States has increased in the numbers of immigrants coming from all over the world. These immigrants must learn English in order to work and participate in our society. Their children attend public schools in order to learn the language and the skills they need. As I stated before each students learns in different ways. Some of these students need one on one attention that will be sensitive to their needs. These students also need to keep in touch with there own culture because it identifies who they are. They also need to learn about there new home and the history and culture the Untied States. For example, I myself am a child of immigrants. Growing up was confusing in regards to learning abouttwo cultures with most of the focus on becoming an American. I was lucky I was able to learn the basic skills I needed to make it into college. When I reached college, my academic life began to change. In college I learned to write an essay, and open my mind to new ideas. It was not until I attended university that I learned about a class called Chicano Studies. In this class I learned about Mexican American History for the first time. I remembered feeling angry because our public school system never gave us a lesson on Latino History. I felt lied too and betrayed because the schools kept me in the dark. I felt that through the university I learned to open my mind to global issues along with the true American history. I believe our public school system needs to change and become culturally sensitive, but until then attending a higher education can help a person learn about themselves and the world around them. Jon Spayde illiterates in his argument about American education by stating, "The aim of slow knowledge is resilience, harmony, and the preservation of long-standing patterns that give our lives aesthetic, spiritual, and social meaning" and that " Culturally, we just are slow learners" (Spayde 61). Mr. Spayed believed that school helps, but it is just a beginning to becoming educated and prepared. He also argued that first hand experience helps to educate a person. He explains "an education carpentered out of the best combination we can make of school, salon, reading, online exploration, walking the streets, hiking in the woods, museums, poetry classes at the Y, and friendship may be the education of all" (Spayde 63). I do agree with Mr. Spayde’s ideas in what it means to be educated but it is important to point out that all these experiences need to be combined with facts, research and additional skills learned in a higher level of learning. To have an educated society is to have an open mind and learn as much as we can about other cultures and ideas to make our society knowledgeable and enriched. Mike Rose, an Italian immigrant, is a great example and he shares his own experiences in expressing his ideas of a university. He gives us examples in his writings of having an American culture and an immigrates culture. Mr. Rose believes " A truly democratic vision of knowledge and social structure would honor this complexity. The vision might not be soothing, but it would provide guidance as to how to live and teach in a country made up of many cultural traditions" (Rose 117). Mr. Rose believed in changing our public school systems curriculum to meet the needs of a changing population in the United States.

In closing, the relationship between college and university are influential in our society. To have an educated society is to have a happy environment to live in. To become educated requires a combination of attending school to learn basic skills such as reading and writing and learning from one’s experiences and developing street smarts. What is also necessary is attending a higher level of learning such as college or university in order to learn about one’s own history and facts on the world. Our society is changing and we need to make changes on our form of teaching to meet the needs of our students in order to make them good members of our society. By learning as much as we can from different cultures and traditions can help us become an open minded and a literate society.

Holt, Rinehart, and Winston. Basic Dictionary of American English. New York: Lexicon, 1992.

John Henry Newman. "The Idea of a University." The Presence of Others Voices and Images That Calls for Response. Lunsford and Ruszkiewicz. New York: Bedford St.Martin’s, 2000

Jon Spayde. "Learning in the Key of Life." The Presence of Others Voices and Images That Calls for Response. Lunsford and Ruszkiewicz. New York: Bedford St.Martin’s, 2000

Mike Rose. "Lives on the Boundary." The Presence of Others Voices and Images That Calls for Response. Lunsford and Ruszkiewicz. New York: Bedford St.Martin’s, 2000