College Conspiracy

America is the land of opportunities. Everyone around the world believes this, that is why The United States is so multicultural; people from all over the world come to live the American Dream. But our future is not going to be how it has been in the past, even our present is rapidly changing. Our formal education starts as early as age four, from that moment we are told that if we want to be realistic education will be our only path to success. True most people with a formal education live a more comfortable life style, but when analyzing this theory there is many aspects that can be questioned. For example in the 70's a college student could afford to pay for their education without any loans or financial support from others, they were able to afford a car and possibly have enough to live on their own, all this was done with a part time job. Now a part time is barley enough for gas, food, and books. Most students receive financial aid from the government or family. Inflation has changed our economy so drastically that former students were able to make a living, now students are lucky if they can make a surviving. Education is essential, but everyday it becomes more clear that the government benefits more than the students. To support this theory there is the simple example of text books; the prices for these texts books are ridiculously high. For my anthropology class this summer the text book required was about 250 dollars, that is a lot of money, but it seems like more when you are only taking the class for six weeks. These books are upgraded every couple years, the text is basically the same, but it is rearranged and some new information is added. This leads to the books having no resale value, if a new edition is coming out. Another example is the fact that college tuition goes up every year, in 2010 the total college tuition debt was at 830 billion, this number rises every year. Lastly, there is other options besides college in which a person can become successful, there is free ways to become educated, but the techniques are never taught in school because that would cause them to lose too many costumers. Students as well as teachers become dependent, and are not free to think or come up with new techniques for teaching, learning and thinking, "Instead of teachers having the freedom to think outside the box, and use creative techniques to prepare their students for the real world; they are forced to be narrow minded and teach with worthless information that will never help their students have successful careers"-The College Conspiracy. I watched this documentary before I stared attending Chabot College, and it really affected my plans and ideas. After watching this I decided I would find alternative methods of education and not go to school, so I missed a year and a half after of school after graduating high school. I finally decided to go to school and take general education classes, and explore new subjects, just in case I do choose an career and to transfer to a university. I do not want to lose any possible opportunities, and even though I do believe our education system needs a lot of improvements, if I find the right career it will be worth it, because if you enjoy your job, you do not work a day in your life.