Higher Education
by Christopher Dodson,
Executive Director, North Dakota Catholic Conference
April 2004
Does our society still value higher education? What about a
liberal arts education? Paradoxically, even as a greater
percentage of Americans attend college than ever before, it
seems that college itself might be less valued in our
society. Consider these trends:
* Faced with a shortfall in childcare assistance funding
for college students, the North Dakota Department of Human
Services opted to eliminate assistance for students in a
four-year degree program, leaving assistance available only
for those in vocational training programs.
* Two months, earlier, the Department eliminated assistance
to graduate students.
* Federal welfare law places barriers, rather than
incentives, to pursuing a college education.
* The North Dakota Board of Higher Education recently
approved an 18% tuition increase for the state’s
colleges and universities.
* The cost of higher education continues to rise
significantly, far outpacing increases in financial aid.
* To complete their education, more students are taking out
larger student loans, potentially creating a well-educated
debtor class.
* The trend is especially true for graduate students,
compelling new professionals to work in high salaried
occupations in large metropolitan areas, rather than
following a calling to social service, church, or
government work.
* Sometimes school college preparatory and school-to-work
programs direct students to look at college education as a
means to a productive job, rather than a time for knowledge
for knowledge’s sake.
* Universities increasingly rely on partnerships with
corporations to fund research initiatives, shifting more of
the university’s efforts to activities that benefit
the corporate economy.
Taken alone, none of these developments necessarily points
to a diminishing respect for higher education. Taken
together, however, they give reason to ask whether higher
education, especially liberal arts education, is valued by
society.
In this populist state, we usually avoid the elitist
attitude that persons with a college degree are somehow
better than those without such a degree. We are not immune,
however, from dismissing higher education, especially the
Humanities, as “unproductive” or
“over-rated.”
Some principles of Catholic social teaching seem applicable
to this discussion. First, education is seen as something
essential to the development of the human person. Since the
human person, not the economy or government, should be the
central focus of all policies, our educational policy
should strive to provide educational opportunities, rather
than just jobs or economic growth.
Second, the learning process, like all work, has a dignity
in itself. It should be respected and promoted. Policies
should not discourage some types of learning over others.
Nor should it steer students to “productive”
careers. Such an approach risks reducing persons to mere
economic units and does not allow room for vocations that
benefit society, develop the person, and please God in
intangible ways.
