Education? Compare and Contrast: What

¶ … education?

Compare and contrast: What makes a college good?

The college admissions process can be viewed in either a data-driven or a subjective and impressionistic fashion. The question of what is the 'best' college can revolve around assessing hard cold facts as a way of justifying the time and expense of seeking a university education, or it can be based upon more emotional questions of what is the best social 'fit' of a college for a student. Nicholas Confessore's 2003 article from the Atlantic Monthly examines the college rating 'industry, ' specifically the influence of U.S. News and World Report as a way of asking what makes a college 'good' -- can it be objectively determined or is it entirely dependent upon the needs of the student?

US News and World Report has become a kind of template or touchstone for all subsequent college rating systems. Says Confessore in praise: the magazines America's Best Colleges edition "offers a wealth of factual, specific, and objective information about more than 1,400 colleges and universities -- a nice departure from the bland, cheery, and vaguely propagandistic brochures and videos that most of those institutions send out through the mail" (Confessore 2003). High schoolers seek out college guidebooks as a way of finding certainty in an uncertain process. Because colleges know the weight that is attached to such ratings guides, the universities often try to shape their admissions policies to secure better ratings, as well as strive to fulfill their traditional mission of providing a good education to students. U.S. News ranks colleges based upon peer assessment, retention, faculty resources, student selectivity, per-student spending; and the alumni-giving rate. However, critics contend that this method of rating does not take sufficient consideration of good teaching, special programs that might be of interest to specific students, and subjective measures of student happiness. Ratings guides encourage colleges to emphasize the items that are 'rated' by the magazines rather than other aspects of the university experience that might convey more value to students.

Students should look behind the guides, critics contend, but they often do not. The reason for this, says Fallows (et al. 2003) in his introduction to Confessore's piece in the same edition of the Atlantic Monthly, is because happiness, and even preparation for the working world are no longer the primary motivating factors behind the game of college admissions, for many students and their parents: "Status competition is natural to people, and exclusive affiliations have always been valued for their sheer exclusivity. Otherwise there would be no such concept as the a-list. The mystery in college admissions is how one factor in choosing a desirable college -- the appeal of selective schools simply because they are hard to get into -- became the factor for an influential minority of ambitious Americans" (Fallows 2003). Not only are college ratings more important, but the social status of going to a highly-rated school has more added social cache for a wider variety of demographic groups. While the Ivy League schools always had a great deal of importance for their 'name' amongst a certain social set, the explosion of the college ratings industry has meant that students on virtually ever 'level' of college admissions has an obsession with rising above the competition.

Fallows takes a more light-hearted and humorous attitude towards the social obsessions of parents than does Confessore's more analytical article. "The counselors and admissions officers we interviewed said time and again that their collective message to America's parents is 'Calm down!'" he notes (Fallows 2003). But in an increasingly competitive job market, this sentiment of calm has become in scarce supply in 2010. Additionally, as noted by Fallows, the ever-increasing price tag of a private education means that both students and parents alike are haunted by the question of 'is it worth it' -- will the education pay dividends in the future by providing the student with valuable connections as well as with information and enriching experiences? Other than a home, for many students a college education is the most expensive investment they will ever make. And neither Fallows' jovial counsel of 'calm' nor Confessore's analysis of the ratings industry fully tease out the unspoken issue of class -- gaining access to a prestigious school is often seen as the main way an individual can advance into the corridors of power of America because of a personal association with a prestigious school.