Hello, all --
Here is the link to the first of the readings for this week -- an editorial from Inside Higher Ed by Jonathan Kaplan and Terry O'Banion arguing for the importance and effectiveness of for-profit colleges.
And here is the link to the second reading -- a fiery editorial by Gail Mellow, the president of LaGuardia Community College in New York -- arguing that for-profit colleges are basically a scam.
And, finally, here is the blog post prompt for this week: Which of these editorials is more persuasive? Do you think that community colleges are capable of handling the increasing pressure put upon them to re-train the middle class for the new economy? If so, what resources do they need to accomplish this objective? Or do you think that for-profit colleges have an important role to play? And, most importantly -- why do you think as you do about this issue?
I think the article by Mellow is much more pursuasive. I do believe she's very extreme and takes the yelling tone, but her article is more "This is what it is, this is what's wrong, and this is what should happen." The first article seems to try to cuddle up to the reader for sympathy. There aren't any facts that directly relate to the article and it just appears to be more of a plea for bucks, without directly saying so. Mellow has several realistic points, followed by stats. For-profit colleges seem to be a scam to me, so I agree with her mostly. If credits don't transfer, why bother to earn them? For-profit credits are as sturdy as a napkin- One time use, then throw it away. The money that the for-profits want should be directed to community colleges or Financial Aid to help minimize debts from, dare I say, REAL colleges.
ReplyDeleteI think that the editorial by Gail Mellow is more persuasive because it clearly argues against for-profit colleges and the other editorial is not as out in the open and doesn't clearly state what it is arguing for so it doesn't seem as persuasive. I think that community colleges are capable of handling the increase pressure put upon them to re-train the middle class for the new economy because there are a lot of community colleges for people to go to and they can all adapt to meet the needs of the community. To accomplish this objective community colleges need to hire more teachers and need to make more space for students by making more classrooms. That way the colleges will be able to handle a large amount of students.
ReplyDeleteNathan
I found the Gail Mellow essay a lot more persuasive because it's more in your face and bold. I would even call it firey. For me essays like that are intriguing and sometimes easier to understand because the thesis statement is more direct. She also had a lot more facts and she wasn't afraid to show them
ReplyDeleteCommunity colleges don't have the resources to increase the graduation rate which also means they are somewhat incapable of re-training the middle-class for the new economy. I say this because in order for CC's to be able to re-train the middle class they need more money and I just don't see that happening in the near future. It all comes down to money. I don't support for-profit colleges because they're getting money that CC's work hard for and deserve way more than them. Money is always the issue.
I think the first essay was a little more persuasive than the second. In the first essay the writer smoothly states his points and why we should consider them. He eases his way into his argument. However, the second essay the writer is very blunt and it becomes a little too much. She had very good points but the way she was expressing them did not appeal to me.
ReplyDeleteThough I don't think either article is that great, I'd say that Gail's is more persuasive. She uses facts and legitimate points to back up her case, whereas the Kaplan/O'Banion article seems more like a sneaky attempt at winning the public's trust.
ReplyDeleteI think we shouldn't jump to any conclusions, but I definitely think that we should be wary of for-profit colleges, just because of the way that it's set up like a business. When people are doing something for money, they tend to not care how many people they scam, lie to, or screw over.
I'm writing my paper over this issue, and I've come across a lot of studies that have caught for-profit institutions doing some really shady stuff. For example, one of them told a hypothetical student that barbers typically made $150,000 - $250,000 dollars a year, even though they usually make less than 43k a year.
You can read more about that here if you're interested: http://www.eric.ed.gov/PDFS/ED511120.pdf
-Tanner (Sorry, it won't let me log into my Google account)
Laaaate post.
ReplyDeleteI'm going with the slight majority (of written responses at least) here.
I think the second essay is a lot more persuasive. The first essay is so simpering that it's creepy. They're talking around the idea. It's taking a long time to say absolutely nothing. Even with the cutest wording, I don't personally dig sugar-plum fairies slowly lowering their meat hooks to the nation's wallet. Still, even if the first came clean, it would be a little hard to actually compare the two fairly.
Kaplan and O'Banion's article is a request, while Mellow's is an attack. All topical facts aside, the skeletons of the essays are two very different things. It is pretty hard to build a request for action/assistance argument that's modest, convincing, and resistant to being smacked in the face (especially when the root is just financial gain). They probably could have continued stepping around their point if they had just worded it more like an urgent thing, and less like "hey bro, you gonna finish that sandwich?"
Alright, I think that's all I've got.
I liked the essay that had all the facts and number and told you how bad for profit colleges are and I liked the dicussion so much I picked to do the same thing because I agree that for profit schools are bad
ReplyDeleteI'm not sure I'm a fan of the for profit colleges. Perfectly stated above of how its ran more like a business and its easy for them to scam people purely based of money and greed. That isn't something I want to support.
ReplyDeleteCollin
I liked the tone of the second essay more than the first. It got me on edge and got me thinking about what she was really saying. I feel as if Community Colleges are up to the challenge but I see them struggling to be successful with the new demands. I think that For-profit schools will have more trouble with the new demands then public community colleges because they rely so much on shareholders and sole numbers of students.
ReplyDeleteEric Less