French 1 Randy French Professor Christina Wright English 1102 25 February 2011 The Declining by Degrees documentary produced by PBS highlighted various aspects of the American higher education system. The documentary covered regional, research, private and community college institutions, which are prevalent higher education systems all over the United States of America. The producers of Declining by Degrees documented the college lives of regular full time students, part time students and full time students who worked to cater for themselves and their college expenses. Also, they allowed viewers to step in the shoes of a broad range of faculty and university presidents. So with regards to the title and substantial evidence from the documentary, the director s position is that higher education in the United States is sloping downward due to many factors such as money, integrity and hard work, stemming from all levels: federal, state, administrators, faculty and students. The documentary aimed to alarm the American people, especially the government, about the failure of higher education in the United States. The producers highlighted the direct correlation between the decline in government spending on higher education and the financial burden it laid on students with regards to costs of attendance. Also, with regards to faculty, the film revealed the informal retain, retain policy at the University of Western Kentucky (WKU). Also, the documentary exposed how students in America are falling short of reaching full potential due to procrastination, lazing about, and taking advantage of the unspoken contract between students and faculty, as Robin, the student from the University of Arizona epitomized.
French 2 Firstly, the film makers of Declining by Degrees showed through real life examples how our government s reduced spending on higher education has increased the cost of pursuing higher education in America. Adrianna, from Denver for instance was a hardworking student forced to settle for a relatively less expensive community college education because neither the funds her parents could donate nor the Pell Grant Aid offered by the government were enough to afford her education at the prestigious New York University. The documentary mentioned how the G.I bill in the past and other government aid was used to increase college enrolment in the past. They also referenced the failure of the PACT which is on unspoken social contract in America. It is the assumption that the country agrees to pay for higher education. Nonetheless in yet another sympathetic example, the documentary took as thorough the daily life of Ceylon, a full time worker and college student. Ceylon s work shift combined with her class schedule leaves her with little or no sleep time. Prospects of Ceylon graduating on such a hectic schedule were really very slim. In addition, Luis Rubio, a freshman student at Valdosta State University I was privileged to interview mentioned he had to pay for majority of his first semester expenses by spending the summer harvesting corn on a field for a weekly wage. He also added that since this job was unavailable over winter break he had to settle for more loans which our federal and private banks are ever ready to loan out. On the other hand, financial woes are not a cry of only students in America s higher education system. Teaching faculty in America s colleges and universities are seriously under paid compared to most athletic staff, especially basketball and football coaches. In an interview, Dr. Kurtzner at the University of Arizona told how under paid she felt and for that reason she did not go the extra step to help students who need it. Whereas hundreds of thousands of dollars are spent on basketball, softball, football etc coaches, a comparatively lesser amount goes
French 3 towards our higher education educators. Additionally, the President of the Denver Community College told how community colleges are often victims of budget cuts because legislators view education as a sector capable of raising funds on its own. She added that she often had to make cuts to teaching and non-teaching staff and the direct impact of this was the crowding of class rooms which lead to inefficiency which in turn contributed to the decline in higher education in the US. To continue, the film makers also highlighted America s falling standards in higher education through exposing the unfortunate deterioration in academic integrity amongst faculty and students. In an interview with one Professor at WKU, the film exposed the informal retention, retention policy. This policy implied grade inflation of students so that universities could maintain and boost the endowment it received. This in turn helped university presidents and faculty maintain their jobs. However the blame on the loss of integrity was not restricted to faculty only. Students at the University of Arizona (UA) took advantage of the unspoken contract between teaching faculty and students. This is the informally acknowledged agreement that students know professors would curb grades eventually so the need to study extra and perform exceptionally was mostly irrelevant. Most students were satisfied and content with their just okay performances although some mentioned they would love to be challenged. This unspoken contract caused many students to lazy about just like Robin the business administration major at UA exemplified. He called it working the system. Additionally, the Declining by Degrees documentary exposed problems pertaining to faculty and student disengagement. In one example at the University of Arizona, Keith who eventually dropped out and opened a bar on campus told how lost he felt in the gigantic UA campus. He felt lost academically because the class sizes were huge and nearly all classes were
French 4 lecture style with relatively no contact with Professors during lectures. The directors investigated deeper into this problem by sitting through most lectures at UA and they found that out of quite a number of lectures they attended only one professor cared to pause during lessons to get feedback from students. Most professors just kept talking and flipping through slides. However, after asking around the campus of Valdosta State University where most classes are regular sized, Paulo a sophomore student complained about how large his science classes were, especially biology. He admitted that even though he was not proud of himself, he could often absent himself without being penalized because roll calls were not conducted due to the largeness of the class. Although I agree with the film makers of Declining by Degrees that higher education is in fact sloping downward in the US, I see it as an inevitable result of the rise of capitalism. Colleges which are ideally supposed to offer humanity a chance to better themselves and society, have been influenced by ideas of capitalism and given in to big business with respects to athletics. As highlighted in the film the wide gap in terms of the difference in salaries of athletic staff versus teaching staff, goes to prove the point that higher education has fallen victim to capitalistic ideals. In addition our government s reduced spending on higher education coupled with rising costs in tuition and other expenses caused many like Ceylon to comprise a sizeable portion of America s dropout population. This is a rather sad reality because these people desire a college education but simply cannot afford it and the government s aid does not match up rising costs. I personally have to settle for student loans to cover the difference after Hope Scholarship and the governments Pell Grant. I do not see much hope in a nation where more than half of its future professional working force is already beleaguered with debt.
French 5 To conclude the declining by degrees documentary produced by PBS highlighted the falling standards and value in higher education in the United States through interviews and studies varying from the large research campus of the University of Arizona, to the relatively smaller Western Kentucky University, and then to the Denver Community College. The film took viewers through the lives and experiences of some faculty and students. They showed higher education was in decline due to factors that involved money, the diminishing standards of academic integrity and disengagement between students and faculty of larger universities. The film showed how increasingly costly pursuing a college education had become due to the failing PACT, which is a social contract assumption that the nation agreed to pay for higher education. They showed how Ceylon, a student who worked to afford her education and personal expenses had to make do with an almost impossible schedule that left her with little rest and how she stood a very slim chance of graduating. Also highlighted was the unspoken contract between faculty and students. This entailed an unspoken deal that students know professors will eventually inflate grades for purposes associated to the informal retain, retain policy, that was directly connected to which faculty kept their position. Finally, the film exposed how large universities like University of Arizona are failing to reach out to its students. The large lecture style classes at the University of Arizona caused Keith to dropout and he now runs a bar on the university campus.
French 6 Work cited page. Declining By Degrees. Dir. PBS. 2005. DVD. Paulo. Personal interview. 18 Feb.2011. Rubio, Luis. Personal interview. 18 Feb. 2011.