Arthur C. Brooks ("My Valuable, Cheap College Degree," Op-Ed, Feb. 1) suggests that in place of traditional classroom degrees we substitute $10,000 degrees (the so-called 10K-B.A.) delivered remotely, so as to address rising costs of public tuition. He does not suggest that the 10K-B.A. would be equivalent to the traditional education one gets at a public college or university.
Thus, he suggests solving the moral problem of providing access to those who can't afford a traditional degree by giving them less of an education for less money.
Why has tuition at state institutions gone up? Collectively, states spend 10.8 percent less on higher education than before the recession. Furthermore, financing in 2011 was down 40.2 percent from 1980.
A better solution to the problem of access is for states and citizens to reinvest in public higher education, so that a quality degree can be delivered at a reasonable cost to students and their families.
KIRK LUDWIG
Bloomington, Ind., Feb. 2, 2013
The writer is a professor of philosophy at Indiana University.
To the Editor:
The headline "My Valuable, Cheap College Degree" implies that a college degree costing $10,000 is equivalent to a traditional one costing many times that amount because both award the same bachelor's degree, the assumption being that the object of the exercise is the degree, not an education. Such an equivalency is false.
No one would argue that a BMW and a Ford Focus are equivalent, although both are cars. And I would argue that a bachelor's degree from Stanford is worth more than one from an online school, particularly if the standard is what was learned, not the degree granted.
Robert M. Hutchins, a onetime chancellor of the University of Chicago, reportedly once said we should award the B.A. at birth so that only those who want to learn will attend college. I agree.
BRUCE W. JOHNSON
Hyannis Port, Mass., Feb. 1, 2013
To the Editor:
Arthur C. Brooks extols the virtues of an online education, which for him proved to be a much cheaper and apparently more successful educational endeavor than the "unedifying year in college" he spent in a traditional classroom.
I suspect that some of Mr. Brooks's success when he returned to school in his late 20s may be attributed to another factor: he had spent 10 years living life, becoming a musician and traveling abroad. These experiences probably taught him more than college courses ever could, and enabled him to return to his studies with one critical ingredient for college success: the desire to learn.
As Mr. Brooks himself put it, "I was ready."
CATHY BERNARD
New York, Feb. 1, 2013
The writer is an associate professor of English at the New York Institute of Technology.
To the Editor:
You can get a good education at a bad school and a bad education at a good school. Education is what you make it. My 1970 degree from Villanova was a highlight of my life and a wonderful experience.
In today's world, a degree requires a cost-benefit assessment, and if you do not have an online component, you have missed some modern means to learn and communicate.
PHIL LUNNEY
Roswell, Ga., Feb. 2, 2013
To the Editor:
With luck, the irony was not lost on Arthur C. Brooks: the value he says came from his thrifty 10K degree — his master's, doctorate, professorship and even current job (president of the American Enterprise Institute) — was made possible entirely from traditional educational institutions.
JOHN SORRELL
New York, Feb. 1, 2013
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