Literature Post #5

2.Jamshidi, Laleh1, laleh.jamshidi@yahoo.com, et al. "Developmental Patterns Of Privatization In Higher Education: A Comparative Study." Higher Education 64.6 (2012): 789-803. Education Full Text (H.W. Wilson). Web. 21 Oct. 2014.

3. Her discusses how privatization has crept into high education. She points out that privatization is causing universites to look at students not as learners but as costumers. She also compares the benefits of higher education for both the public and private or individual.
4. She is a researcher at Semnan University, Faculty of Management and Economics, Iran, Higher Education. 
5. privatization- this is the concept that a private industry or one not operated by the government is allowed to provide students and even universities with loans so that they may achieve goals. In this case students are allowed to attend college despite its high and rising price. Students as a result collect personal debt which allows companies and universities to make money and for the government to not risk as much money on each student's education.
costumer (public vs private)- this refers to the growing trend that universities look at students in economic instead of political terms which has resulted in schools becoming increasingly streamlined in order to maximize profits and to raise tuition in order to make more money. The debate on whether the government should take a role in this is based in does higher education only benefit the individual so  it should be an individual's issue or does it effect the community therefore the government should do more than just encourage people to attend school
6. "The labels ‘‘public’’ and ‘‘private’’ most often refer to the founding bodies or funding
sources of an institution. The terms are regularly used to infer the groups or sectors that
benefit from the institutions’ services. However, studies show that public as well as private
higher education can contribute to both public and private good...should accomplish the main missions of higher education including education, research and providing services to community" (Jamshidi 791-792)
"Privatization in higher education refers to the process in which schools and universities
(both public and private) act according to characteristics and norms of the private sector,
operate in a business-like and market-oriented manner, respond to consumer and customers’
expectations and show more reliance on private funding instead of public funding.
In this process, the students are considered as customers and education is considered as a
product with the most important elements of funding, competing institutions, labor market
conditions, increasing income, and active marketing" (Jamshidi 792)
"In the 1980s, structural modification programs included policies to decrease both the
role of the state in development and the level of fiscal scarcity. These policies had an
impact on the public sector in general and on publicly funded education, in particular. In
addition, some of the measures preferred the diversion of public resources from education
to the productive sectors and the diversion of public investment from the higher to the
lower levels of education." (Jamshidi 793)
7. This is going to be used to justify and support the theory of privatization as part of my argument and how it is creating a bubble/ enslaved society to colleges which are more interested in "making out like bandits" than carrying about the education and future succes of their students/ the value of their degree

Literature Review #4

3.Breinig, Helmbrecht, Jürgen Gebhardt, and Berndt Ostendorf. German and American Higher Education: Educational Philosophies and Political Systems. Münster: Lit, 2001. Print.

2.. This book explains the German education system in comparison to the American system. The part that I read discusses the German system as one which a multi-tiered education system which is able to prevent too many students from going to college or following vocational education. In this manner the system is prepared for surges in students interested in pursuing higher education because it is able to create a sustainable number of graduates as to prevent the creation of an education bubble or a devalued degree. Additionally, education is free in Germany, thus preventing privatization and steep tuition prices from coming into being.
4, Although no particular sources was found cataloging Breinig's accomplishments. My searches revealed that he has been writing for a long time about the German education system and that he works for a university in Bavaria. He has also been writing about the American system and comparing it to Germany's since the early 80s.
5. multi-tiered- this means that the German system is divided based on academics which will result in the type of work that an individual will most likely be doing. This means that students are separated based on ability into vocational and collegiate tracks which allows students to become really well prepared for their future education/job. Students have state sponsored choices outside of college which can breed success for the individual and still make them a contributing part of the state.
national values-  these are the values which the German education system upholds as a result of national sentiment. This means that the system is a result of the community recognizing that this tracked system will ultimately create what is best for the nation.
6. "...resource scarcity have launched new initiatives in all industrialized countries. They agree on broad goals, but outcomes remain strongly influenced by national values and structures. " (Breinig 56)
"...federal government's continued influence through seed money and incentive-based grants." (Breinig 58) - how the gov. staying in control of higher education has kept rate down
"...emphasis on specialized apprenticeship-based vocational training (the dual system) contributes to the lower enrollment of students in the tertiary sector." (Breinig 60) - many tracks, prevents college overload
"Higher education institutions not only provide individual benefits to students but are crucial for regional ecnoomic development" (Breinig 61) education is good for the community
7. This will be used to show the power of an imagined community. It will also highlight a method that the USA may utilize in order to solve this educational bubble before it bursts. This system creates sustainability instead of short-term-minded individuals.

Literature Review #3

2. Reynolds, Glenn Harlan (2012-06-26). The Higher Education Bubble (Encounter Broadside) (Kindle Location). Encounter Books. Kindle Edition.

3. It discusses the formation of a higher education bubble based on the modal of the housing bubble. Reynolds uses the housing bubble to explain that the educational bubble will follow a similar discourse to the housing bubble in that it will eventually burst causing the economy or this case education to crash. The price of higher education is rising too rapidly for people to afford/justify the massive debt that they are assuming for the jobs that degrees from universities are able to land people. The job market cannot handle so many college graduates and as a result jobs are paying less. Eventually, people are going to cease their acceptance of this system, large enrollment due to college for all, and the market will crash. 

4. Glenn Reynolds- Law Professor at the University of Tennessee, he has published several books on education, his expertise comes from being able to analyze data to show trends that all point to the theory that their is an educational bubble. 

5. bubble- debt, rising tuition, stigma of going to college, saturated job market, speculation, devaluating degrees and so are creating around higher education

unnatural- the fact that the nation would not have produced on its own so many college students, this means that more people are going to college than the nation is prepared to handle/ be able to integrate into the country after graduation 

6. “Total student-loan debt in America has passed the trillion-dollar mark, more than total credit-card debt and more than total auto-loan debt.” (Reynolds Kindle 88-89)

 “…the amount families pay for college has skyrocketed 439 percent since 1982…. Normal supply and demand can’t begin to explain cost increases of this magnitude” (Reynolds Kindle 25-26)

“By the 1970s, the infrastructure was there for more college students than the population was ready to produce on its own. “ (Reynolds (Kindle Locations 100-101))

7. He is going to provide verbage to the impending crisis which is being created by a high demand for a college degree as the result of the college for all movement which has created an unnaturally high demand for college degrees which has allowed colleges to raise prices despite seemingly less federal funding which causes students to take out increasing larger loans which increasingly cannot be justified by the job market and the value of the degree itself (which has decreased) 

Literature Review #2

2. This book discusses in detail the concept of an imagined community. It defines it as a great form of nationalism in which people feel very connected to one another through many common traits such as tradition, ethnicity, religion etc. This results in a group of people looking out for one another instead of a bunch of individuals living together, each operating for their own benefit. The community sees itself as something divine/ greater than the individual.
3.Anderson, Benedict R. O'G. Imagined Communities: Reflections on the Origin and Spread of Nationalism. London: Verso, 1991. Print.

4. He is a professor at Cornell University who focuses on International Studies, Government in Eastern Asia, and in general a historian.
5.nationalism- this concept that people are united by ancestral experiences which form them into a community, this theory comes into existence as a result of the decline of religion and monarchism which is the result of increasingly industrialized and enlightened societies needing to create some sort of continuity among their populace, especially in growing imperial nations, it allows people to work for the betterment of the state so that it can out compete other states
community- it is what is formed when people feel like they know other people who they have never met because of the supposed common bonds which the two of them share, this creates a basic system of these two people wanting to work together to ensure both of their successes
6. "Nor is this tendency confined to the socialist world" (Anderson 3)
Nationalism is, "...cultural artifact of a particular kind... command such profound emotional legitimacy.... a variety of political and ideological constellations." (Anderson 4)
'...belonging within a kinship" (Anderson 5)
7. This book will be used to show that the decline of the concept of imagined community in the United States during the 70s, especially the 80s caused privatization to become an ever increasing part of the funding process of higher education. Americans no longer saw higher education as something good for the community. It served to only help individuals. Thus, the people demanded that they not pay for other people to go to college. Therefore, federal funding during, especially conservative eras, was cut towards higher education. Paying for school and accumulated debt is the responsibility of the individual and a cost of getting ahead, not that of the community's.

Literature Review #1

2. Selingo, Jeffrey J. College (un)bound: The Future of Higher Education and What It Means for Students. New York: New Harvest Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2013. Print.

3. This book discusses the worth of obtaining a college degree. Selingo offers insight into the devaluation of college degrees as a result of so many people attending college. He also suggests that students begin to search for alternative routes besides going to a traditional college in order to get a degree that it either more applicable to their future job or simply a degree that is cheaper. He discusses  vocation learning and online degrees as a result. Finally, he wonders and proposes what the future of education will be like in the United States. 

4. Qualifications: He has sold two best-selling books on this subject and he is a well known columnist and public speaker. His work's are acclaimed from people and groups ranging from the New York Times to the President of Cornell University. http://www.jeffselingo.com/about/

5. college for all- a phrase which means that everyone should go to college, regardless if they are financially or academically prepared/ suitable for college 

vocational education- an example of an alternative route to college which will allow partakers to gain real job experience in a field that they are going to be working in which allows them to be several years ahead in experience of college graduates, additionally, this method is less expensive and starts paying the student

6. "'Instead of subsidizing college for all, what if we created a national service program to take some unruly eighteen-year-olds and get real stuff done?"' (Selingo 166) -alternative roots to college or a way to prepare students before going to college to help them realize the importance of college

"'I always thought that the right thing to do was pursue a four year degree- there definately was pressure to do that... had no interest in whatever degree I was getting at Radford. Automotive technology was my best bet."' (Selingo 125)

"Right now, colleges have a corner on the credential market, and a credential is the ticket to most good jobs. That's why colleges can charge whatever they want for that piece of paper." (Selingo 68)

7. In short, these quotes illustrate the fact that college tuition rates are rising because of the ideology that one has to go to college in order to be successful. Therefore, as government funding decreases and tuition rate rise so too must privatization grow. These quotes also show the importance of becoming educated in a field that interests the student and is applicable to the job that they are going to be doing. There is no sense in paying for a degree that you do not like, cannot use, and accruing massive debt. Selingo offers alternative ideas to college that would be more prevalent if we this country saw education as more of a communal issue. He highlights votechs and programs designed to help students gain perspective. Both of which prepare students for their future and help them determine if they really need or should go to college. 

Blog Post #9

My argument is that death of imagined community in the USA has caused privatization to come into an ever increasing state of being which coupled with the college for all movement has resulted in colleges raising tuition at astronomical rates due to the high demand for an education, which has resulted in devaluing degrees and an educational bubble. This part of my argument is most applicable to the counter argument posed by President Obama in his State of the Union Address as recorded in Selingo's College (Un)Bound on page 70. The president blames the above issue on institutions taking advantage of federal funds and the states' lack of control over higher education in order to create these high tuition rates. He decides that college for all is not the problem, the schools are. He then ends this quote by threatening to cut all funding to schools which are unable to control themselves, in order to reduced tuition. In this way the president is trying to create a community which demands that one part of the community not exploit the other for its own gain.  Ultimately, the president sees the problem as the result of individualism but he blames privatization/rising tuition on schools which are making it impossible for the government to adequately fund them, instead of on an outdated ideology and a specifically a shattered community.

Selingo, Jeffrey J. College (un)bound: The Future of Higher Education and What It Means for Students. New York: New Harvest Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2013. Print. 

Blog Post #8

I decided to interview my old german friend, Ariane Berger who lives in Germany and who is currently attending the Goethe-Universitaet Frankfurt am Main. Although she is not an academic source. She does have the keen insight that my paper requires in terms of imagined community and the multi-tiered system as a result. She unlike an American professor can speak from experience rather than theory on the aforementioned subjects. The questions and answer are shortened because the interview was conducted in German and notes were kept simple:
- Explain the goal of the German system?
         different exams decide which tracks students shall go on, "Someone needs to invent the machine, someone needs to repair the machine, and someone needs to operate the machine." which is particularly interesting to/ useful for my case because it speaks exactly to my point of the ability of the multi-tiered German system to produce people who are capable of serving the needs of the community rather than their individual needs
- How does Germany prevent privatization? How does not having to pay tuition make people feel?
         privatization is prevented by high tax rates which help to pay for college, thus making it free which relieves a lot of stress because debt is not building up on students while they are in college which allows them to better focus on school
- How would you compare the German system to the American system of higher education?
        Essentially, she said that the German system is based in rationality while the American system is based in craziness. She wanted to know why colleges here are so expensive and how the government could let this happen?
- Can you speak to the quality of education for students?
 In summary, a person gets an education which is equal to the type of work that person is going to, most likely, be spending their life preforming. She also noted that this system tends to cause inequality because it is very difficult for people to rise to a higher track but it is easier to go down a track. She also fears that this system can cause those with lesser primary and secondary schooling to become unfairly trapped or forced to pursue a lower education track, thus preventing them from earning the degree they deserve. This is an interesting counterpoint to my argument. It is a negative. However, this negative also exists in the United States, although not as formally as in Germany. (See Intro. to Education curriculum)