Why Higher Education????

Aimee Turner

From the introduction of Christopher H. Lucas’ novel entitles, American Higher Education: A History, I was immediately intrigued by the findings about several aspects of higher education in America. Lucas’ introduction was ingenious in the sense that he was able to critique and praise present higher education through his many mediums of research. His disclaimer of such things as the absence of references to educational history throughout Africa, and the eastern hemisphere due to American education roots in Western Europe proved to me that he was sensitive to all aspects from which the history of American higher education could be referenced. In spite of my immense interest in this account of the history of American higher education, those “seldom” few who are not interested in this topic may as the two questions I will address in my blog today. What is the importance of higher education, and why study the history of higher education?

To understand the importance of higher education, we must address the question of what is higher education. Higher education can be defined as a level of education that is provided by universities, vocational universities, community colleges, liberal arts colleges, institutes of Technology, and other collegiate level institutions that award acdemic degrees and or professional certificates. From this definition, it can be concluded that higher education is a level of education after secondary school that rewards academic degrees or certifications; furthermore, higher education gives introduces the academic concept of specialization in one or two fields. In other words, higher education enables you to receive “higher education” but only in a specific educational field.

Why is higher education important? The truth of the matter is that without higher education, we would be living in a world in which everything was bland and uncreative. How I drew this conclusion was that without people who are “specialists” in all fields across the board, everything we not be examined or created to its full potential because no one extensively researched a specific topic. All they would use to solve a “specific” problem is the general ideas we all learned in secondary school.

As Nafeesah Abdullah of www.associatedcontent.com stated, “Many jobs require a degree and a skill combined because the average high school graduate makes about $40,000-$60,000 less than a college graduate with an advanced degree or professional certification.” With that being said, higher education offers the opportunity for specialization in a field of interest, as well as a bigger paycheck!