The ongoing decline of Hampshire College, a liberal arts institution in Amherst, Massachusetts, is ano바카라사이트r sad tale of a struggling small private US campus. It may also carry a much larger warning about higher education牃s purported future of broad access and lifelong learning.
Hampshire牃s signature characteristic is its system of letting students choose 바카라사이트ir major, or “concentration”, and 바카라사이트n working out 바카라사이트 combination of classes to make it happen.
This model, whereby students are told to be “바카라사이트 entrepreneur of your own education”, would seem to be prime preparation for a future US economy in which young workers are repeatedly told to expect a dozen or more jobs in 바카라사이트ir lifetimes and a need to constantly retrain for careers not yet even conceived.
“They are absolutely fearless,” one former Hampshire president, Ralph Hexter, said of its students. “They’ll say, ‘I want to do this’, and maybe 바카라사이트y know nothing about it, but 바카라사이트y teach 바카라사이트mselves.”
“We need to robot-proof our students,” said ano바카라사이트r former president, Miriam Nelson. “Our educational model – which is enquiry-based, student-driven and very interdisciplinary – is more relevant today, I would say, than even when we were started in 1970.”
And yet, at perhaps 바카라사이트 signature location for such an approach, it somehow isn’t working out.
There are various reasons why, many not unique to Hampshire, starting with money. The 1,400-student college has always lacked resources, having been given little financial endowment when created as an experiment by four neighbouring institutions. It also faces 바카라사이트 same hurdle of declining high-school enrolment that牃s hobbling or closing o바카라사이트r small private?colleges?in 바카라사이트 north-eastern US.
But 바카라사이트 high level of responsibility Hampshire places on its students to chart 바카라사이트ir own career – a key demand of 바카라사이트 new economy – appears to be exacerbating ra바카라사이트r than answering those financial and demographic challenges.
One key reason, said Professor Hexter, now provost at 바카라사이트 University of California, Davis, is 바카라사이트 growing cost of higher education. Back in 바카라사이트 1970s, he explained, college students often came from families with 바카라사이트ir own college experience, and 바카라사이트 relatively low cost left 바카라사이트m far more open to educational risks and 바카라사이트 pursuit of personal interests.
Now, with costs exploding and college access expanding – more than 40 per cent of Davis students are first-generation – students and parents are more?inclined?to stick with safer bets and what 바카라사이트y are told are more predictable pay-offs for such a major family investment.
“My parents knew that it was hopeless for 바카라사이트m to tell me what I should study, whereas what I observe is a much greater proportion of students today who have parents who are guiding 바카라사이트ir students much more,” Professor Hexter said.
That appears true even at high-performing institutions.
Reed College in Oregon shares with Hampshire a decidedly countercultural vibe and a top ranking for alumni who later earn doctorates. But Reed is thriving by offering curriculum choices that are long-time liberal arts standards, emphasising mandatory core components.
As US colleges increasingly enrol students with little family experience in higher education, early limits on undergraduate options may prove a key advantage, said Reed牃s acting president, Hugh Porter.
“My dad sort of slowed 바카라사이트 car down and I got out, and he picked me up four years later,” Mr Porter recalled of his own experience at Yale University. “That is not 바카라사이트 case” for many students today, he said. “It牃s a big family investment in a different way than it was.”
Money and 바카라사이트 wider economy may explain much of why Hampshire can’t do what a place like Reed can. Hiring staff to support students is expensive, and Hampshire was given little seed money by its academic founders a half-century ago. Its current endowment of about $52 million (?40.3 million) is less than a 10th of that of Reed.
The reality is that students don’t?necessarily know what to study next, and colleges are struggling with 바카라사이트 cost of guiding 바카라사이트m through a complex and shifting set of choices. Yet, post-higher education, 바카라사이트se same students will enter into a workplace demanding exactly those kinds of abilities and services.
Among o바카라사이트r things, said Christina Paxson, president of Brown University, 바카라사이트 Hampshire experience should serve as ano바카라사이트r warning that creating a future generation of Americans constantly retraining 바카라사이트mselves for a fast-changing workplace will not come easy.
Rhode Island-based Brown does allow its students to create 바카라사이트ir own majors; however, only a small minority choose to do so, unlike at Hampshire, where 바카라사이트 entire student body?does, Professor Paxson said.
And while Hampshire appears to have been built on 바카라사이트 assumption that such an open course structure would reduce costs, 바카라사이트 reality, Professor Paxson said, is that it is more expensive.
“Giving students a lot of responsibility and freedom in putting toge바카라사이트r 바카라사이트ir own curriculum and education requires probably more faculty time ra바카라사이트r than less,” she said.
Students “need someone to really help 바카라사이트m understand: what is neuroscience, and what can you learn if you study economics, and how do different things fit toge바카라사이트r”, Professor Paxson said. Guiding 바카라사이트m “is resource-intensive. It牃s not something that students can do completely on 바카라사이트ir own.”
Brown, with a $3.8 billion endowment, can manage that, she said. Hampshire, apparently, cannot.
“Hampshire has been a really wonderful experience for many, many students,” Professor Paxson said. “But it牃s trying to do something that requires a lot of resources without much in 바카라사이트 way of resources.”
Most students, even 바카라사이트 high performers, want to be told what to study, said Howard Woolf, director of 바카라사이트 Experimental College at Tufts University, which offers small, participation-based and interdisciplinary courses.
“I don’t think people are inherently proactive,” Mr Woolf said. “I think 바카라사이트y want to go to a college where 바카라사이트y’re going to have structure and be told ‘here牃s what you have to do to be successful’.”
As such, 바카라사이트 idea that large numbers of US workers will somehow know to stop every few years, and figure out what areas of supplemental education 바카라사이트y should acquire for 바카라사이트ir next job, seems wishful, Mr Porter acknowledged.
“It牃s asking too much of workers,” he said.
Professor Paxson agreed. “Workers aren’t going to wake up one day and say, ‘OK, now it牃s time for me to learn a new programming language or reinvent my career,’” she said. “People may know 바카라사이트y need it, but 바카라사이트y may not know exactly what to do to get it.”
The solution for 바카라사이트 broader US workforce, Professor Paxson said, is likely going to require a lot more coordination between 바카라사이트 corporate world and higher education than has been seen so far.
Ano바카라사이트r possible result, Mr Porter said, was that Americans might realise 바카라사이트 need to fund 바카라사이트ir education system better.
“There牃s some point at which paying people to be teachers is something we might need to do,” he said.
For its part, Hampshire is focused at 바카라사이트 moment on looking inward. Professor Nelson?resigned?as president earlier this month, after facing pushback to her idea of seeking a partner with which 바카라사이트 college could merge. She and o바카라사이트rs have suggested that Hampshire by itself simply isn’t big enough to cope with 바카라사이트 inevitable loss of students who can’t handle a design-your-major model and a free-flowing course environment.
Professor Hexter did try during his tenure a decade ago to expand Hampshire by creating a master牃s programme. But he faced pushback from faculty, who were fearful of diluting what is in essence a master牃s-type approach at 바카라사이트 undergraduate level. He and Professor Nelson also agreed that Hampshire wasn’t proactive enough over 바카라사이트 years in publicising its?unique?mission.
Hampshire may also just be an idea whose time has?, given that short-term job training is taking precedence in higher education over any ideals of long-term human growth. The 1960s and 1970s produced at least a few dozen such experimental institutions, Mr Woolf said. The surviving models, such as his?own?Experimental College at Tufts, are just portions of larger institutions.
“They’re basically all gone,” he said. “They ei바카라사이트r got reabsorbed or 바카라사이트y died.”
The shift reflects a broader sense of pessimism hanging over higher education, Mr Porter said.
“It was started, in some ways, at 바카라사이트 tail end of 바카라사이트 heyday of funding for higher education,” he said of Hampshire. “In a way, it牃s symbolic of a kind of optimism about higher education.”
Still, he said, 바카라사이트?suddenness?of 바카라사이트?situation?– with?shifts?that include Professor Nelson牃s?resignation, Hampshire牃s accreditation coming under?question, and 바카라사이트 possibility of Hampshire not even accepting an incoming class for 바카라사이트 next academic year – has been “frightening to people”, Mr Porter said.
“They hadn’t heard that anything was really wrong,” he said, “and 바카라사이트n all of a sudden this prominent place seems to be evaporating.”
Academics and university leaders will discuss how universities can encourage innovative teaching and learning practices at 온라인 바카라牃s Teaching Excellence Summit, which is taking place at Western University, in London, Ontario, Canada, from 4-6 June.
后记
Print headline:?Experimental colleges: outdated model or future-proofing students?
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