Some thoughts about educational costs, reform and economics

I have written in earlier posts about the need to change and reform the existing educational system, with its general structure and requirements dating back to the last couple of centuries. With the passage of time, students and learners can generally understand and acquire past, recent, advanced knowledge at a younger and earlier age.

It would be beneficial and advisable to give young learners more possibilities, and allow them to begin their college/university and higher formal education at a younger or lower age.

New, alternative methods of education include academic and education acceleration, skipping grades, homeschooling, online education, e-learning, etc, and possible adequate or coherent combinations of these methods.

A detailed study or analysis of the consequences of such changes or educational reforms on a large scale could be undertaken from a financial perspective or in relation to the economics of education. I will try to provide a short or practical analysis, and provide some considerations on the possible implementation of these changes.

In countries such as Germany and France, institutions of higher education or universities can be public or private. In public universities tuition costs and fees are very low or minimal, they mostly include yearly enrollment fees. In France for example these minimal fees are usually applied in public universities to all students, including international students and students of all countries, who can benefit from the low costs of education.

Many countries or nations on a larger international scale involving all continents could negotiate and agree to implement a reformed educational system where young learners or students are given the opportunity to finish their secondary education and get into the university at a younger age, thus being able to finish their university studies before the end of their teenage years. For example, a young, perceptive, fast learner could undergo or follow an accelerated educational method, process or system (with or without homeschooling), and be able to enter the university at the age of 11 or 12, then finish his or her studies with a master’s degree or a PhD at about the age of 16, 17 or 19.
An additional useful change would be to accompany this educational acceleration with a tuition system similar to the one found in public universities in countries like Germany or France, where students pay low or minimal tuition fees.

As a general remark, students or learners who are able or who are given the possibility to finish their university studies in their teens, instead of having to wait until their twenties or thirties to finish these studies and obtain the same diploma, will have saved considerable time, expenses and costs for themselves and for the community, society or country where they live. Such a refined and reformed education system would help reduce educational costs, and reduce costs, expenditures and fees in relation to the allocation of educational resources, and the allocation and use of facilities and buildings for educational purposes.

Considering for example the case of the educational system in the USA and the related student debt issues, implememting such educational changes and reforms would represent an effective solution to the student debt and student loan problems. Thus students would be able to finish their college and university studies at a younger age, with very insignificant debt or debt-free. Within this new or reformed educational framework, a young person who drops out or leaves the university and the formal education system as a teenager at about the age of 16 or 17 will be able to leave after having obtained and finished a university degree such as an engineering degree, or a master’s or a PhD degree, instead of leaving with only high school qualifications or a high school degree.

An idea I alluded to before is that the changes, progress and advances in knowledge, information and scientific theories should be constantly and regularly accompanied by reassessing, re-evaluating and changing the education system and the methods through which these theories and information are presented, transmitted or taught. I think the considerations or suggestions I presented here represent a significant step in the right direction to implement the suitable reformed, inclusive, affordable, effective and efficient educational system of the future.

Reasons why students drop out of universities or colleges

There are several reasons for dropping out from universities or colleges. Dropping out of universities or colleges can happen in any place or any country. I want to point out one or two specific reasons and circumstances for dropping out.

Some students drop out not because the existing education system is difficult or hard for them, but because it is too slow, unsuitable, and/or somewhat easy for them.

There are fast learners and slow learners. The fast, quick, really smart learners who have advanced stages of educational development may find themselves placed in an education system that needs to be changed or reformed, a system to which they cannot adapt themselves. They might not succeed in such a system, and few people in this system notice them or understand them, so they prefer to drop out, possibly completing their education through self-study and reading. Moreover, they may gradually find out that they are discriminated against because they didn’t finish their college or university education.

Nowadays there are young persons who for example at the age of ten or fifteen are capable of studying and assimilating knowledge that other contemporary persons cannot or do not assimilate until the age of twenty or twenty five. These young people capable of finishing their studies faster and more efficiently risk to get stuck in an education system that they cannot follow and to which they cannot conform.

The precocious youngster and fast learner, who could be a college student or a high school student, is often the unfortunate captive of his/her date of birth when he/she is placed within an education system that puts him/her automatically in a class with other youngsters of the same age but who have average or slower personal stages of development. And it is frequently the average learner who is the norm and the one who is mainly taken into account in the existing formal education system.

One should take into consideration that the changes, progress and advances in knowledge, information and scientific theories should be constantly and regularly accompanied by reassessing, re-evaluating and changing the education system and the methods through which these theories and information are presented, transmitted or taught.

Few people could understand the knowledge and the important scientific theories at the time when they appeared or were elaborated a few centuries ago. Nowadays these same theories are studied and assimilated by high school students or by teenagers. With the passing of time, students and learners can generally understand and acquire past, recent, advanced knowledge at a younger and earlier age.

It is advisable (and it will become necessary with time) for educational authorities, planners, practitioners, reformers and innovators to take these behavioral learning changes into account and to give more chance to young students and allow them to start their college/university and higher formal education at a younger or lower age.

New, alternative and emergent theories and methods of education could be implemented and appropriately combined with the educational curriculum and practices taking place in educational institutions. These methods include academic and education acceleration, skipping grades, homeschooling, online education, e-learning, and so on.

The importance of using mathematics in the sciences, and some cases where math is not needed in physics

Simply put, without mathematics there is no exact science: no physics, no chemistry, no (scientific and accurate ) biology or medicine …
Mathematics is an essential component of the scientific method; data collection and observation and hypotheses are sustained by relevant mathematical models, and mathematics is the language in which the Natural or Physical World is written, as Galileo once said.
Can anyone imagine physics without numbers , or without derivatives, integrals, equations , tensors, geometrical figures, etc ? Physics would be a barren field of study based on verbal statements with no precision.
The xkcd image below expresses or conveys the importance of mathematics:

Math & the sciences

All the exact sciences are useful and important, but they all need and use mathematics.
That being said, there are a few cases or circumstances where (as an exception) mathematics may temporarily not be needed in theoretical physics.
When a teacher is explaining general concepts in (theoretical) physics to students who are beginning to learn physics, he may not use mathematics.
When a scientist or physicist is giving a lecture to a general audience, he may qualitatively describe physical theories and phenomena without using mathematics.
Similarly, when a scientist writes a popularization book about physics, he/she may use words (and some images) to present or explain concepts and topics in physics, without mathematics.
When one is imagining or mentally elaborating a thought experiment, considering some hypothesis, theory, or principle for the purpose of thinking through its consequences and repercussions, mathematics is generally not used.
When observing a physical phenomenon (with the naked eye or without instruments) for the first time, or when conducting general qualitative observations, mathematics may not be used, but math will be used afterwards to collect, interpret and classify data and to formulate or build a coherent theory.
The above were particular instances of mathematical equations, formulas and tools temporarily not being used or needed in (theoretical) physics.

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Here are some additional thoughts or remarks about math, physics, and the people who work or “dabble” with these topics or disciplines.

A mathematical theory that is coherent, logical and self-consistent can be regarded as beautiful. Mathematical shapes, curves, solids and surfaces can also be described as “beautiful”. However consistency, coherence and beauty (or elegance) are not enough in relation to physics.

Physical theories must be coherent and follow the rules of the scientific method, which means they use correct and adequate mathematical tools and models, but they also rely on observations, on scientific data, and they must be testable and experimentally verified.

Conceptions, criteria and/or perceptions of beauty or of what is considered beautiful may change with time with regard to science. Some perceptions might be personal, subjective or philosophical.

The tendency in physics during recent years or during the last few decades to formulate sophisticated theories that are regarded as “beautiful” but are difficult to test or verify has sometimes lead to stagnation and to a counterproductive lack of progress.

Interdisciplinary or multidisciplinary knowledge is always possible and helpful. A physicist could find or elaborate the necessary or appropriate math to be used in a physical theory or in theoretical physics, but this depends on the prior knowledge and skills the physicist has in relation to both math and physics.
Moreover, it would be beneficial if people who are known as mathematicians do not get haughty or boastful with others, and the educational methods, frameworks and systems within which mathematics and the sciences are taught ought to be reassessed regularly and reformed when or if necessary.

The history and origins of PhD degrees and programs

The word or abbreviation Ph.D. comes from the Latin Philosophiae Doctor, meaning “Doctor of Philosophy”, or “Doctorate of Philosophy”.

After the ninth century CE, degrees were awarded in the schools of the Arab and Islamic world in disciplines such as law, medicine and theology. These degrees may be viewed as the predecessors of doctoral degrees.

In the universities of Medieval Europe, study was organized in four faculties: the faculty of arts, and the three higher faculties of theology, medicine, and law (canon law and civil law). All of these faculties awarded intermediate degrees (bachelor of arts, of theology, of laws, of medicine) and final degrees. Initially, the titles of master and doctor were used interchangeably for the final degrees—the title Doctor was merely a formality bestowed on a Teacher/Master of the art—but by the late Middle Ages the terms Master of Arts and Doctor of Theology/Divinity, Doctor of Law, and Doctor of Medicine had become standard in most places.

The doctorates in the higher faculties were different from the current PhD degree in that they were awarded for advanced scholarship, not original research. No dissertation or original work was required, only lengthy residency requirements and examinations.

The first doctoral degree was awarded in medieval Paris around 1150. The doctorate of philosophy developed in Germany as the terminal teacher’s credential in the 17th century (circa 1652).

During the French Revolution, educational reform and changes were implemented in France through the creation of new establishments of higher scientific education, and the creation of the Ecole Polytechnique and the system of Grandes Écoles.

Since the reorganization of higher education in the university of Berlin and in German/Prussian universities at the start of the nineteenth century, the PhD has consisted of a consecutive series of coursework, followed by the completion and successful defense of a dissertation containing original research.

The PhD degree was introduced in France in 1808, replacing diplomas as the highest academic degree; into Russia in 1819, when the Doktor Nauk degree, roughly equivalent to a PhD, gradually started replacing the specialist diploma, roughly equivalent to the MA, as the highest academic degree.

Before the PhD became increasingly awarded in the USA and until about the mid 1800s, citizens of the United States mostly followed doctoral study programs in universities in Europe.

The specific requirements to earn a PhD degree vary according to the country, institution, and time period, from entry-level research degrees to degrees known as higher doctorates.

The following text provides a good overview and summary of the history of PhD degrees:

Abbreviated from the Latin philosophiae doctor, meaning “doctor of philosophy,” the PhD is the highest degree that a student can attain in most fields, with the notable exceptions of law and medicine that have their own doctorates. The degree originated in the 19th century when the word “philosophy” had the much broader meaning of “love of wisdom,” and so it exists in neurobiology, physics, French literature, and many other academic disciplines, as well as in what we now call philosophy.

Whereas the doctorate degrees in medicine and law, known as the MD and the JD, respectively, require students to study and pass exams on what is already known in their fields, the PhD requires a substantial original contribution of new knowledge through research. […]

Though universities have existed in Europe since the 11th century, the degrees that medieval universities awarded had more in common with the MD and the JD than with the PhD, in that they required mastery of already existing knowledge. […]

But then in 1810, Wilhelm von Humboldt, a well-connected Prussian diplomat who was friends with many of the leading scholars of his day and brother of the then-famous explorer and naturalist Alexander von Humboldt, founded the first university tasked with combining teaching and research. […]

Initially named the University of Berlin and now called Humboldt University, this first modern research university began awarding a new kind of degree, the PhD, which required original research. This model quickly spread to other universities, notably Yale University that awarded the first PhD in the United States in 1861.[…]

As access to higher education expanded after the Second World War, universities began to produce more and more PhDs, and to require more and more of their professors to have the degree. However, the growth in the number of PhD holders has far outpaced the number of university professorships, and in 2008 less than half of PhD holders in the life sciences who got their degree before 2002 were employed in university research. The trend is similar in other fields. By necessity and by choice, most PhD graduates now go on to a variety of careers outside universities.

Because of the persistent overproduction of PhDs relative to professorships, there have been numerous calls for a new revolution in higher education. Nature published an article titled “Is a PhD Worth Having?” back in 1968 and has continued to revisit the topic with provocative article titles like “Fix the PhD” and “Reform the PhD System or Close It Down,” both in 2011. The topic has even made it into mainstream media with both The Atlantic and the Economist highlighting the university job market imbalance.

Source: http://www.neuwritewest.org/blog/2014/6/23/a-brief-history-of-the-phd

The last paragraph above shows or indicates that with the progress, changes and advancements in knowledge, science, and technology, there should be a regular reassessment and reform of the existing education system through which this knowledge and information is taught or transmitted, and a reform of the relevant/related diplomas or degrees that are given via this system.

Some more thoughts about education

Children who have the possibility to finish school at an early age and to start their higher education at a very young age are often called child prodigies or gifted children.They are
frequently treated as curiosities or rare people with an acute intelligence and uncommon abilities .These kids may have special aptitudes but there is a plausible explanation for their situation .To put it simply , either they have fast stages of intellectual development and they were noticed and helped by their parents , family, teachers and/or professionals in order to have an accelerated education , skip grades and go to college at a very young age (probably 9 or 11 or 12) , or they have  average (or slightly higher than average) developmental stages and were also taught , helped and trained by their  parents , teachers and education professionals in ways which allowed them to finish school early and to enter the university precociously.

I think  the way these precocious or gifted children are taught ,  accelerated education and the opportunity to complete one’s studies early and to start university studies at a younger age ought to be given and extended progressively to all children .This way fast learners will not be left behind or neglected , and generation after generation more and more kids and young people will have faster stages of growth and will be able to assimilate more information at younger ages . When lowering the age of entry to the university , some youngsters could  start higher education at the age of 11 or 13 , but the minimum age could be set at 10 or 9 .

Moreover , a smaller , restricted acceleration could be applied  to higher education and university studies . For example , becoming an engineer requires four years of study in certain countries and five years in other countries . The five-year programs could be condensed into four years by appropriate methods such as adding hours to the four years of study , condensing some courses and/or adding summer courses . Medical studies usually take eight or ten years or even longer to be completed . By applying the convenient acceleration and condensation of courses and studies the eight years of study could be reduced to seven and the ten to nine and so forth , without loss of knowledge or qualification for the future doctor or medical practitioner. Similarly predoctoral and master’s degree studies could be reduced from five to four years or from six years to five.

Hence in the long run everybody would benefit from this reform and acceleration of education , and the gap between youngsters considered to be average or normal and child prodigies would be less wide ,  which I consider to be  a good thing , providing more educational equality and efficiency .

A short remark concerning one aspect of education: Nowadays young people are generally becoming sexually aware (and sometimes active) at younger ages compared with older generations , and this fact should be taken into consideration in education.

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I’ll add a final remark here : The general system  of education followed in a large number of countries today was formed about two or three centuries ago . In a country such as France  a major reform in education took place , coinciding with the period of the French Revolution , and with the  time when the first  successful endoatmospheric human flights were made using
hot air balloons  . One thing to note is that the Montgolfier brothers , who flew the first balloon , were elevated to the nobility as a reward . Nowadays the old aristocratic nobility
titles are gone in France , so people are instead rewarded by  honorary degrees ,which can be considered as  contemporary nobility titles . Many of the thinkers and scientists who
contributed to the reform of  the education system in France two centuries ago , such as Condorcet and Laplace , had acquired old nobility  titles (such as ‘marquis’) , titles related
to the ‘Ancien Régime’ , and were forming the new system of instruction which would provide the new (education related)  nobility titles in France and elsewhere . Perhaps nobility
titles in one form or another will frequently or regularly succeed one another with time , but there should always be room for reassessment , open-mindedness , change and reform . Wilhelm von Humboldt witnessed and was influenced by the French Revolution . He attempted to reform and reorganize the Prussian and German educational system , and founded the University of Berlin in 1810 . In the following decades of the nineteenth century , educators in the United states and other countries emulated and implemented the Prussian education system.
The rest of the  nineteenth and most of the twentieth centuries witnessed generally lesser scattered reforms in education , the elaboration of educational and psychological theories , and were the scene of  a progressive worldwide adoption of the educational ideas and institutions developed in European nations before , during and after the Enlightenment period and the  French Revolution .This epoch  coincided with the development of aerodynamics,
aeronautics and heavier-than-air aircraft , and with the beginnings of astronautics and space exploration .

The following idea is worth considering: While the existent educational system , with its diplomas and degrees and its requirements to study or act in a certain way and to start
higher education at the average age of eighteen , has worked well and has been sufficient for people who move or travel on planet Earth and in its surroundings, I think the reform of
the educational system  I have proposed and written about here , i.e accelerating education , skipping  or condensing  grades and lowering the age of entry to college or the university , will
prove to be important , more efficient  , and necessary in this era of planetary globalization , and more so  in the future , as humans in the age of space travel  intend or attempt to go to Mars and  others planets , traveling in the solar system beyond the Earth-Moon system and the immediate vicinity of planet Earth.

About educational levels , academic achievement , and all that

The notion of educational level is usually related to the educational system or framework within which it is used . For example , there are three cycles (sometimes called ‘levels’) in
higher education . Levels are considered as corresponding to diplomas and degrees ( i. e. High School diploma , Bachelor’s , Master’s degree , PhD) awarded by the educational
establishments , so that people with higher degrees are considered to have a better or higher level . Sometimes the word level is also used (especially in selective schools or
educational institutions) in the sense that students with higher grades or marks have a higher or better level than those with lower or average grades.

It has been shown over the years and decades   by numerous success stories that students with excellent grades ( ‘A’ students in the American education system) don’t necessarily
achieve better in life than average (or ‘C’) students . Not to mention the many  examples of college dropouts who were successful and made important , notable achievements
compared with other people who finished their higher education and got university degrees but accomplished less.

I have written in earlier posts  about kids or young people who have  fast stages , states or phases of  intellectual development and are often misunderstood , cannot adapt to the existing education system and even  fail in it.These young people may   also be called fast learners or fast receivers (of information or knowledge) . I think one possible explanation for the
achievements of average students or dropouts as compared with ‘A’ students  is that a number of these average students and dropouts are fast learners . Their personal  stages ( or
cycles ) of development are faster than and incompatible with the stages or cycles acknowledged by the educational system . Therefore they don’t follow the system well and don’t study as required by the current curricula  , and tend to fail or leave the system  altogether.

Sometimes people pass through a period of time (probably a few years) during which they study a lot and have high grades , then this period ends and they start reading a lot
instead of studying and have lower or average grades . This period takes place at a younger age for some people and ends earlier for them , while it can last longer for others . That’s
why there are people who have high grades at school and then become average ‘C’ ( or even ‘D’) students at the university , whereas others go on and have high grades for a long time
and can continue studying and having degrees till they are thirty or forty years of age . The fast  learners in these cases are the ones who stop studying a lot or stop succeeding in the
education system at a younger age .

It can be seen by the analysis I’ve made above that ‘level’ and ‘educational level’ are expressions that are used abusively in relation to the current educational system . They can lead
to discriminatory attitudes and do not reflect the real potentials , aptitudes or abilities of students and young people.

In the third cycle of higher education it is usually not required of students to study a lot but to read a lot and to do personal research for about three years in order to prepare and
obtain their PhD degree . This is one proof that in the existing system the final , more advanced stage or cycle takes place when reading and research , not studying and getting good grades ,  
become the essential requirements , and although this is commonly expected from students at ages over 20 or 25 or 30 , fast learners reach  this stage at younger ages , maybe at 18 or 15  or
younger . Therefore accelerating  education and lowering the age of entry to the university is necessary to take into account the fast ones and their abilities.

Students and pupils who have high grades or a high academic achievement generally get certain privileges and are accepted before others as they pass the  entrance examinations of high
schools or universities . They are  preferred by cram schools and schools which apply academic selection. In a country such as France an example of selective schools would be
the ‘Classes préparatoires aux grandes écoles’  , and in England the grammar schools.
By the arguments stated above , and since this period of having high marks is one that lasts for a certain time and then passes away ,
it would be preferable if people with high grades are given less privileges , the important thing being to pass the exams and tests and succeed in the educational system ,even within a reformed system where educational acceleration is applied .

When or if (young) people have good grades and high academic achievement , then good for them , they can be proud of what they
have done but can also keep it for themselves . I remember I was the top of my class at school and I had high grades for about seven years before the age of fifteen , and I was at that
time very proud of having such very good results , but then things changed and I began reading more than studying and started having average grades . So one could be happy
about one’s good grades and tell others about it , but there is no need to brag a lot about it and no need to be given additional privileges.