De’Jon Harper
11/12/2013
English 015
Dr. Gerrity
Deadline Draft 3

Higher Education and Issues Within

Being a college freshman for the first time this year, I have had the chance to participate in the higher education system. I have not been a part of the higher education system for long, but I have already experienced a few issues within system myself. Some of these issues do not matter to most people. People do not understand these issues greatly affect a good majority of students taking part in the higher education system today. Teachers do not have the proper incentive from the universities they teach at to maintain a high motivation to teach their students. I have many college friends who have experienced problems like this within the system. We all have different ways of coping and dealing with these issues. These problems can be of a high strain to us college students. They cause unnecessary stress on the students, and sometimes even the teachers.
One problem I believe is the most important within the higher education system applies to all students. Each student has dealt with this problem at least once throughout their college career. This problem stems from the lack of incentive given from the school to its teachers. Some professors are not getting paid much more than local Pennsylvania high school teachers. “Pennsylvania High school teachers’ average salary is 54K a year.” (Salary List) It is almost like a parent trying to improve their child’s bad behavior. The child needs to see some sort of benefit before going above and beyond the average. So the parent may promise the child some candy or a toy of some sort. This improves the child’s performance as they have something to look forward too. This same situation applies to teachers. Many think they are not getting paid enough while others just do not have the excitement for teaching as they should. Instead of colleges hiring professors who teach because they love it, they hire professors who have the highest level. It is not always about the higher level but instead the passion they have for what they will be doing. These high degree “teachers” are not always the best teachers to be teaching, others because teaching is a personable experience for the students as well as the teachers.
The school system expects the teachers to maintain a detached attitude from the students. This is an example of an emotional appeal. This detached attitude leaves students feeling helpless and not cared for by the teacher. There are still some teachers who do not enjoy to fail a student, but the number of teachers who do not care anymore is much higher. Many teachers do their job and just that. I mean after all that is what they are getting paid for. If teachers were hired who enjoy the experiences shared with the student when teaching; there would be an outstanding number of positive outcomes. Students would enjoy attending class, be more passionate about the work in that class, and overall graduation rates would increase.
There’s also a logical appeal for this problem of teachers lacking motivation to go above and beyond teaching can be argued on this topic as well. Many college professors think they do not get paid enough for what they do. They think the school system is cheating them out of their money just as students do. “The Pennsylvania State University Harrisburg, PA average salary is $61,444” (Salary List). After all, higher education is not cheap, no matter how you look at it. “To attend Penn State Harrisburg, students must pay $32,000 in state, and $39,000 out of state tuition and fees.” (College Data) The only plus many of these teachers have to look for are the benefits of health insurance and other benefits given by the college they teach for. If benefits and pay were much higher teachers would enjoy their work much more.
There are many ethical appeals that can be made for this issue as well. The small incentive teachers receive from higher education