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329What Is the Future of Higher Education? Conversation 3. On first glance, the charts seem to encourage the viewer to draw contradictory conclusions. What factors could explain the disparity between the two charts? In other words, how can both sets of data be accurate at the same time? 4. Which chart, in your opinion, offers the most convincing evidence? What aspects of the other chart make it misleading or unconvincing? QUESTIONS Making Connections 1. What do Robinson and Wooldridge have in common in their views of higher education? Where do they part ways? 2. How would Wooldridge propose to solve the problem shown in the second chart in source 4? 3. How do Selingo%u2019s proposals for different college pathways address the issues highlighted in the two charts: the college degree premium in the first and the seemingly poor return on investment in the second? 4. Robinson offers historical, social, and even emotional background on higher education in America. How persuasive is that background? What evidence of that background do Wooldridge and Selingo address, implicitly or explicitly? QUESTIONS Entering the Conversation 5. Argument. A college education has long been a part of the American Dream; indeed, despite periodic doubts about returns on the investment of money and time, a college education has been shown to, literally, add years to life expectancy. Americans without college degrees live an average of nine fewer years than those with a bachelor%u2019s degree. A college education offers more and better career choices, which lead to higher earnings, better health care, safer homes, and healthier food. At the same time, however, tuition and housing costs have drastically increased (especially at private colleges), leaving many graduates in student loan debt. Further, some people believe that young people%u2019s time would be better spent training to be trade workers like plumbers or electricians. Carefully read the sources here. Prepare to participate in a class discussion in which you present your position on what American higher education must do to remain part of the American Dream and adapt to changing times. Be sure to use material from at least three of the sources to support your ideas. 6. Connections. When you graduate from high school, do you plan to pursue a college degree, go straight to work, travel, or do something else? Write a personal essay explaining why you are choosing that path. Refer to the sources in this Conversation as part of your evidence. 7. Research. Find a graphic exploring the value of educational attainment. Try to verify the credibility of its data, draw a conclusion from it, and explain how each of the writers in the Conversation would incorporate or refute the graphic%u2019s argument. 8. Speaking and Listening. In 2023 the AAUP (American Association of University Professors) made this statement in response to changes in higher education in Florida, which included executive actions limiting the teaching and learning of certain topics: Academic freedom, tenure, and shared governance in Florida%u2019s public colleges and universities currently face a politically and ideologically driven assault unparalleled in US history, which, if sustained, threatens the very survival of meaningful higher education in the state, with dire implications for the entire country. Participate in a class discussion to define %u201cmeaningful higher education%u201d on your own terms, making sure to draw on the sources here for backup. QUESTIONS Making Connections QUESTIONS Entering the Conversation Copyright %u00a9 Bedford, Freeman & Worth Publishers. Distributed by Bedford, Freeman & Worth Publishers. For review purposes only. Not for redistribution.