The significant growth of Thai HE over the last three decades was driven primarily by economic changes and by occupational growth in areas for which a secondary school education was no longer sufficient. The demand for highly educated individuals to fulfill expected economic growth requirements, and meet student aspirationand social expectations elevated the professional role of HE into the spotlight. Its widespread growth throughout the country has been spurred over the last two decades by widespread national and international disapproval of the quality of Thai HE in preparing students for the varied onslaughts of contemporary globalization. As a reaction, market gains became essentialized and the skills and professional knowledge acquired through HE were seen as the enablers of success (Beerkens-Soo and Vossensteyn2009).
The increasing demand for HE by high school graduates coupled with the perceived need for high-skilled labor for economic prosperity have been the two key driving forces for mass HE. But the government’s educational budget cuts from 2009- to 2012 dropped from 4.6 % of its GDP in 2009 to 3.8 in 2010, 3.9 in 2011, and 3.8 in 2012 (ONEC2014), posing a challenge to the continued expansion of
…show more content…
One of the primary goals of the reform was to achieve a national commitment to achieve the UNESCO goals articulated in Education for All. The reform guaranteed twelve 12years of free basic education with a requirement for nine 9years of mandatory basic education. This resulted in a large increase in high school graduates and the great demand for an expanded HE system to serve them. It is projected that by the year 2016 the number of secondary school graduates and first year university intake will increase by about 2.5 to –3 times that of 2001
Samantha Nyborg LEAP Writing 2011-05 September 15, 2014 Critique Draft Megan McArlde is a journalist and blogger who focuses most of her writing on things like finance, government policy, and economics. In her article “The College Bubble,” a magazine article published in Newsweek on September 17, 2012, McArlde writes about how the “Mythomania about college has turned getting a degree into an American neurosis” (1). She focuses a lot on the value of getting a college education, and makes an argument that all the time and money spent on earning a degree may not be worth it in the end. McArlde uses several strategies to appeal to her reader’s, and does a great job of effectively using the Logos, Pathos, and Ethos appeals throughout her article.
1. Thesis “It’s Christopher Martin’s view that society should in fact provide higher education freely to all. He reviews some purported differences between higher education and other goods that are commonly held to merit free provision for all, arguing that these are only apparent differences.” (615, Martin) 2. Support for Thesis “Governments across the world are citing increased global competitiveness and a slow economy as reasons for reducing funding to higher education.”
Henry Bienen, president emeritus of Northwestern University disagrees with the premise that too many kids go to college. To support his opinion, he says that we should not use the anecdotal records of those select few like Bill Gates and Steve Jobs, no matter how compelling, to generalize about the population as a whole. He professes that the argument about too many people going to college was made in the 70’s and was wrong then, and it is still wrong. He asserts that we now have lots more information and studies to support why it is wrong.
“As college students head back to the classroom this semester, a harsh reality confronts them - the rewards for the time, energy, and money that young people put into college are less than they were a decade ago”(Source C). Young college graduates have seen wages, deteriorate. This lack of wage growth has been surprising to those who have read about the ast unfilled need for college graduates. After gains in the 1980s and 1990s, hourly wages for young college graduated in 2000 decreases. For young college-educated men in 2000 hourly wages were $22.75, but almost dropped a full dollar $21.77 by 2010.
According to the last recording of student loan debt, the total amount of the United States student loan debt is roughly one and a half trillion dollars (A look at…). Statistics like these present the urgent need to resolve the major financial issue of student loan debt. Solutions have been given by many people to solve this issue but most solutions fail. The main reason behind student loan debt is falling to far into debt to the point where it is almost impossible to come back. The origin behind all of this is a lack of a student loan amount cap.
Education: “Higher Education was the privilege of the few, and even upper secondary education was denied to the majority of young people in many countries” (“Fifty Years”). “Today, the great majority of the population completes secondary education. One in three young adults has a tertiary degree” (“Fifty Years”). The importance of education has increased over the years, and has become a number-one priority and/ or main focus moreso today than in the 1960s. Due to this increase, there have been more people attending college, and more opportunities have come out of this better education.
The total U.S. student loan debt now surpasses $1.2 trillion and there is more than 40 million recipients owing on federal and private student loans (Malone). Most of the college students in the United States can’t afford their education by themselves and, as a result, students end up drowning in student loans in order to earn a degree. Student debt is a major problem in the US, and it is a major influence on the gap between rich and poor. A more accessible college education would help reduce the gap between rich and poor in the United States.
Delbanco explains how students have changed their reasons for attending a college when he states, “...yet on the assumption that immersing themselves in learning for the sheer joy of it, with the aim of deepening their understanding of culture, nature, and, ultimately, themselves, is a vain indulgence” (222). Secondary education has become too expensive for learning to be an indulgence. Students only go to college to get a degree in order to gain a high paying career. Davidson explains how dire the situation with low paying job is by saying how the process should work, “Only through productivity growth can the average quality of human life improve” (339). Unfortunately, the productivity growth only leaves a bigger pay gap.
From Murray’s claim, I do agree that there has become a rising demand for skilled workers. On the other hand, I feel that training and vocational schools do not give as much flexibility in learning other majors as it narrowly focuses on the degree with no general education
In many countries living in extremely poor conditions, not only is basic health an issue but also the lack of education. Although it is a necessity, “more than 72 million children of primary education age are not in school and 759 million adults are illiterate” (Rights to Education 1). The deprivation of education should be taken serious if a change is wanted. People need to become aware of how important education is and the benefit that it has.
Student debt is one of the biggest issues that people are struggling with. Especially for those graduates whose major does not guarantee a stable job due to the limited amount of job positions, such as art history and music majors, many of them end up being a freelancer because job unavailability. Governments often encourage the citizens to spend more and help improve the economy, but how could the citizens help when they don’t have the spending power due to the heavy student debt that they are carrying. A good way to improve the economy is by solving the issue of student debt. With the help of the “Organ for Ed” program, both the job seeking and economic problems would dissolve at once.
The world is diverse and filled with so many different types of cultures. Many are specific for a certain country or often seen worldwide. It also depends on their history. For example, Thailand is a unique country with a cultured filled history. They can be compared and contrasted with other cultures, for example,the U.S. culture.
The human development index proves that countries where children with few years of education are overall less developed. South Korea’s recent transformations shows how important a strong education system truly is. Thirty years ago it was a low income country with 78% of it’s population illiterate because only 40% of children were able to attend secondary school. After the country decided to invest money in their education system, all children had to opportunity to attend secondary school, thus their economy skyrocketed.
The education system produces skills that are not valued by employers, while raising the expectations of those who acquire them. Consequently, the unemployed do not take up existing job vacancies, and employers are unwilling to hire available candidates (Njonjo, 2010). The mismatch is more marked for school leavers and graduates who have just finished school, partly providing an explanation for the high unemployment rate among youth and new entrants into the job market. The suggested remedy is to reform the education system and increase focus on technical education and vocational training, matching them to the needs of the job market (Coenjaerts et al. 2009).
As the AEC is fast approaching, it was rationalized that it is beneficial to know the English language readiness of the Thai people, especially those directly working with English speaking ASEAN