January 13, 2017 by Philip Lewenstein

Pride, Gratitude, and Hope in Higher Education

[Phil wrote the following piece in June 2015 prior to his youngest daughter’s college graduation.]

Last spring, during a reception following the commencement for graduate students of the University of Chicago’s Department of Social Sciences, I noticed a mother telling her young daughter how proud she was of her academic achievement. The mother said that her hard work to support the daughter’s education was worth the sacrifice. I, too, was proud of my son for earning an advanced degree from one of the world’s leading universities.

This spring, as I prepare to attend my youngest daughter’s commencement near Boston, I reflect on my pride for the six degrees (and still counting) from five institutions earned by my four children. And I am proud of all the graduates from all institutions in this special season of celebration. Completing college requires planning, purpose, persistence, and patience– and often financial and family sacrifice.

Along with my pride, I am grateful for the broad access to a diverse array of opportunities available in the United States. My children attended a variety of institutions in the Midwest, the West, and the East—major public and private research universities and small liberal arts colleges—coed and single sex. Many other students find their best fit and benefit from private career and public vocational schools and state colleges and universities—both residentially and online.

However, this spring’s celebration cannot and should not mask many problems in higher education such as low completion rates, affordability and high debt levels, imperfect credit transfer, research ethics, and sexual harassment. Most importantly is the continuing gap in participation and completion based on income, race, and ethnic background. Many potential students don’t start higher education, and many start but don’t finish.

After decades of widespread support for American higher education, the prevailing questions today in the media and elsewhere are whether the education is worth it and whether it matters. Critics say higher education is not working and is broken. We are not meeting enrollment and attainment levels set forth by President Obama and major higher education organizations. Reformers call for a major overhaul of the enterprise to account for demographic changes, new technologies, globalization, and workforce needs.

For me, the answer is easy. Higher education is worth it, and it matters. My children have benefited from the opportunity to interact with great professors, to learn new skills and languages, to study abroad from England to the Far East, and to apply their learning in different settings. To help pay, they worked in libraries, in campus bookstores, in coffee shops, in retail stores, and at athletic events. As the family editor, I have expanded my knowledge of many topics from green roofs to German foreign policy to the history of fashion. As a sports fan, I have developed a passion for Pacific-12 football while hoping to rekindle a long lost love for Gopher football.

Education matters because it is our family’s leading value. Many years ago, my grandfather helped first-generation students on the Iron Range with financing their educations. My mother graduated from a then all women’s college in Duluth (St. Scholastica, class of 1940) long before females surpassed males as the majority in higher education. An uncle, an aunt, and cousins have been college professors and instructors. My wife, an adult college graduate, tirelessly teaches math to middle school students. And I have worked in higher education for 42 years.

Higher education may or may not lead to fame or fortune although research shows that the financial, health, and civic benefits are greater for those with increasingly higher levels of education. In fact, higher education provides the foundation for our ability to generate new ideas and knowledge, to think critically, to deal with change, to meet challenges and overcome adversity, and to be active—not passive—citizens and consumers.

So, I’m proud of this year’s graduates and grateful for the availability of diverse opportunities supported by public and private investments. Yet I am hopeful for improvements so that many more students have an equal opportunity to celebrate in the joy of college completion.