8.2. Thematic Texts: The Evolution of Education

Before you started college, you may not have realized how many complicated decisions there are to make– how to pay for college and how to choose a major and select classes, among others. You may have struggled to define your purpose for pursuing a higher education. Indeed, higher education in the United States is continuously evolving, and those changes impact your experiences as a college student and the decisions you make. How have the purposes of higher education and the reasons people pursue higher education changed throughout the history of the US? How have the costs changed and impacted access to education? How are teaching practices changing? How is education changing people’s lives? Where does your experience as a college student fit into these changes?

The articles in this section focus on higher education and the ways that education has changed and continues to change. The following readings will allow you to explore these aspects of education while also developing your reading and writing practices.