March 8th: In-Class Reflection to College. INC

Description: Write a two-paragraph-long reflection on the documentary College. INC.  What is the central idea and your thoughts, reactions on it? 

College. INC Reflection

This documentary begins with advertisements of college, and the amazing benefits of a college degree. However it quickly turns sideways and begins speaking on the issues of the educational system for colleges. The main message is the corruption that goes on to recruit students simply for their money. Recruiters were hired by various universities to pressure prospective students to enroll and pay for classes to attend. This caused a dent in the school because they became concerned with quantity over quality. These for-profit universities care about the money coming in from the student, not of the ability of the student to succeed and perform highly within the college education curriculum. These colleges have become driven by [rofit, wanting only money and not concerning themselves with the enhancement of students. One story told within the documentary was of Ann Corbett. Corbett was a single mother of two girls looking to get out of debt and looking for a better job. A recruiter called Corbett and promoted getting a degree to pay her debt and emphasized she would have financial aid so that her debt would not increase. However, after graduating Corbett was hit with over $30,000 in debt that has accumulated to $62,000. Corbett is one of many students entrapped with false promises encouraged by universities. One other story is of three women that got medical licenses for pediatrics and their final test of ability to have a pediatric license was to visit a daycare center. This lack of APA accredited degrees has led many to attend 4-year colleges and drown in debt without being able to pursue their profession for which they worked and paid for.

This documentary disgusted me. As a current college student I was furious to know the lack of integrity by these universities, wanting students to spend their hard earned money for their own benefit. College tuitions are extremely high, leading most to be unable to acquire degrees because they simply don’t have the means to achieve it. These struggling individuals presented in the documentary took leaps of faith hoping a college diploma would better enhance their life but instead it caused further pain and detriment. The economy has become a cold system that has lost compassion for human beings as individuals. It has become a world in which people are seen as walking sacks of money, not people who want to better the world and invest in education. Education is pushed and promoted as something every person should achieve so that they can be successful, but with these horror stories of immense debt and lies, it simply pushes others to stray further away from the education achievements.