Empowerment

Weekly Blog Post 10.6.14 Based on the article, “Rankings, Institutional Behavior, and College and University Choice” by ACE, students aren’t paying as much attention to “rank” as many institutions or states would think they would. Instead, other factors that go into choosing a college are much more cultural and societal. These are things that institutions can’t compare themselves by since it is a manner of perspective, instead they revert to rank regardless of how it actually affects the choices. . With this in mind, I believe that the lenses of this article would slightly change. While this article discusses ranking through the policies and logistics of Obama’s ranking plan, I feel that there is more than that. Sure, families of all backgrounds need to be supported through constant access to materials, lower costs, and higher educational quality, but what about the personal fears that every family faces. This article states, “empower students and families as they choose a college or university”, but of all things it doesn’t tell us how they will empower them. Families need empowerment, especially for first generation students. The college mission could speak to this, what does the college value, and what are the students there like? This article writes, “Value…placed on institutional spending”, this is on the opposite end of the spectrum. An institution needs people; missions, advising staff, recruiters, and peer guidance on the foundation of this college adventure. Thus meaning that rank is associated with a “top down” perspective on what student’s need, when really it should be a shift in focus to “bottom up”, therefore, rank will go up as well, alongside overall student happiness.