Books Magazine
What is Higher Education? A Documentary By Kennedy JosephDescription:Over the course of many years, what higher education means to college students has drastically changed. In multiple Ted Talks, (What is a college education? by David Ray, Higher Education is not about getting a job by Fred D’Agostino) I’ve watched done by professors of multiple universities, they’ve all described what they believed college was supposed to be about and that is: an opportunity to enhance one’s knowledge and go out into the world and better society. It’s about education and becoming educated, but now students look at college as an in-and-out process, a vocational program that ends in them getting a degree so they can go out and get a job. This documentary is a look at the thoughts behind that. What kinds of thoughts do students have about higher education and why? And does these kinds of thoughts on higher education effect how much they investment in their work? Do students really not care about college? Is it all just about getting a degree to get a well-paying job? Or do they care about their education? And how do the people who are paid to help and educate these students feel about how these kinds of things?Resources/Equipment and LocationsBasically, the idea is to do a couple of sit down interviews with professors and advisors over campus to get a look at how they view higher education. Is it similar to how their students view it? Is it different? Has their view on higher education changed now that they work in that environment? And can they see how much their student invent in college? Do they do their work properly? Do they come to class? Do they seem to care about the subject they’re studying or is it just about a grade and a degree to them? I’m also going to do a bunch of pop-up interviews with students to see how they feel about college. Why are they here? What are they studying and what do they want to do once they’ve left college? How much effort do they put into classes, even if the class isn’t so interesting to them? Do they care about college and is it worth it to them as they pay so much for school ($27,000 a year)? Is it worth all that money and all this work just for a degree or is it about the learning that makes going to school worth it? I’m simply armed with my camera, a tripod and a mic to get these interviews done and the pop-up interviews will be done all around campus with whomever will talk to me and the professors/advisors I have picked out are: David Gibson who teaches Biological Research and advises grad students in the department and maybe Carol, who advises students in the Mass Communications Department.
Motivations:My purpose in doing this film is about bringing awareness to what higher education is about. The professors in the Ted Talks I watched are correct in what college is supposed to be about. It’s not about money or jobs, it’s about being educated on our passions and taking that knowledge to better society within our fields. Take the Cinema department, a majority of people within this department has specific jobs they want to do whether it be editor, director or etc. and they want to just do that. You don’t have to go to college to do all of that, as many filmmakers didn’t go to college, so the question that remains is: Why are they here? Why are they wasting thousands of dollars for a sheet of paper if they can go out and make stuff on their own? So, is it about the education and if it is, why don’t so many students put in the time and effort to appreciate higher education. Why do they miss class? Not do work? Or even more so, half ass it? If college is something that just for a sheet of paper as most students seem to believe, then why does it even exist?
I've already filmed a bunch of interviews, so here are a couple that I've done:
