Questions for Further Reflection

• Colleges and universities throughout the nation are, by necessity, becoming more "corporate," as they search for economic resources to supplement their often substandard budgets. What are some of these efforts, and what seem to be the results? If your institution is grappling with some corporate-based issue or dilemma, use this concept as your baseline in considering the trade-offs your institution faces.
• Students tend to accept the point of view that the U.S. offers a good quality public education to everyone who wants it, and that if a person is willing to work hard, it doesn't matter what schools they attend. If possible, ask a public school teacher and a teacher in an affluent, private school their opinions about the issue of access to education.
• An ongoing source of irritation among most educators is teachers’ and professors’ salaries. Many of you are unaware of the pay schedule for college and university professors, and quite a few will be ultimately shocked upon learning how little the average professor earns. If education is such a priority issue in American society (as evidenced by nationwide programs encouraging young people to go into teaching), why should a teacher be paid a salary that is commensurate with an executive assistant rather than a physician or lawyer? Why are teachers’ and professors’ salaries so low? From what tradition has this trend emerged? Provide a well thought out response to the following: "Teachers and professors don't care about money; they only care about their students and the learning process, so we don’t need to pay them more."

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