Purpose of higher education Essay

The purpose of higher education has been a topic of debate for many years. There was a long period when the majority agreed that higher education is the key to success, there is nothing to argue about that. However, nowadays, regarding having higher education as an investment, many people, especially students, think that what they lose is much bigger than what they gain from higher education. In other words, they believe that what higher education brings them does not deserve what they pay for it. In my opinion, what we benefit from higher education cannot be measured by money. For me, the highest purpose of higher education is to create prepared minds, which are priceless. At the same time, the unfortunate results that students get from higher education, I believe, are due to the dishonest ways they use to deal with the exams and unpleasant situation when having higher education. Stop cheating and understand thoroughly the purpose of higher education, we will definitely recognize the benefit we gain from it. Cheating, as mentioned above, is the act of using dishonest methods to get rewards or to deal with obstacles. Regarding the scene of higher education, cheating includes â€Å"cribbing homework, plagiarizing essays from the Internet, or texting test answers to a friend’s cell phone† (Studies Shed Light on How Cheating Impedes Learning, Sarah). Students just do anything they can to get an â€Å"A† and graduate with their degree on time. However, it is just the delusion of success. The highest purpose of higher education is not to have as many graduated students as possible. Teachers can just take the pen and give as many As to students as they want, then their jobs are done. Students do not even need to attend the exams. Nevertheless, that universities hold exams is not to set scores for students. Exams are meant to check whether students’ knowledge and skills are enough for the next level, for their life or not. Cheating may help students to get rewards for the short-run but will surely bring them nothing in the long-run. Put those cheating acts aside and take a closer look again at the purpose of higher education, we can see that  there are skills and knowledge that we can learn from nowhere but higher education. Without those basic tools, we will step into life dazzling with new things and great challenges. If by any chance we miss any of those skill and knowledge, it is necessary to come back and learn again, until we get what we need. Unfortunately, many students are not aware of the importance of doing so. According to Lucas’s blog, â€Å"students feel they are getting ahead when they cheat† and â€Å"students who cheat deceive themselves into believing they deserve better grades†. They do not know that they actually â€Å"are falling into a feedback loop in which they fall further and further behind†. Besides, it is necessary to emphasize that the prepared minds that higher education creates are not used only for getting a stable career, but also for dealing with problems in our jobs, family and life. Coming to these micro areas, cheating is no more just a simple act that can be fixed or even ignored. The consequences from plagiarism (one type of cheating) are much more severe, when we can even be imprisoned. I totally agree with Lucas when he says in his blog that â€Å"students who cheat in high school are more likely to be dishonest as adult in the workplace†. We should adjust our behavior appropriately to prevent forming bad habits as well as to achieve the right purpose of higher education. Last but not least, it is the most important question that how we can achieve the purpose of higher education? How can we have prepared minds from higher education? The answer is simple but the action is not: discourage cheating; stand on our own foot and make all the effort that we have. Teacher needs to help students understand the â€Å"importance of academic integrity and learning, not just grades, can make them less likely to cheat†. The three methods that Lucas mentioned are the least that teachers should do: â€Å"carefully reduce opportunities to cheat†; â€Å"establishing class or school honor codes† and â€Å"discuss the importance of academic integrity prior to each assignment†. In conclusion, it is true that everyone has the incentives to find easy ways to get rewards or to deal with unpleasant situations. However, cheating to succeed only brings us delusion of success. It is extremely dangerous when we apply dishonest ways to pass the higher e ducation time. The purpose of higher education is surely compromised by cheating acts and if we are not aware of that, we may gain a lot at the beginning but in the end, we will get nothing.