Natalie Boone - Source 2

Overall Thesis Question: How should the U.S. address the issue of the rising cost of higher education?

Question for this journal entry? - Will providing free college tuition allow the United States to become the most college educated country?

Source Citation: "Fact-Check: Bernie Sanders Promises Free College. Will It Work?" NPR. NPR. Web. 03 Mar. 2016. <http://www.npr.org/sections/ed/2016/02/17/466730455/fact-check-bernie-sanders-promises-free-college-will-it-work>.

                    This source takes a deeper look at Bernie Sanders' plan for providing a tuition free college to Americans if he were to be elected president. This source discusses Sanders' plan, the critics of his plan, and also explores how other countries are benefitting from either tuition paid or tuition free college education systems. The article states that the U.S. is the ninth most educated country in the world. The U.S. holds this place with 45% of young adults having a diploma or certificate. It also states that the U.S. has been increasing those numbers in the past decade even as tuition prices have taken a dramatic increase. The top three countries on the list are far ahead of the U.S. with 58-67% of adults having some form of higher education. The article focuses on the fact that these top countries do not offer free tuition at all. In fact, their tuition prices are similar to the of the U.S. This article discusses that idea and examines if free tuition will actually benefit the U.S.

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dddd          This source is very interesting in that it brings up a point that I had not thought about. It is known that the U.S. is not the most educated country in the world, but I had never thought about how the top countries handled their citizens' access to higher education. Reading this article changed by assumptions about higher education in other countries. I had always assumed that countries who made higher education readily available to all of their citizens would be the most-educated. By this I mean that they made tuition free to all. However, the opposite is true. I was surprised to learn that the top three countries have tuition fees that are similar to that of the U.S. This article helps me to answer the question I posed for this journal entry as it shows that in order to be the most-educated country in the world, you don't have to offer free tuition. I think that it may be more a component of valuing education more in those countries compared to in the U.S. where students dread going to school and may look at graduating high school as a way to get out of the classroom rather than a gateway into higher education. I do realize that this source may be biased as it is focusing on critiquing a political candidate, however, I think that the statistics are sound in that they have been cited and appear to be from a valid source. 

jjjjjTd           This source responds to my previous journal entry's source in that it checks the facts that the first source stated. The first source, Bernie Sanders' campaign website, stated that making college tuition free was the best option for the U.S. in terms of its academic future. This source wouldn't necessarily agree with that statement in that it uses statistics to show that making tuition free will not necessarily help the U.S. advance on the world's academic stage. After reading these two sources, I think that it is important that I examine how the top countries on the list approach higher education. I think that such research will reveal new ideas as to how the U.S. should address the issue. 
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jlkjdl;          This source has led me to ask addition questions that require further research. I think that it is important for me to ask "How do the most well-educated countries in the world approach higher education?". Also, I need to further research the question, "Will providing free college tuition help the U.S. to compete with the most-educated countries?". From this source, I have come to the conclusion that making college free for all will not necessarily help the U.S. to advance in the race for being the most-educated country. This is because the most-educated countries approach higher education similar to how the U.S. approaches it now. The sources I have now work well together in allowing me to answer a few of my questions and by posing new questions that will help me reach a final conclusion.