Initial Topic Ideas

Mind the gap.

The first two weeks of class have given me a lot of ideas for interesting topics to write about, but for right now I have two specific ideas I have been developing in my head.

Topic 1: Gap Years, Dropping Out, and Transferring

This is a topic I have a personal investment in, since I have experienced or have had people close to me experience these dramatic shifts in their academic trajectory within the past few years. I would like to explore the statistics for how many students go through with these options, for what reasons, and how it has affected their prospects afterwards. I expect this topic to intersect with topics of mental health and the anxiety that comes with going to college, which I intend to fully analyze. Ultimately, I want to answer the following questions:
  1. Why do students go down these paths, if they aren't forced to?
  2. How does going down these paths affect someone's future prospects and well-being?
  3. When would it be a good time to think about these options, and what is the best path to pursue once you actually go through with one of these decisions?

Topic 2: The History of College Around the World

This is a topic I've become more interested since reading Melinda Cooper's chapter on In Loco Parentis. It really opened my eyes to how much the institution of universities has evolved in such a short span of time, and it made me curious about what other lessons could be gleaned about how college can be reformed by looking further back into the past. Originally, I wanted to limit this topic to just the history of U.S. colleges, but I wanted to cast as wide a net as possible to fully understand the different dimensions of higher education. I am interested in the following questions:
  1. How has colleges evolved over time in its purpose?
  2. What are the pros and cons of each era of college education?
  3. How can we apply the lessons of the past to restructure our current (flawed) institutions?

Closing Thoughts:

These are the topics I have the most interest in currently, but I fully expect as the semester goes on I will find more inspiration for essay topics from the future readings. I'm not married to either of the topics here, but I am leaning more towards the first topic since it seems more novel to me. I can't wait to hear your feedback on these topics, and I hope to develop these ideas into something more substantial in the coming weeks.

Comments

  1. Michael GoellerFebruary 1, 2021 at 10:16 PM

    Hi Sean,
    These are both interesting topics. It sounds like the gap year topic is more personally important to you, so I would suggest that one, unless you are more curious about the other. I had an excellent paper a couple years back on taking an intentional Gap Year between high school and college. Though your topic is a little different, probably some of the research she found could apply -- especially the benefits of maturity. See here:
    http://collegeresearch123.blogspot.com/

    ReplyDelete

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