Opener: Show pictures of bored college students in a giant lecture hall, ask why are we here?
-the college years make an impact on students beyond their time in higher education: alumni parents at football games, diplomas hanging in offices
-the purpose of college has evolved since the founding of the higher education system in the Middle Ages: misconception of ivory tower, separate from society — in fact, colleges subject to societal and governmental pressure
-In the beginning: religious education, mainly preservation of knowledge from generation to generation — about training students to assume roles of religious leadership
-Later: German research university (very specialized education, students only learn about their major) vs. English colleges (learning about a core curriculum of the humanities)
-Morill Land Grant universities (including Penn State!): established to educate the residents of a state for low cost, main focus on technical skills
-Up until 1950s, higher education in the U.S. was reserved mainly for society’s upper classes and a select few who were considered gifted enough
-GI Bill provided funds for thousands of veterans to attend college after World War II, explosion in numbers of students and federal aid
-As demographics of college students and societal forces changed, colleges changed their character to reflect the diversity of their students (backgrounds and demographics)
-dropped Latin and Greek requirements for admissions — allowed for students who weren’t private school graduates
-shift away from core curriculum and other course requirements for students
-colleges became less about instilling specific traits or ideals in students, more about letting students find themselves and take advantage of opportunities on their own
-talk about Penn State: we might say we are Penn State, but what makes us Penn State? Ask audience to name things Penn State students share in common.
-everyone is studying different subjects, taking different classes, involved in their own niche on campus
-we’re all students on this campus, but we all want different things out of our education and Penn State provides us the chance to realize our objectives.
-remains to be seen how the college experience will change
In our modern society, students are expected to go to college. You could mention how a BS or BA degree is becoming much more common (think about our generation in several years) and there may be a push on a Masters, PhD, MD, etc. in the future
I like your introduction, and the historical events you are going to cover. I would make sure to cover some of the less academic parts of college, to show the benefits (clubs, activities) and the downsides (partying/drugs/negative effects of Greek life) when mentioning the college experience, because that has also evolved. At this point, it’s more than just academics!
This is going to be a great TED talk!