A Broken System: One Student's Perspective on Modern Higher Education A Broken System As a 40+ year-old student who returned to school with the sincere goal of furthering my education and expanding my career, I find today’s education system both offensive and comical. Offensive, because it insults the very idea of what education is supposed to be. Comical, because what passes for "earning a degree" in many institutions today is little more than a hollow performance. Over the past several years, my return to academia has taught me more about our broken educational system than I ever expected. What I’ve witnessed isn’t just disappointing, it’s alarming in many ways. Many students from the younger generation have grown comfortable floating by on the efforts of others. Group projects often feel less like collaboration and more like exploitation with a handful of committed individuals carrying the weight while the rest disengage or vanish until the final submission. When y...