One more thought. There have been a lot of complaints here about schools requiring classes of students just to pad their wallets. Both my husband and myself work in higher ed, so I like to think that I actually understand some of these issues very well. While colleges of course have to make money, they are not forcing education down your throats in order to get your cash.
Curriculum is a complex subject. All schools (at least any you should be giving your money to) are accredited. These accreditation bodies require schools to be very specific and rigorous in determining what you will be taught, when you will be taught it, who you will be taught by, and how you will be taught. Colleges also need to please other institutions. The requirements fo your degree programs need to also allow you entry into 4-year programs, graduate school, or professional programs. If my college wanted to remove my chemistry course as a pre-req, none of our students would be admitted to nursing school, because they require it for entry in order to take their classes. It's a complex topic. Can you imagine the scandal if there were a slew of deaths attributed to poorly-educated nurses, and it came out that their nursing school didn't even require them to be taught basic chemistry? The s#%t would really hit the fan then.
As for blaming the situation on greedy professors, I'm guessing many of you don't reallize what life as a professor is really like. First you slave for years as an adjunct, making too little money to live on. Then, if you're one of the lucky few, you finally get a full-time position which pays only a little bit more. You work 70+ hours each week, having to not only teach (usually more classes than your contract requires) as well as doing committee work, and you have to take papers home to grade at night and on weekends. Each semester you have a few students who make it worth it, but you also have those students who file an official complaint because they got an F in your course (never mind that they didn't even show up to three of the four exams) or who compain to the Dean because you didn't give them a third chance after they plagiarized not only their first paper, but also their second, make-up paper when you gave them a second chance.
My husband and I both love being educators, and wouldn't trade it for the world, but it really feels like a slap in the face when people say or insinuate that our own or our school's greed is what has us doing this work, or teaching our classes. We teach because we believe in helping others, because we believe that edification is always a good thing, and because we love the look on a student's face when they finally "get it."
Ok, off my soapbox now.