Putting a Value on a College Degree
There are two seemingly-contradictory conversations going on right now about kids graduating from college.
One conversation focuses on the importance of a college degree.
Bob Herbert for instance– his NYT op-ed column last week—bemoaned the fact that the U.S.—once the world leader in college graduation rates—now lags 12th behind other industrialized countries. We should quit spending our time thinking about Lady Gaga and her ilk, he says, and pay attention instead to a situation that has consequences for our global competitiveness.
The ranking is based on the percentage of 25- to 34-year-olds with a postsecondary—including associates– degree. Canada came in first place with 55.8%. The U.S. has 40.4%.
Newser talks about it here.
The numbers are part of an educators’ report headed for Capitol Hill in an effort to hit a 55% graduation rate by 2025, reports the Washington Post. President Obama is spearheading a similar initiative aimed at 2020.
According to the Washington Post:
…the report focuses more heavily on younger adults, who are feared to be the first generation in the modern era that will be less well-educated than their parents.
Others– participating in the same conversation– offer suggestions for turning things around.
Richard Whitmire—best known as the author of the book and the blog Why Boys Fail– and Andrew J. Rotherham– who writes the Eduwonk blog– give examples of schools that are doing a great job of getting kids into college and some that are even helping kids to succeed and to graduate once they’re in.
Whitmire and Rotherham note that President Obama’s education goals measure success in terms of percentage of kids graduating from college graduation:
…pushing the country back to the top of international education rankings—measured by college graduations by 2020.
At the same time, there’s a second conversation taking place.
This one questions the conventional wisdom that a college education is important or necessary for success— either for individuals or for America.
The folks participating in this discussion aren’t questioning the value of being an educated person. Instead, they’re questioning the value of the degree itself.
This has become more of an issue during our tough economic times.
Glenn Reynolds—law school prof, author and writer of the influential Instapundit blog—describes the situation as the higher education bubble:
… my advice to students faced with choosing colleges (and graduate schools, and law schools) this coming year is simple: Don’t go to colleges or schools that will require you to borrow a lot of money to attend. There’s a good chance you’ll find yourself deep in debt to no purpose. And maybe you should rethink college entirely.
But this discussion is about more than loans and debts. It asks whether a college degree is still the ticket to a better future income.
Reynolds notes:
Many people with college educations are already jumping the tracks to become skilled manual laborers: plumbers, electricians, and the like. And the Bureau of Labor Statistics predicts that seven of the ten fastest-growing jobs in the next decade will be based on on-the-job training rather than higher education. (And they’ll be hands-on jobs hard to outsource to foreigners). If this is right, a bursting of the bubble is growing likelier.
Joanne Jacobs– in her eponymous education blog—asks, “Is college overrated?” and refers to a soon-to-be-released Kellogg Foundation study that found that two of three jobs don’t require a college degree.
Patrick Welsh—high school English teacher and member of USA Today’s Board of Contributors—says:
Arnold Packer, co-director of the landmark study “Workforce 2000: Work and Workers for the 21st Century,” points out that in 2018 — as is the case today — two of three jobs in America will not require either a bachelor’s degree from a four-year college or an associate degree from a community college.
And:
Jobs in health care and social assistance, leisure and hospitality, retail trade and so-called middle-skill jobs such as plumbers, electricians, legal assistants and police officers will require job specific licenses or certificates from community colleges or technical institutes, and/or on the job training.
James Altucher at Daily Finance joins the fray, arguing that “the entire college degree industry is a scam, a self-perpetuating Ponzi scheme that needs to stop right now.” He gives Seven Reasons Not to Send Your Kids to College.
The Economist recently featured a piece along the same lines, asking whether America’s disdain for vocational education is misplaced. Maybe, they suggest, that’s where the future for better incomes and international competitiveness lie:
Vocational education has been so disparaged that its few advocates have resorted to giving it a new name: “career and technical education” (CTE).
Academic courses that prepare students for getting into universities, by contrast, are seen as the key to higher wages and global prowess. Last month the National Governors Association proposed standards to make students “college and career ready”.
But a few states, districts and think-tanks favour a radical notion. In America’s quest to raise wages and compete internationally, CTE may be not a hindrance but a help.
And notes:
The Council of Economic Advisers projects faster-growing demand for those with a two-year technical-college degree, or specific training, than for those with a full university degree.
It will be interesting to see how these two conversations—getting kids into college and asking whether or not they should go—come together.
On one hand, we have the folks who say that college isn’t’ for everybody. On the other there are those who are in a tizzy because we’ve dropped to 12th place in the percentage of people with post-secondary degrees and who are doing everything they can think of to boost our ranking.
This is sort of like an episode of House—there are lots of pieces of information, but it’s not immediately clear what to make of them.
For instance, instead of looking at why the U.S. ranks where it does, it would be useful to consider why 11 other nations think it’s so important for their people to have post-secondary degrees.
Being a good semi-libertarian conservative, I’m inclined not to find a “Big Solution” to this situation. I’m not even sure that it’s a problem—except, of course, for the whole price-of-higher-education thing.
This won’t be resolved in 60 minutes.
