Posted on 08/27/2010 9:04:28 PM PDT by iowamark
School begins for many this week, and there are some hard truths about higher education that few wish to explore, let alone acknowledge.
1. Not everyone should go to college. Getting a higher education can be a marvelous experience, but it's just not for everyone.
I know of no country that attempts to educate everyone at this level. College was originally designed for students who are at least a standard deviation in academic aptitude above the mean. That eliminates all but about 16 percent of the population, and then a lot of those folks are wasting their time and money at a university.
John is a brighter than average high school student, but is not at the top of his class. He is good with his hands and understands how things work. His parents send him to college to become a lawyer.
He is in the bottom 20 percent of his law class. He graduates with an immense debt load and is considered to be a poor lawyer. He doesn't get much respect.
Suppose instead that John goes to a trade school to become a repairman. He is in the top 20 percent of this group. John the Repairman is highly respected. He has almost no debt, and he makes more money than John the Lawyer.
As an added bonus, society is in need of good repair persons, but we have no need for more bad lawyers.
2. Getting a college degree doesn't mean that you know anything. Modern universities don't require that students be knowledgeable to graduate. This sounds odd and administrators and teachers would claim that it is not true, but ask a simple question: What does a student need to know from a university to be allowed to graduate?
The answer is "nothing."
Students are required to complete a number of tasks. There is a long list of requirements. If they check each one off, they graduate. Students will work hard for grades; they will not necessarily work hard to know something. Modern schools have disassociated the two. Students memorize material, regurgitate it on an exam, and go their way.
Many students graduate knowing next to nothing. Don't take my word for it. I have been challenging my colleagues to test their students for years. I would love to be wrong on this, but ...
3. Grades don't reflect reality. There are entire areas of universities that give an automatic A to everyone unless they do poorly, and then they are given an A-minus. Much of this results from the improper use of student evaluations of teaching. Having students rate teachers is not a bad idea in itself, but it has evolved into a counter-productive travesty.
Imagine that at your workplace, several times every year, people you associate with are asked to fill out a questionnaire about you. They will remain anonymous and can say anything they wish. Management admits that it doesn't know what the surveys actually measure, but you will be denied merit pay, and perhaps even fired if your scores are low.
That in a nutshell is how universities use student evaluations.
Critics, and some supporters, maintain that the only reason that this system is maintained is administrative sloth and student crowd control.
Universities are essentially demanding that professors be well-liked by their students or they will be punished. Students are students because they don't know what they should know. The bottom line is that the evaluation system has resulted in grade inflation and a corresponding reduction in what students actually know.
Research over the last 10 years from all across the U.S. has consistently shown that teachers who get higher student evaluations produce students who tend to do more poorly in subsequent classes.
4. Like the housing market bubble, we may be approaching an education bubble. Paying a lot for an education makes sense if the returns are greater, but the cost of education is rising faster than the benefits. This has serious implications, which I will address in a forthcoming column.
I believe that completing a college degree gives employees an idea that you are dedicated to completing goals and loyal. Plus only 25 percent of the United States has a college degree so it is not like we are punching out college degrees overwhelmingly. 75 percent of the United States do not have a formal education...that is telling. No wonder we ended up with Obama. United States has to get it’s act together and get that number up to 50 percent at least. A college degree makes a person well rounded in many subjects as well.
Agreed. This guy is just spouting off another form of elitism.
I have a Bachelor of Science Degree and an MBA. But next year I am going back to school using my GI Bill and I can’t wait to take it seriously this time. I will admit to you that with both degrees I basically went through the motions. This times I am going to put forth full effort. I am excited for you and me!!!!!
True. Congratulations on your success in GM and the bank.
>>>>I just started college for the Second time. The last time I went I was 17,I am taking the same thing this time because all I did before was party. I will be 49 years old next month.<<<<
Hang in there, Hotmetal! I wish you success!
I didn’’t start community college until I was 25 and out of the Navy, married with a child and with a full time job, as I knew I would have flunked out if I’d gone right out of high school. .....After 89 hrs there and an AAS degree, I transferred to a university and got my BBA with 159 hrs. Five years later at another university I began and completed my work for the 48 hrs MBA and needed only another 12 hrs for a DBA (Doctorate) which would be the equivalent of a Phd. ...I passed on the DBA because at age 42 I had had enough of night and weekend schooling. I was already managing 7 functions in my chosen field and didn’t see the DBA as anything that would enhance my career (just as a Phd doesn’t except in academia and stupid media reporting). I think that Phd should be PhB (people who bloviate), other than those Phds who are true scientists, as mentioned by another FReeper previously.
Every one of us is a philosopher at times and it doesn’t require a Phd degree to be one.
Meh, Clayson may be right, but applying to a doctoral program in October anyways.....at 48 y.o.
Even the kids this prof is saying are “college material” can do just as well or better NOT going to college, depending on their career choice.
At least not going to traditional college on a campus.
Getting started in the work world, while pursuing “college” in a meaningful way that results in a true education, is going to be the way the go.
The vast majority of people end up with jobs they could have gotten even if they had not gone to college.
Teaching is also an art, which fact seems to escape the educationists, who seem to think that one can come up with a method that suits one and all.
That said, I've met MDs that were dumb as bricks, too
Hey, good for you. I was 40 when I went back to school for my PhD.
All in all, I think I handled my mid-life crisis fairly well
I agree. I was 26 when I started full time, graduated at the top. ME, myself and I were paying for it, and the budget was finite.
I’m not mistaken, that was the point I was making.
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