Posted on 05/08/2014 5:18:30 AM PDT by TurboZamboni
A college education historically has been the route to a better-paying job and a satisfying career. But currently, more than half of college graduates are “underemployed” in jobs that don’t require a college degree.
Why the growing disconnect? Certainly, the main reason is our economy’s slow recovery. But I believe another reason is the lack of substantive learning in many students’ college studies. And while not unique in this regard, the failure to prepare students to adequately perform in degree-required jobs is evident in the undergraduate curriculum at the University of Minnesota.
Every year Vascular Solutions hires recent college graduates for our MedDevice Associate program, which is modeled as a working apprenticeship for medical device marketing managers and salespeople. Specific coursework related to medical devices isn’t a prerequisite for our program, but a candidate must demonstrate proficiency in learning and communicating complicated subjects — a skill we expect to be developed by a college education.
We just finished interviewing for the 2014 class, and it was clear from most students’ transcripts that their college curriculum did not serve them well in developing these essential skills.
(Excerpt) Read more at startribune.com ...
Wait a second... I thought EVERY college student had to take at least one hard science? I personally took physics AND chemistry even though I wasn’t going those tracks. MOST ungrads I knew took Biology 101 which was amusing, because those lecture halls were ridiculous.
you mean those courses in womens studies wont help you get a job!
*shocking*!
oh wait! there are always government appointments by democrats to give these people jobs!
We require our healthcare management majors to take Biology 101 and Anatomy I and II, so they will have some idea of what healthcare professionals do.
Things haven’t been like that for a while.
My kid is currenty working on a bio-chem major. Very tough compared to the kids skating through on sports medicine and the like. The difference between the final exams for the two groups is astounding.
I have developed the view that perspective job applicants need to be able to demonstrate three areas of their personality:
Motivation / Discipline
Morals / Ethics
Skills / Education
Unfortunately, Colleges often only address the Education area. And sometimes, not even that area is well covered.
I do know one chick who got a well-paying job with that degree. She heads up an historical farm that is heavily subsidized by the state and federal government. But when recently visiting, I noticed the vegetable garden was overrun with weeds and pests. I guess women studies doesn’t have anything to do with gardening. Who would have guessed?
Duh... this is why we can’t find US citizens to fill our IT jobs. We need at least 10 million H1B’s. IT unemployment here in DFW is less than 1.2%. There are very few US born citizens with any degrees or logical thinking skills.
Indeed. I went to a liberal arts college in the 90’s, and everyone had to enroll in at least 1-2 courses across every discipline. So even we compsci majors had to take an “FPA” (fine/performing arts) class, the art majors had to come to our side and do a “T” (Technology) course, and so on. Everyone had to pick an “I” (Integrated) , which were special courses comprised of 2 or more disciplines, and they has to be outside of your major. So there was the “History of Art” (social science + art), “Personal Mythology” (psych + philosophy), and so on.
That used to be what a high school diploma meant. Then the left destroyed public schools, so employers started requiring a BA or BS just to ensure they had basic English, science and math skills. Now they've degraded universities to the point that even that doesn't mean they have basic knowledge and skills.
I was doing undergrad in the late 90s and had roughly the same requirements. We had “multicultural” requirements where we had to take an “X and Y credit” which was just a designator for stupid crap like “Race in American Literature” which I took anyway since I was an English student.
It seems today that the true “basics” (math, science, English) are not requirements, which is a travesty. How could we legitimately churn out “educated” children if they can’t do at least mid-level algebra, write a sentence, or understand how gravity works? That strikes me as terrifying. It’s no wonder our education system is becoming a planetary joke.
1.2%?? Wow, here in the Chicago area it's around 5%, considering the state unemployment rate here is hovering around 8.5% I didn't think 5% was too bad.
I may have to accelerate my plans to move to Texas. Was trying to hold off leaving Illinois until the youngest son graduates high school. How's the IT Wages down there?
I was a C biology student in high-school and yet I am amazed at how much science I seem to know compared to most others I encounter.
I always joked about how us Bio majors had the worst of it.
We had to take both kinds of Chemistry because you can’t understand Bio without Chem. But of course you can’t understand Chem without Physics so you have to take that,
We had to get multiple semesters of Physics and Chem with labs “out of the way” before we could even start on a bio major.
Good for you and your organization! However I know of too many nurses and ancillary techs that have never had a chemistry,pharmacology, or anatomy course with a difficulty level greater than the Cliff Notes level.
Bio is definitely a heavy subject, hence my laugh at the expense of undergrads who took it for their one mandatory science. Most of them take it for the relative lack of math compared to chem or, especially, physics.
My college came up with a physics for those without calculus to help liberal arts majors get a hard science without having to take biology or chemistry.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.