education enriches individuals much more than it enriches nations.
My thesis, in a single sentence: Civilized societies revolve around education now, but there is a better—indeed, more civilized—way. If everyone had a college degree, the result would be not great jobs for all, but runaway credential inflation. Trying to spread success with education spreads education but not success. - https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2018/01/whats-college-good-for/546590/
See some (somewhat dated) stats on American Education here .
Note that I do not recommend all other articles such as 'Suicide Would Have Been a Blessing' "For Palestinians, There's Only One Road Left"...
Ping.
Are they kidding? All those “Ethnic Studies” majors add so much to the national dialogue.
Most occupations are quite capable of training needed employees at a tenth of the current costs.
In 1940, fewer than 5 percent of Americans had a college degree. Starting with the GI Bill in 1944, governments at all levels promoted college. From 1947 to 1980, enrollments jumped from 2.3 million to 12.1 million. In the 1940s, private colleges and universities accounted for about half. By the 1980s, state schools - offering heavily subsidized tuitions - represented nearly four-fifths. At last count, roughly 40 percent of Americans had some sort of college degree: about 30 percent a bachelor's degree from a four-year institution; the rest associate degrees from community colleges. http://www.realclearmarkets.com/articles/2012/05/29/lets_drop_the_college-for-everyone_crusade_99690.html
Since 1961, the time students spend reading, writing and otherwise studying has fallen from 24 hours a week to about 15. http://www.washingtonpost.com/local/education/is-college-too-easy-as-study-time-falls-debate-rises/2012/05/21/gIQAp7uUgU_print.html
After two years of college, 45 percent of college students hadn't significantly improved their critical thinking and writing skills; after four years, the proportion was still 36 percent. The study was based on a test taken by 2,400 students at 24 schools. "Academically Adrift," by sociologists Richard Arum and Josipa Roksa; http://www.realclearmarkets.com/articles/2012/05/29/lets_drop_the_college-for-everyone_crusade_99690.html
Over 50 percent of students at four-year schools and more than 75 percent at two-year colleges lacked the skills to perform complex literacy tasks (unable to interpret a table about exercise and blood pressure, comprehend arguments of newspaper editorials, compare credit card offers with different interest rates and annual fees, or summarize results of a survey about parental involvement in school). American Institutes for Research Ben Feller, Associated Press | January 20, 2006
States appropriated almost $6.2 billion for four-year colleges and universities between 2003 and 2008 to help pay for the education of students who did not return for their second year, while the federal government spent $1.5 billion and states spent $1.4 billion on grants for such students. "Finishing the First Lap: The Cost of First-Year Student Attrition in America's Four-Year Colleges and Universities." reported by AP, “Report: College dropouts cost taxpayers billions,” October 11, 2010
More than 25% of low-income first-generation college students leave after their first year, and 89 percent fail to graduate within six years. Time Magazine, What We Can Learn from First-Generation College Students, April 11, 2012
Almost 80% of seniors at 55 of our best colleges and universities earned a D or F grade on a high-school level American history test a 1999 survey showed. USDE 1992 National Adult Literacy Survey tests http://www.philanthropyroundtable.org/magazines/2000-11/cohen.html
The National Center for Education Statistics reports that only 31% of college graduates can read and understand a complex book. Walter E. Williams , professor of economics at George Mason University. http://www.ibdeditorials.com/IBDArticles.aspx?id=336612797889002
Nearly half (47 percent) of college freshmen enrolled in 2005 had earned an average grade of A in high school, compared to 2-in-10 (20 percent) in 1970. The majority (79 percent) of freshmen in 1970 had an important personal objective of “developing a meaningful philosophy of life.” By 2005, the majority of freshmen (75 percent) said their primary objective was “being very well off financially.” Statistical Abstract of the United States: 2007, (Table 274). http://www.census.gov/Press-Release/www/releases/archives/miscellaneous/007871.html
Enrollment has increased 70.6 percent since 1990, from 135,000 to 230,000, at the 102 Evangelical schools belonging to the Council of Christian Colleges and Universities. Higher Education Research Institute at the UCLA; USA Today Dec. 14, 2005 .
During the same period, enrollments at public colleges increased by 12.8 percent, and at private colleges the increase was 28 percent. USA Today Dec. 14. 2005 Southern Baptist Convention, Baptist Press http://www.bpnews.net/bpnews.asp?ID=22361
62% more students are going to college than did in the 1960s". Bill Fitzsimmons, dean of admissions at Harvard.
Nearly 40 percent (approx. 11.5 million) of the nation’s 18 to 24 year olds were enrolled in two- or four-year colleges as of October 2008. U.S. Census figures released by the Pew Research Center, Nov. 2009
The District of Columbia leads the nation in the proportion of college grads. http://www.epodunk.com/top10/collegeDiploma/index.html
Tuition's and fees have risen more than 440 percent in 30 years. http://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/george-will-subprime-college-educations/2012/06/08/gJQA4fGiOV_print.html
Total federal aid intended to hold down the price of a college degree have soared by more than $100 billion in the space of a single decade -- from $64 billion in 2000 to $169 billion in 2010. Jeff Jacoby, The Boston Globe; April 29, 2012, http://www.jeffjacoby.com/11618/the-government-college-money-pit
On a typical campus, per capita students spending for alcohol--$446 per student--far exceeds the per capita budget of the college library. (Eigen, 1991 in the 1998 National Household Survey on Drug Abuse).
College students spend over $5.5 billion a year on alcoholic beverages (mostly beer)--more than they spend on all other drinks [soda, tea, milk, juice and coffee] and books combined. Sidney Ribeau, PresidentBowling Green State University http://www.collegevalues.org/diaries.cfm?id=476&a=1. See also www.hsph.harvard.edu/cas/rpt1998/CAS1998rpt2.html [which is also a illustration of how to do a survey.]
A (disputed) study showed that 50% of American college faculty identified themselves as Democrats and only 11% as Republicans (with 33% being Independent, and 5% identifying themselves with another party). 72% described themselves as "to the left of center," including 18% who were strongly left. Only 15% described themselves as right of center, including only 3% who were "strongly right." North American Academic Study Survey (NAASS) of students, faculty and administrators at colleges and universities in the United States and Canada 1999. The Berkeley Electronic Press http://montages.blogspot.com/2005/04/conservatives-underrepresented-in.html http://www.bepress.com/forum/vol3/iss1/art2 http://www.associatedcontent.com/article/17963/liberal_bias_in_our_schools.html
A survey of 6,000 academic psychologists resulted in 10% reporting they had falsified research data; 67 per cent selectively reported studies that “worked”; 35% said they had doubts about the integrity of their own research. Leslie John, George Loewentstein, and Drazen Prelec in Psychological Science, December 2011
Than young men who aren't necessarily suited for college would have access to good paying jobs.
Teaching them the value of hard work and an appreciation for the fruits of your labor when the government takes it from you.
Well; it keeps the in-employment rate down.
“Might”?!? May.
Most college involves little more than a structured reading list. Law, medicine and engineering are exceptions IMHO.
Once again... I work at t univ and am daily almost hourly, shocked at HOW absolutely incapable students are to do the simplest things or think for themselves.
They have had their hands held right up to the point of entering college and the bar is by now, so low that they get admitted. Just the same they are challenged beyond their capabilities right from the start.
Whether it’s housing, scheduling, academics, enrolling, personal or otherwise... or just finding their way around... they are idiots
What is more, they don’t know HOW to address problems or what basic resources are available so that they can resolve things for themselves. The floor leading to my desk has carpet beaten down from kids who think that they only need to show up and get things ‘fixed’ for them, without any effort on their own part.
We won’t even talk about the daily lost and found crap that goes on... phones, books, purses, calculators, keys, watches.... once we got a violin and it took a week for the owner to come in and get it.
It’s not for everyone. It’s stupid to lower standards to let some in, giving them remedial English courses and passing them in spite of failure.
Much of college is nonsense courses: White Privilige, feminism, trans-dick-chopping, and others.
Yes, we are sometimes now seeing some good papers in the Atlantic. This one is a very good one.
I think it is an article in which many Conservatives might see ideas they already instinctively believe to be true, as life with their values and experience have shown them. Ours have come mostly through anecdotal experience and his have come through collecting, and studying the information.
“but runaway credential inflation”
Did you mean runaway colorectal inflation?
90% of the students in college don’t belong there.
It’s a gigantic scam.
Some people would benefit from being in the military. Even the Army, no matter how “briefly.”
It absolutely would be better off if our Congress would guarantee not to ship all our industry overseas. We could have all kinds of trade schools. Leave academia to actual academics who do serious research, not “studies”—i.e. marxist indoctrination.
Thirty five years ago in southcentral Pennsylvania only the Superintendent of the School District was expected to have a Ph.D.---maybe the assistant.
Then that degree became and expectation for High School Principals.
Now it is trickling down to Middle Schools and elementary schools.
Enough already!
It seems as though a third of my students wish they were somewhere else. I imagine many of these are having tuition handed to them.