Posted on 08/08/2017 5:34:19 AM PDT by SJackson
August is the month when parents bid farewell to not only their college-bound youngsters but also a sizable chunk of cash for tuition. More than 18 million students attend our more than 4,300 degree-granting institutions. A question parents, their college-bound youngsters and taxpayers should ask: Is college worth it?
Let's look at some of the numbers. According to the National Conference of State Legislatures, "when considering all first-time undergraduates, studies have found anywhere from 28 percent to 40 percent of students enroll in at least one remedial course. When looking at only community college students, several studies have found remediation rates surpassing 50 percent." Only 25 percent of students who took the ACT in 2012 met the test's readiness benchmarks in all four subjects (English, reading, math and science). Just 5 percent of black students and 13 percent of Hispanic students met the readiness benchmarks in all four subjects. The NCSL report says, "A U.S. Department of Education study found that 58 percent of students who do not require remediation earn a bachelor's degree, compared to only 17 percent of students enrolled in remedial reading and 27 percent of students enrolled in remedial math."
The fact of business is that colleges admit a far greater number of students than those who test as being college-ready. Why should students be admitted to college when they are not capable of academic performance at the college level? Admitting such students gets the nation's high schools off the hook. The nation's high schools can continue to deliver grossly fraudulent education — namely, issue diplomas that attest that students can read, write and compute at a 12th-grade level when they may not be able to perform at even an eighth- or ninth-grade level.
You say, "Hold it, Williams. No college would admit a student who couldn't perform at an eighth- or ninth-grade level." During a recent University of North Carolina scandal, a learning specialist hired to help athletes found that during the period from 2004 to 2012, 60 percent of the 183 members of the football and basketball teams read between fourth- and eighth-grade levels. About 10 percent read below a third-grade level. These were students with high-school diplomas and admitted to UNC. And it's not likely that UNC is the only university engaging in such gross fraud.
. Many students who manage to graduate don't have a lot to show for their time and money. New York University professor Richard Arum, co-author of "Academically Adrift: Limited Learning on College Campuses," says that his study shows that more than a third of students showed no improvement in critical thinking skills after four years at a university. That observation is confirmed by the many employers who complain that lots of recent graduates cannot seem to write an email that will not embarrass the company. In 1970, only 11 percent of adult Americans held college degrees. These degree holders were viewed as the nation's best and brightest. Today, over 30 percent hold college degrees, with a significant portion of these graduates not demonstrably smarter or more disciplined than the average American. Declining academic standards and grade inflation tend to confirm employer perceptions that college degrees say little about job readiness.
What happens to many of these ill-prepared college graduates? If they manage to become employed in the first place, their employment has little to do with their degree. One estimate is that 1 in 3 college graduates have a job historically performed by those with a high-school diploma or the equivalent. According to Richard Vedder, who is a professor of economics at Ohio University and the director of the Center for College Affordability and Productivity, we had 115,000 janitors, 16,000 parking lot attendants, 83,000 bartenders and about 35,000 taxi drivers with bachelor's degrees in 2012.
The bottom line is that college is not for everyone. There is absolutely no shame in a youngster's graduating from high school and learning a trade. Doing so might earn him much more money than many of his peers who attend college.
A STEM college program is still a fine path to a good paying middle class job. Science, technology, engineering and math are still good majors. Anything from the college of sciences has potential to lead to a good middle class job.
Don’t condemn the college of sciences just because the college of Arts and Letters is nearly useless on the career path unless you become a teacher.
There are few jobs where a college degree is absolutely necessary. Doctors, lawyers, aerospace engineers, biomedical engineers are a few (I’m selfish because my two oldest just graduated with aerospace and biomedical engineering degrees).
Most other jobs should not require degrees, and I’m case-in-point: I have a high school diploma, four years of technical military training, and a couple of community college credits. I am currently a business executive at a VERY well-known high-tech company, and have held sales and marketing positions in several other well-known tech companies.
We are creating an entire generation of young people who will never realize the payment of their student loans, and are immediately saddled with a mortgage payment as soon as they graduate (and that’s BEFORE they go get their real mortgage payment). Most of the available jobs out there come nowhere near the salary necessary to live and pay off their debt.
It is extremely sad what we’ve setup for our future.
I've always been guided by chose a field you want to work in and you will probably never “work” a day in your life. If that field is working with your hands or if you are mechanically inclined, try a trade: A/C; Carpentry, Plumbing etc. If you see a future in another area, assess the opportunities at the other end of your path before starting.
In my case I loved photography (circa 1960). A mentor told me it was a difficult field. I considered Rochester Institute as I figured there would be a job at Kodak at the end. Fortunately for me, I could not afford it so I got a starter job at a bank and began an entry job in tada: Electronic Data Processing. I found I did not like it. Local College for Accounting, Army as a CI Agent, loved the work, and 35 years later left the investigative field feeling like I never worked a day in my life.
I recommend having a good mentor, a practical outlook, and experience (like a job or the military) to get a feel for what you will end up doing. Unfortunately, most “guidance” counselors today and part time parents, don't have the experiences or skills to guide anyone except into the “get a degree” choice.
I managed my career by first joining the Army, completing 60 hrs in business and then started the IT certification route. By the time I was 32, I had a six figure income and still no degree.
At 45, I was told by HR that I could no longer be promoted unless I had at least an associates. So I went and obtained that. At 50 I was told again, that unless I had a BS or BA, I could not be promoted. Working on that now, will be finished Aug 2018.
The degrees have not helped me improve my income as I still make 6 figures. They have helped the HR folks feel better about hiring me.
My son is leaving for college soon to pursue an engineering degree. One of his roommates is pursuing a music degree. I can’t imagine what kind of job awaits the music major after graduation.
“At 50 I was told again, that unless I had a BS or BA, I could not be promoted. Working on that now, will be finished Aug 2018.”
My wife had same experience as you.
College has become a scam wherein the current ponytailed Baby Boomer professors, and administrators, con the youth to hand over a sizeable portion of their future life earnings in exchange for nothing more than a promise of access to higher earnings.
I have two kids in college. The pressure from their high school to attend the best college possible was enormous. And parents got bragging rights if their kid got into a good college.
Stop the tape!
Kids at 17 or 18 rarely know what they want to do, or what their gifts are. Rather than spend and potentially waste tens of thousands of dollars, my kids are both taking their general studies at the local community college while living at home. Two years done with the general courses out of the way and they are debt free, own their own car, and have a much better idea of what they want to do when they transfer to a 4-year school to finish their last two years.
Saying your going to community college sounds pretty low-brow to most, but why should I pay $15k to $20k per year for general studies not related to a major that can easily be taken far cheaper and then transfer out to a 4-year school?
I do not want to burden my kids with mountains of school loan debt for the rest of their lives. And, IMO, outside of a hard science degree, college is of very marginal value anymore.
30-40 years ago, a college degree meant something. Now, the majority of graduates can’t even speak proper English. They sound like babbling fools. But it’s diversity, right?
College degrees are like sex: It’s only important when you DON’T have it.
Unfortunately, in most cases that is exactly what a college degree gets you.
I was very concerned for a while about my daughter's boyfriend. She had been pursuing her biomedical engineering degree and had been seriously hitched with a boy who was pursuing a history degree. When talking to him, he couldn't articulate what he was going to do when he graduated -- even though at the time he was a junior.
THANKFULLY, he has decided now to pursue a law degree, which puts him in my good graces now (even though I'd prefer my daughter not date until she's 40).
There are so many worthless pieces of paper out there. It really grates on me when I'm looking for employment that this is the first thing employers ask for. It's like my 30 years of experience at some of the top companies in my field doesn't matter -- just that stupid piece of paper. I've been far into the hiring process -- in the final decision stage -- and have a hiring department notice at the 11th hour that I didn't have a degree, then call me and tell me I wasn't qualified for the position.
The ironic thing is, it doesn't matter what that piece of paper is in. It could have been that history degree and I would have passed through the golden door.
This is a great recommendation. If you graduate high school and you don't have a clue what you want to be doing to earn a living at the age of 25, then the last thing you should be doing is enrolling in an undergraduate program -- especially an expensive one.
-PJ
I recall that back in the 60's I went to school with many "students" who were majoring in staying out of the draft.
They took the easiest courses and had no intention of learning anything. I think this may have been a precursor to the soft soap studies courses of today.
Many current students are majoring in not growing up.
Colleges are a win-win for the political left.
They get to indoctrinate their social justice warrior army at someone else’s expense, AND since the overwhelming number of faculty and staff are leftists, they personally benefit, sometimes from extortionate salaries.
Engineering will probably be almost completely immune from SJW-type influence in this country for one simple reason: LIABILITY. Nobody is going to hire a civil engineer to design a bridge, or an electrical engineer to design a hand-held phone, when they are exposed to billions of dollars in civil liability if the design is flawed.
One of the things that makes certain fields immune from "PC" and "SJW" idiocy is that the subject matter is transferable across national borders. Medicine and engineering, for example, that can be practiced anywhere in the world because the laws of nature are universal. There's also a downside to that for people who work in those fields ... in that those are fields where it is very easy for foreigners to come here and fill jobs in the U.S.
I was middleclass while my kids grew up so we selected catholic school for Primary School and High school and Boy Scouts for leadership training.
My two boys then went to State University (low tuition) for Engineering Degrees. Both boys got jobs right out of the box and the feed back is that their supervisors love them.
Its obvious that I am proud of them, but the point is that I kept them out of the public school system as I felt Catholic school was more conservative at that time, and with Boyscouts they underwent Junior Leadership training.
And based on their accomplishments these were the best decisions I ever made.(Did I mention they are both Eagles?):D
That's a good point to remember, because I suspect a lot of the problems we face with higher education today can be traced to the same fundamental issue that drove colleges to admit all of those students 50+ years ago: a prospective student's capabilities became less important than their willingness to pay anything to get in the door.
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