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And what’s expected of students at all levels has been dumbed down tremendously in recent decades. Perfect scores on SATs used to be unheard of. Now they’re routine.
Furthermore, the best graduate students in the top universities are often foreigners. And they come from countries that have much cheaper education systems. Yet American 15-year- olds rank in the middle of the pack in math, reading and science scores, and their high-school graduation rates are below international averages.
Education StandardsAs higher-education quantity has soared, quality has dropped. Many institutions are mere diploma mills, graduating students of limited capability. Wall Street companies and management consultants fawn over MBAs from Stanford and Harvard, but won’t even interview the legions of night-school MBAs, who were taught by poorly paid adjunct professors at lesser institutions.
The realization that many recent college graduates were poorly prepared for nonexistent jobs, that they will be burdened for years with crushing student loans along with the resulting frustration, may be bringing about a great revelation: Going to college doesn’t make you smart and ready for a good, well-paid job. There’s little causal relationship between going to college and financial success despite the statistical link. And you can’t prove causality with statistics.
Indeed, causality probably runs the other way. Today, most smart people go to college, especially as the top institutions beat the bushes for able, but disadvantaged, students with brains who lack legacy or other connections. But bright people would be successful without college, as was common before the days when a degree became almost mandatory. This direction of causality is also suggested by the high dropout rates of low- income students, who often lack the intellectual preparation for college. Furthermore, those who demonstrate the brains needed for college while in high school usually enter four-year institutions and graduate.
A minimum of a bachelor’s degree is needed to be considered for a decent job; it’s the initial screen used by most employers. And, of course, employers generally are assured that top school graduates have the best prospects for success — whether it’s because those institutions do a great job at education or because they attract the cream of the crop. At the same time, so many people graduate from college that even bartenders have degrees. Did the chemistry courses teach them how to mix martinis? The money spent on people who don’t require more than a high-school diploma for their jobs is wasted, as is their time in college.
Vocational TrainingIf it becomes widely apparent that college doesn’t make people smart, high-school students will probably be much more efficiently directed to institutions that match their capabilities. Those with high IQs, grades and test scores will be encouraged to attend four-year colleges and universities. Those in the middle will be guided to community colleges with the option of transferring to four-year institutions if they do well. And less-able students will be channeled toward vocational training for occupations that suit them and often pay very well.
Employers could encourage the rationalization of post- secondary education to match ability with the proper educational and training institutions by making it clear that a college or graduate degree by itself doesn’t cut much ice. Those who don’t come from credible institutions or can’t pass rigorous tests need not apply. This would discourage many from spending their time and money on worthless degrees and encourage them to pursue more fruitful education and training.
Just consider the demand for carpenters, plumbers, electricians and mechanics, and the high pay they now command, even in this weak economy. Community colleges with two-year courses in technical specialties are training people for these jobs and for manufacturing positions such as machinists, robotics specialists and other highly skilled trades. An estimated 600,000 skilled middle-class manufacturing jobs remain unfilled nationwide, even as millions of Americans are still unemployed. German companies with operations in the U.S. such as Siemens AG, Bayerische Motoren Werke AG and Robert Bosch GmbH are transferring their nation’s system here. It involves apprentice programs in partnerships with technical schools.
The student-loan glut is depressing college financing, but so too are other woes unleashed by the recession. With high unemployment, depressed incomes, still-reduced investment portfolios and collapsed house prices, alumni giving is under pressure. And it is likely to remain so in the slow-economic- growth atmosphere of deleveraging that will probably take another five to seven years to complete.
The financial status of students’ parents will remain troubled for the same reasons. Many, as they approach retirement, will confront vastly inadequate < savings and need to save for their own well-being, as well as to help finance their kids’ educations. Home equity used to be available to fund children’s college tuition, but no more.
Declining AppealIn 2010, one-third of parents surveyed by the education- lender Sallie Mae strongly agreed that children should attend college for the experience, regardless of the effect on their potential earnings. In 2011, that number slipped to 24 percent.
Most college endowments have recovered from the huge losses of 2008, but remain more cautious, with weaker gains likely in future years. They are now prepared for lower returns as they emphasize dividends, investment-grade bond interest and other here-and-now income rather than pie-in-the-sky capital gains.
According to a new study by student-loan provider Sallie Mae, grants and scholarships fell 15 percent in the 2011-2012 academic year to $6,077 on average from $7,124 in 2010-2011. This category includes money from colleges as well as scholarships from other institutions and federal funding such as Pell grants.
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