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It is a discussion that rears its head every time the country has economic problems: just what good is college, anyway? A recent research study published by CQ Researcher titled “Is a 4-year degree the only path to a secure future” indicates that the answer is no. The report, by Thomas J. Billitteri at CQ Researcher, explains that:
With college costs soaring, skilled jobs such as welders and medical technicians in demand and millions of young adults ill-prepared for the rigors of a university education, some policy experts argue that while post-high-school education is vital in today’s global economy, a four-year degree may be unnecessary for economic security — and perhaps even ill-advised.
This is not a huge surprise. Under President Obama’s American Graduation Initiative the goal is to create an additional 5 million community college graduates by 2020.
In coming years jobs requiring at least an associate degree are projected to grow twice as fast as jobs requiring no college experience. At this point demand for people qualified to work in such jobs remains strong; there are not enough people for these jobs.
The CQ Researcher report also indicates that the United States does not currently have training programs in place to prepare Americans for high skill jobs that require extensive training but do not require a bachelor’s degree.
It seems the crucial question should not be “Is a 4-year degree the only path to a secure future” but, rather “How should schools train Americans for jobs.”
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Anonymous on November 24, 2009 3:22 AM:
There is a difference between a four-year liberal arts degree and job-specific training. If you need someone to work as a lab technician then you should look to someone who has lab technician training (regardless of what kind of degree that person may have). A liberal arts education, what a lot of people who are getting four-year degrees are supposed to be pursuing, is about training of the mind not of a specific set of manual skills. The intellectual agility needed to be an innovator, an analyst, or an entrepreneur is more in keeping with the goals of the liberal arts.
The problems being identified in this study are not that four-year degrees are not worth the time, effort, and expense (sometimes they are sometimes they are not). The first problem I can see from this study is that our economy is not producing enough jobs in those sectors of the economy served by college graduates. The second is that we as a nation do not do a very good job of explaining to high school students what the different opportunities are in higher education relative to what they might want to do in the future - there is a default position in most high schools that students who get good grades should go to college, or students whose parents went to college should go to college, but why?
We need to rethink the training process at several critical junctures. High schools can do more if given the resources. Sending middle-class kids who have no idea what they want out of life to a liberal arts school to party and take a few classes and hopefully figure it out in four years is not an effective strategy for much of anything. In most European countries students take time off to do social service or military service before university and as a result those students (in my experience) have a better idea of why they are in school, what they hope to get out of it, and what their options will be when they are finished. The majority of students I see in the US arrive at college undecided and expect that by being in college answers will reveal themselves and a job will come along with their diploma.
So many of the articles in this section seem to have the underlying message that four-year colleges and universities just are not worth the expense anymore and people should just get their degrees online or from community colleges or not at all. It is hard not to take that personally as a college professor because a part of that message is also that what I do for a living does not have much value in society. I agree that there are problems with education in America but locating a majority of those problems at the college level is missing the mark.
pippen on November 24, 2009 12:06 PM:
I really wish more students at 4-year colleges were majoring in Liberal Arts. At least they'd enjoy their studies more-- they'd get to read great books or study history or Socrates. But "business" is the most popular major at my university, and most of the business majors seem dispirited and uninspired by it, and they are majoring in that because they think it'll get them a job. And it will... just like that history degree. Truth is, most executive-training jobs don't require a biz degree, and the students are spending 4 years studying what the English majors in their training classes will learn on the job (while getting a salary). In 5 years, no one will know what you majored in.
Yes, of course, some courses of study do lead right to a particular job-- engineering, accounting, nursing, education. But if you're going to major in something kind of formless and without career gain, why not have fun? I never understand why so many students aim for "business". I think they must be really disappointed, because that degree doesn't really get you a job that you wouldn't get with any degree.
I just hope they can have some fun with college. You work the rest of your life-- study something you're interested in in college.