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Sunday, September 24, 2006

DPs


UD has pointed out before on this blog that sheer numbers of people in college mean nothing.

Italy has more people in college than we do. Ooh!

What are they doing there? What sorry excuse for a college are they in?

Piling bodies on is pointless if the college experience -- either because the institution is poor, or because the student lacks a shred of intellectual interest -- is pointless.




I had a student once who got an almost perfect score on his verbal SATs. He was a spectacular writer, and a witty and personable character.

He told me early in his freshman year he had absolutely no interest in attending college -- his wealthy parents insisted he go. His longstanding passion was for car racing and writing about car racing. No matter how many semesters of C minuses he racked up, he was going to be a racer and a racing writer and nothing else.

I assume that's what he's doing now. He barely made it through college. The main thing he accomplished by staying in was delaying the onset of his writing career.



In the Christian Science Monitor, George C. Leef writes:


Boosting college participation would mean recruiting still more ...disengaged students. Increasing their numbers will not give us a more skilled workforce; it will just put more downward pressure on academic standards.

Already standards have been falling for decades, as schools have lowered expectations to keep weak, indifferent students enrolled. Indeed, many students who graduate from college are deficient in even the most basic skills that employers want. Last year's National Assessment of Adult Literacy found, for example, that less than a third of college graduates are proficient in reading and the ability to do elementary mathematical calculations. Similarly, the National Commission on Writing has found that many business executives are appalled at graduates' poor writing skills.

And although the word on the street is that more jobs demand a college degree (and presumably, college-level skills), that's not necessarily true. More employers require job applicants to have a degree not because the work is so challenging, but because there are so many college graduates in the labor force that they can afford to screen out those with less formal education.

In reality, although we may have entered the so-called "knowledge economy," the true backbone of the economy will continue to consist of low- and medium-skilled jobs. Take a look at the Bureau of Labor Statistics's 10 fastest growing occupations between 2004 and 2014, and you'll find that six of the 10 professions do not require a four-year degree, and four of these call for no academic degree at all.

We currently find many college graduates employed as waiters, cashiers, healthcare aides, and in other jobs that don't require any special background. Expanding college access will just mean more young people with college debts doing low-paid work.

Clearly, the US does not have a quantity problem with regard to higher education. Rather, it has a quality problem. As one student I know puts it, "People would be amazed if they knew how easy it is to graduate without learning anything." Certainly there are numerous positions that demand college-level skills, and we need talented graduates to fill them.

To turn out a more capable crop of young adults, colleges and universities should do their part: Raise academic standards to ensure that only those who want to be in college get there. Also, admissions counselors should remind prospective students that there are good career options for those who don't feel drawn to scholarly work. America is so rich in learning opportunities other than those found in college classrooms that we don't need to raise college graduation statistics for mere numbers' sake.

Above all, the US should stop worrying about the percentage of its younger citizens who have college degrees vs. the percentage in other countries. The truth is, most of what people need to know in order to be successful in life is not learned in formal educational settings. The job skills that help workers advance in their careers are usually learned on the job.

A college education should be accessible to anyone who wants one, but people are pretty good at figuring out what investments in knowledge and skill are best for them. They shouldn't feel undue pressure to obtain a four-year degree. We can all rest assured that our position in the world will not be harmed by the choices of our young people to seek the educational and career paths that best suit their wants and needs.


Distance learning, podcasting, grade inflation, a pulverized curriculum, sports majors on sports-mad campuses, no restrictions on how long people can stay in college -- all of these and many other trends make the world safe for the curious new class of college-goers who shouldn't be in college.

Of course, there's a vast company of administrators whose jobs depend on the existence of these displaced persons...