February 10, 2013
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Education and the Economy
I was watching the Sunday Morning Talking Heads and heard Ariana Huffington comment about the problem of “Half the college grads can’t find jobs”.
I’ve heard this comment a lot lately and I suppose it’s true. The question is why it’s true?
Is the problem because of the world-wide economic downturn, or are there just too many college graduates? Many industries and other consumer-driven companies complain about the scarcity of qualified workers – this seems to be true across the board for “middle income”jobs. In short, do we need more lawyers or more mechanics and cooks?
Another problem seems to be the complaint that our universities are turning out graduates unfit for any useful employment – Of what use is a degree in literature, history, or fine arts?
Comments (7)
Part of the reason is because a college degree is equivalent to a high school degree a few decades ago–it’s expected that you should have one. But take into consideration that 1)baby boomers have been telling the millenniums that college to what you do to avoid the more grunt-type jobs (since that held true for them) and 2) many, many graduating students are graduating with tons of debt that they really can’t take minimum wage type jobs, and then you have a giant mess. The simple fact is the cost of education is outpacing its value. One way to try and get around this is to major in the areas where it still might be worth it (engineering, hard sciences). But an education in literature, history, or philosophy is not worth 100K+, especially if that’s going to be student debt following you around after graduation.
We have friends whose children have just graduated college. One is a certified teacher graduated with high marks, lives near Chicago and can’t find a teaching job…it’s the craziest thing ever…She is working 3 part time jobs(food place/book store/sub-teacher) because she has to pay off student loans…And she still has to live at home with her folks because she can’t afford nothing but student loans…something is amiss. It feels like the government just don’t care about it’s people.
@whataboutbahb - A problem about majoring in the areas where “…it still might be worth it (engineering, hard sciences) is that these areas require the same amount of dedication and skill as the humanities do – if you don’t have that interest and ability, you won’t be a very good engineer or hard scientist – or make very much of a living.
You actually don’t have to incur that horrific student debt – my college career was funded by Congressional appointment (for a couple of years), the GI Bill, scholarships, assistantships, and summer work – all of which are still available today. When I was at Harvard, I asked about available grant/scholarship funds. They said they had some. I asked how much, they answered “Whatever you need”. Of course that was back in the not-so-dark ages.
I really enjoyed teaching – was qualified to teach Math (which I did) but found the Humanities much more interesting and challenging to teach, so I switched.
I think the problem with too many college grads is that too many students are accepted who simply are not qualified or particularly interested in what college really has to offer – the colleges have become too interested in their profits -many have shifted to, or are created as, profit-making institutions and they have a blank check when it comes to government loan money. The more in debt you are, the more profit they make – whether or not you graduate or actually learn anything.
@tychecat -
I think government loan money has had a major negative impact on both diluting the quality of a college degree and letting loans be given to people making very poor financial decisions (example: kid with no parental support taking out full loans at a very expensive school to major in art…that person will most likely be stuck with a lot of debt for a very long time). Same situation is happening for grad degrees. (I’m in law school and both these critiques apply with the same,, if not more, force to government loans being provided for law students.) It tears me up on the inside, since I think education and learning should be one of the top priorities in life (so I want everyone to have access), but I think government involvement has really screwed up the market.
@whataboutbahb - While I agree that “education and learning should be one of the top priorities in life”, I also think that the education provided by modern universities is certainly not appropriate for all youngsters.
Any modern developed nation must be based on a well-balanced system of workers. The percentage of workers who need college training is certainly never half the population – unless your nation is a rather small highly specialized one – perhaps like Singapore or maybe Switzerland – and even doubtful then.
We really need to encourage technical training and training for those specialities that are and will be available. Look at want-ads to see what employers want but can’t find.
Incidentally, I’ve know quite a few lawyers – some very competent and some very unhappy. Many lawyers don’t make as good a living as a really good chef does.
@tychecat -
Yeah, I’m in agreement on all points (including the lawyer ones
). The issue is that it’s become a societal norm to not become an adult until your mid-twenties. That’s not necessarily problematic if you reach that point debt-free, but going to college to binge drink for 4-6 years is not a good investment if it means a lot of student debt, which then limits your employment options. (And I think a relatively new development in the last couple of decades has been for these people with large student debt to then go into grad programs since their employment prospects aren’t too hot with a BA in humanities and the extra school allows them to stop the interest on the UG debt. But a lot of grad programs are not worth it as well, which just means more student debt and people in their late twenties with poor job prospects and a large amount of student debt.) I would love to see a societal shift where a large amount of high school students go to cheap, technical schools (or just do apprenticeships) to learn a useful trade or craft. It’s a problem that many parents are so opposed to that idea because they are operating under the rules of their generation (where “college=the good life” in terms of job prospects).
@whataboutbahb - You’ve hit on a generational perception problem.
Almost all the males of my generation were Korean War veterans and had the benifit of the GI Bill. A stint in the service did tend to focus us, I suppose. Maybe that was a useful learning experience – providing you didn’t get killed as part of the process. We seem to have developed a military sub-culture where nowadays only a few even consider serving. Maybe Universal military service (the Draft) wasn’t such a bad thing.
While the GI Bill benifit is still available – there are not so many veterans – and colleges have become more “for profit” and less interested in education.
Interestingly enough, most of us college-going vets were not into binge drinking and fooling around – I suppose there was a maturity factor. Our vices were a little more in control – and many of us were married.