Part of this article says that 45% of students say they don’t enjoy reading serious books and only read what they have to.
In my opinion, college is for people who enjoy reading serious books. If that’s not your thing, fine — be a plumber, electrician, machinist, whatever. You’ll almost certainly have a better life doing stuff in the real world rather than living in a cubicle.
This country needs job training programs. It does NOT need a lot of college students. Most people in college today should not be in college today. They don’t want to be there. They don’t want to learn anything. They think they know it all already.
College, as it is set up today, is more of a problem than it is a solution. We need a lot less higher education.
There are three things at work here.
First, there is some odd belief that everyone needs to go to college to achieve success. It would be logical except you end with a debt deal, and you might not be out of college debt until age 45.
Second, colleges shifted in the 1960s and became more of a storefront. You want any degree....they offer it. So people have started to choose worthless degrees, and are shocked when they don’t pay off.
Third, Where’s the real payoff for degrees?
I sat five years ago in the Huntsville Airport...10 PM, trying to rent a car. One lady left and she was working my paperwork....while we had a conversation. She was a recent college grad...four year degree, and had been hired as the ‘chief’ of the car rental shop at the airport. I sat there...knowing in the 1980s that this was typically an older guy...with no degree. The problem is...she couldn’t find regular work that would equate to the degree. So she took this job and just hoped something would come up in the next year or two.
I’ve met a lot of folks like that. They have a worthless degree, and making in the $25k range per year.
If you are going to be any of these things, you'd better be able to read and comprehend.
And be able to read prints.
I doubt many "college kids" these days would be able to survive in any of these career fields.
I took a college course that significantly impacted my college studies - speed reading. It is amazing how much that lightened my college work load. Perhaps colleges should require 100 level classes in speed reading, research methods, MS Word and typing.
They don't read serious books? :-)
How about...if you don't want to get into six figures of debt to have a load of worthless, unmarketable crap shoved down your throat, learn a trade. :-)
You’ve definitely got a point on the trades thing, though. My plumber makes more than most of the 4 year grads I know, and more than a lot of the non-STEM PhDs.
As an electrician and automation man, I read a lot of serious books, and I’m held accountable by code which is written by lawyers I’m fairly certain heh.
You have a good point. More people should be trained by a program in a field they want to be in rather than some expensive indoctrination facility.
Too many college professors fit this description as well. The college level teaching and research profession would be well served by putting a premium on their professors having significant private sector experience in the real world.