Posted on 08/08/2017 5:34:19 AM PDT by SJackson
August is the month when parents bid farewell to not only their college-bound youngsters but also a sizable chunk of cash for tuition. More than 18 million students attend our more than 4,300 degree-granting institutions. A question parents, their college-bound youngsters and taxpayers should ask: Is college worth it?
Let's look at some of the numbers. According to the National Conference of State Legislatures, "when considering all first-time undergraduates, studies have found anywhere from 28 percent to 40 percent of students enroll in at least one remedial course. When looking at only community college students, several studies have found remediation rates surpassing 50 percent." Only 25 percent of students who took the ACT in 2012 met the test's readiness benchmarks in all four subjects (English, reading, math and science). Just 5 percent of black students and 13 percent of Hispanic students met the readiness benchmarks in all four subjects. The NCSL report says, "A U.S. Department of Education study found that 58 percent of students who do not require remediation earn a bachelor's degree, compared to only 17 percent of students enrolled in remedial reading and 27 percent of students enrolled in remedial math."
The fact of business is that colleges admit a far greater number of students than those who test as being college-ready. Why should students be admitted to college when they are not capable of academic performance at the college level? Admitting such students gets the nation's high schools off the hook. The nation's high schools can continue to deliver grossly fraudulent education — namely, issue diplomas that attest that students can read, write and compute at a 12th-grade level when they may not be able to perform at even an eighth- or ninth-grade level.
You say, "Hold it, Williams. No college would admit a student who couldn't perform at an eighth- or ninth-grade level." During a recent University of North Carolina scandal, a learning specialist hired to help athletes found that during the period from 2004 to 2012, 60 percent of the 183 members of the football and basketball teams read between fourth- and eighth-grade levels. About 10 percent read below a third-grade level. These were students with high-school diplomas and admitted to UNC. And it's not likely that UNC is the only university engaging in such gross fraud.
. Many students who manage to graduate don't have a lot to show for their time and money. New York University professor Richard Arum, co-author of "Academically Adrift: Limited Learning on College Campuses," says that his study shows that more than a third of students showed no improvement in critical thinking skills after four years at a university. That observation is confirmed by the many employers who complain that lots of recent graduates cannot seem to write an email that will not embarrass the company. In 1970, only 11 percent of adult Americans held college degrees. These degree holders were viewed as the nation's best and brightest. Today, over 30 percent hold college degrees, with a significant portion of these graduates not demonstrably smarter or more disciplined than the average American. Declining academic standards and grade inflation tend to confirm employer perceptions that college degrees say little about job readiness.
What happens to many of these ill-prepared college graduates? If they manage to become employed in the first place, their employment has little to do with their degree. One estimate is that 1 in 3 college graduates have a job historically performed by those with a high-school diploma or the equivalent. According to Richard Vedder, who is a professor of economics at Ohio University and the director of the Center for College Affordability and Productivity, we had 115,000 janitors, 16,000 parking lot attendants, 83,000 bartenders and about 35,000 taxi drivers with bachelor's degrees in 2012.
The bottom line is that college is not for everyone. There is absolutely no shame in a youngster's graduating from high school and learning a trade. Doing so might earn him much more money than many of his peers who attend college.
If your degree is in a major that has the word “studies” in the title then it’s worthless.
Bkmk
Back around 2010....I had to fly into a southern city late at night and pick up a rental car. Just one gal left...the manager of the agency. I got into a discussion with her...she was a recent graduate of the local college...four-year degree, and this car rental agency manager job was the only thing she could find.
I looked at this...a decade prior...these rental car companies would have hired some guy...high-school diploma...maybe 20-year guy from the Army or Navy. They had reached a point where they were hiring college graduates for a meaningless job that really didn’t require their skills. I didn’t say that to the young lady, but obviously....this was a waste of her time and ability.
I look across today, and can probably assume that at least 10-percent of all graduates have jobs well below their capabilities but that’s how much thing have changed since the 1990s. A degree means more or less nothing today.
There are young people we know that have gone into sales after high school, and three years later are making over $50,000 a year. Add to this that they have no student debt. No prospective employer could use the “over qualified” excuse for not hiring them, which is a road block to college graduates. They were trained on the job and have proven to be excellent employees.
Whatever you do, do not go into debt financing a college degree that proves to be worthless when you need a job.
My collegiate alma mater was admitting remedial students thirty years ago. It just didn’t make the news.
This article is spot on, and I should know since I’m a college professor. Every semester my classes are filled with kids whom either shouldn’t be there, or don’t really want to be there. In the end, they run up debt, waste years doing nothing, and end up with a worthless piece of paper. Now throw in the dynamic of an entitled millennial generation and a ed-u-cart obsessed liberal faculty, and you have yourself a toxic mix.
A couple of things the article didn’t mention that are noteworthy in the discussion. Generally, I agree with the sentiments expressed. However.....
There are a lot of degrees these days that have been added that are completely and intentionally meaningless (in my opinion). What job does a Bachelors in “Women’s Studies” prepare you for? I am amazed at the list of degrees that some “prestigious” universities offer. I think enrollment is up because there are easier places to hide otherwise unqualified students. They can still collect the money regardless of the value of the “degree”. It’s a good business for the “non-for-profit” industry that is education.
Also, when considering these statistics, there are some degrees that will certainly provide an initial opportunity into a chosen career field. Engineering, Law (passing the bar included) and Medical School are all examples of degrees (often with Masters) that can get you in the door these days (first job).
I knew it was a scam 45 years ago
Student loans were the worst thing that ever happened for the so called students
The LEFT controls most of the colleges today. And, because of that, they have liberal left-leaning teachers who spew only the LEFT’s talking points.
Parents: Either send your child to a conservative college, or let them study online from a conservative college.
Otherwise, all you’re going to get is an un-educated LIBERAL who always votes DEMOCRAT.
How about graduating high school with a trade. Or at least well on their way to having a trade. When I was in HS there was auto shop, wood shop and an electronics shop. I do not think these exist any more (may be wrong). Some of my class mates were in those courses and did well in life. No shame there.
College, real college, isn’t for everyone any more than learning and becoming competent at a serious trade is for everyone.
The answer is a resounding yes If you have the intellect to actually learn at the college level and make use of what you learn.
The answer is no if you do not have the intellect.
Dumbing down colleges and moving low IQ students through in order to pump up diversity statistics doesn’t really educate those students - it just cheapens the entire process of higher education and makes the degree suspect.
And it sets the low-info graduate up for disappointment when they can’t perform at the graduate level in the workplace.
Many of us have worked with “college graduates” who can’t compose a complete sentence, speak understandably, or do simple arithmetic.
What is worse, good students are put into classes with idiots... so the whole educations process is dummied down for the lowest mentality in the room.
I can say that because I went through that....
Yes, and the number of ill prepared, frank incompetence, largely rests with low IQ, minorities. But, the key is, which major to select. Liberal farts is filled with useless degree programs. There are still good jobs for STEM field majors.
Some colleges and even universities, of course, are worth the dedication of time, treasury, and extra effort by the parties involved.
But by and large, a growing number are merely cocoons for the years beyond high school (where they should have learned what they had to know for some 90% of the jobs available), and where very little, if anything, is added to the sum of capabilities and work habits so necessary in the labor market. The graduate really has only one product to sell, himself or herself, and the value is based on how much the individual is able to do for another. It is not a stipend or award for having sat for x number of years taking down notes and regurgitating the accumulated “wisdom” to some corps of instructors who themselves may have little or no experience in the marketplace.
Perhaps some 75% of today’s college freshman would be vastly benefited by taking a year off, or maybe two or three, only entering college after they have some solid work experience and have earned at least part of their tuition expenses. This hustle to get into a so-called “good” college at the earliest practical moment serves very few of our young well.
your degree is in a major that has the word “studies” in the title then it’s worthless.””
Exactly. It’s all part of the diversity scam to feed minority students that have no business in higher education. Many of the programs simply have a hate focus for normal, hardworking, qualified students in useful areas such as the stem fields.
I agree. Many students graduate and expect to be able to "follow their dreams". They are not flexible in taking jobs that are available. Many want to start at the top and are mystified when the seas will not part for them.
They need to bring their dream to the job avaiable not wait until their dream job is laid at their feet.
The degree may get you through the employment door, but most of what you learn in college you will never need or use on the job. I want the President to keep pushing the apprenticeship programs, which I believe is where the focus should be. Forget about the wasted college years, the huge expenditure of tuition, all the books and the housing costs. Do five years apprenticeship/probation on the job and you will learn all the skills, and practical things you need to succeed on that particular job or the marketable skill for another job.
It depends on the degree
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