A recent NYTimes article argues:
College degrees are simply not necessary for many jobs. Of the 30 jobs projected to grow at the fastest rate over the next decade in the United States, only seven typically require a bachelor’s degree, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics.
What’s wrong here? Essentially, the argument is an economic one: getting a higher education doesn’t necessarily guarantee the graduate a job.
I agree that a college education isn’t for all, but the article misses the point (not to mention promoting what amounts to a class system). Education should not be valued based on job prospects.
And businesses and their HR departments need to reorient hiring away from degrees and towards less superficial standards. It would require them to devote more time and resources to screening applicants and more personalized methods, not to mention opening up their critical thinking skills a bit more.
The current college graduate has two choices: 1) get sucked into the cubicle life or removing themselves from the world and pursuing obscure research.
For some, wasting money on an education that is supposed to teach them vocational skills while they can get the same skills on the cheap elsewhere seems silly. The truer issue is, what should we teach students: to fill out clipboard forms, turn a wrench, or answer the help desks?
It used to be simple: You apprenticed, and based on your moxie, you became successful at what your vocation was or you didn’t. Much like many of the careers today, on-the-job training matter a hell of a lot more than education you can attain in universities.
But here’s the point. College is the one formative time to learn and grow beyond modern society’s emphasis on vocational training. The ability to recognize contexts, to look at ideas comparatively, to form opinions and reason based on facts and logic, to gain a broad exposure to different philosophies and world views and culture – those are the lessons that makes someone a better human being vs a good worker.
A basic understanding of humanities, of literature, of the creative and other liberal arts goes a long way in training empathetic, moderate and progressive adults. It may even help combat ignorance. That’s what our education ought to provide us as a baseline, and that’s what we should pay for. I would argue that better human beings will create a better society than efficient workers without a comprehensive understanding of the increasingly complex world.
Progressive societies should almost always create better economic productivity in the long run – and to look at education as a blunt economic tool is just ass backwards.
We need to reform higher education, not shy away from it. And more importantly, we need to encourage students to seek knowledge, in all of its scary and non-specific and difficult terms, in or out of traditional education systems, instead of forcing them to blindly go down the path towards obsolescence.