A new
study released by the Center for College Affordability and
Productivity reports that 37% of employed college graduates don’t
need their degrees to perform the jobs they have.
The implication of the study is that attending college is a
waste of time. This assumption might be true if a person’s reason
for attending college is solely to gain practical training for
entering the workforce.
At a liberal arts school, students study many subjects which
might not seem relevant to a person’s livelihood. Literature,
language, religion, art, and history aren’t considered worthwhile
by realistic, money-driven types. They don’t produce jobs like the
fields of finance, computers, medicine, and engineering do.
A liberal arts education might not direct a person towards any
one particular profession, but it does hone one’s skills in
reasoning, problem solving, critical thinking, and writing, all of
which are highly desirable for a career in any field. Having a true
education, rather than a certificate which denotes your competency
to perform a task, makes for a more cultured, well-rounded,
interesting individual who is appreciative of the world and how it
works.
Vivek Ranadivé wrote for
Forbes last year that “A Liberal Arts Degree Is More
Valuable Than Learning Any Trade”:
I think we should make the liberal arts education more rigorous.
If you teach students one trade, that skill might be obsolete in a
few years. But if you teach people how to think and look at lots of
information and connect dots – all skills that a classic liberal
education gives you – you will thrive.
College used to have value. Now it’s a post-graduate assumption.
With almost 70% of high
school graduates now going on to college, not going to
college has a stigma attached to it.
It’s impossible to have such widespread higher education and
keep quality high. A college degree no longer sets a person apart,
but keeps him afloat. Graduates feel lost when their degree in a
narrow, specified field doesn’t get them the job they envisioned.
If people want a technical job, why squander four years and
thousands of dollars of debt on an education that’s often just
prolonged job training sprinkled with liberal indoctrination along
the way?
Tech schools, community colleges, and apprenticeships are
underrated. Not everyone is suited for college, and not everyone
wants to go. Everyone in America feels pressured to attend, and a
college degree is now, according to Dr. Marty Nemko, a career
consultant who appeared on
John Stossel’s feature about “The College Scam,”
“like a hunting license for a job.”
A college education isn’t necessary for most jobs, but a degree
has become a requirement simply to apply for many. The result is
paralyzing student loans for a generation, and a diluted sense of
what education means. If people do decide to attend college, they
should be rewarded with an education that will prepare them for
whatever the economy might bring.
