The irony is this author never once questions why American degrees aren’t paying off. If I was a professor at a University and I acknowledged the fact that degrees aren’t paying off I’d be looking for a solution. Not shrugging my shoulders and telling future students to accept the inevitability of their useless education.
It amazes me that he can make a point of mentioning the tough competition from China and India (where degrees are more “skill oriented”) and then go on to suggest students spend their college years pursuing a “liberal education” as he calls it.
Don’t get me wrong. I’m all for General Education classes that introduce students to basic ideas of philosophy, other cultures and so on. But the University system needs to realize that those classes are the gravy and not the main course. The focus of college is to get a usable skill that will make you a productive member of society. I’m continually amazed by people in my professional life who have gone through 6 years of college (MBAs) and seemingly have no useful skills to show for it.
I think it’s time for University teachers to take ownership of the problem and start creating curriculums that are designed to fix it.
It amazes me that he can make a point of mentioning the tough competition from China and India (where degrees are more “skill oriented”) and then go on to suggest students spend their college years pursuing a “liberal education” as he calls it.
Don’t get me wrong. I’m all for General Education classes that introduce students to basic ideas of philosophy, other cultures and so on. But the University system needs to realize that those classes are the gravy and not the main course. The focus of college is to get a usable skill that will make you a productive member of society. I’m continually amazed by people in my professional life who have gone through 6 years of college (MBAs) and seemingly have no useful skills to show for it.
I think it’s time for University teachers to take ownership of the problem and start creating curriculums that are designed to fix it.