Oh yes, let's return college to its former status of being only for the elite.
Why do you think so many people go to college? Because it's a practical necessity for most decent-paying jobs. Not to do the job, but to get hired in the first place.
Telling people they shouldn't be in school is akin to telling them they don't deserve a decent standard of living.
As long as having a decent standard of living means having to make a living, and as long as making a living still means being employed for most people, then as long as employers still require degrees, people will go to college to get them.
There's a general solution that solves a lot of problems and is not specific only to this one. Make employment obviated, preferably by technological advance, so humans no longer have to slog away at mind-numbing "jobs" under the threat of homelessness and starvation.
That's the humane approach. It will do away with crimes of poverty, television advertising (people watch TV to escape, which they won't need to do when there's nothing to escape from), and college over-enrollment, among a zillion other problems.
Thing is, I don't think employers ask for a college degree because the job actually requires one. I think they do it to separate the top 25% from the bottom 75%. A degree is the easiest way to look at an applicant and be able to say "That person is not stupid" (whether or not that judgment is true...)
Now, even if everybody got a college degree, there would still be a top 25% and a bottom 75%. And I don't think that employers would suddenly stop discriminating because suddenly everyone was qualified. I think they'd add other qualifications, like "must have a masters degree" or "must have commit privileges on a major open-source project".
Then all the workers are back where they started, except that they're out $150k for their college degree.
I guess the only way to win is to refuse to play the game. Which is why most of us are on this site, I guess...
Yes. Once upon a time, businesses took responsibility for training their employees. Now they expect the student to come to them having blown a huge wad of cash on speculative investment in education for a job. One that they aren't sure they really like, that they'll probably abandon in 10 years anyway, and where the employer considers them disposable.
In most cases, the state also subsidizes this huge gamble.
Economists have studied this as signalling in the labor market.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Signalling_%28economics%29#The_...
Basically, employees tend to get more education than they really need just as a way to stand out from the crowd and signal their value to employers.
I agree with the first part of your post, and I don't even think those points would be disputed by the author of the article.
But the problem arises because levels are lowered across the board. Even the best minds have to go trough the shit that undergraduate education has become, and their potential will be underdeveloped because they are not pushed to do their best, leading to a lot of lost potential (and a possible degradation of scientific work and standards?).
abossy said in another comment: "I wonder if a more competitive school would be 'easier' because I would be pushed to excellence instead of striving for excellence in spite of a standard of mediocrity."
I absolutely feel his pain.
- Master Student in Computer Systems Engineering at SDU
Yes, let's! Most of the people in my university classes weren't there because they wanted to learn. They were there because they wanted a job.
Remove the artificial credential that school provides, and knowledge-seekers and job-seekers might all be better off. Why torture people with electives in English literature if they're not interested? Or for that matter, mandatory course in computer science if all they want is a Joe Javahead job? These are adults we're talking about, not children.
i wonder if the world would be better once we can cheaply subsidize everyone's basic needs. i think everyone would just become even more of a zombie, because electronic entertainment is so easy and you don't have the office as an automatic social life.
Why do you think so many people go to college? Because it's a practical necessity for most decent-paying jobs. Not to do the job, but to get hired in the first place.
Telling people they shouldn't be in school is akin to telling them they don't deserve a decent standard of living.
As long as having a decent standard of living means having to make a living, and as long as making a living still means being employed for most people, then as long as employers still require degrees, people will go to college to get them.
There's a general solution that solves a lot of problems and is not specific only to this one. Make employment obviated, preferably by technological advance, so humans no longer have to slog away at mind-numbing "jobs" under the threat of homelessness and starvation.
That's the humane approach. It will do away with crimes of poverty, television advertising (people watch TV to escape, which they won't need to do when there's nothing to escape from), and college over-enrollment, among a zillion other problems.