Interested in a different viewpoint? Check out this editorial in which William Gross defends his belief that college has lost its value and not really worth the time. Gross mentions Peter Thiel, the man who will give 20 students $100,000 to drop out of college to become “entrepreneurs”. Gross believes that having a college degree was valuable years ago, when this path to education led you into a promising job market. But obviously times have changed and a four year college education doesn’t automatically ensure stability and employment. The article argues that our country should turn away from the traditional liberal arts education and instead focus in on technical education, technical institutes, and apprenticeship programs. This shift in focus would allow for individuals with good technical skills but no college experience to earn a good living. To continue his argument, Gross goes on to mention that some of the greatest companies of the 21st century (Apple, Facebook, Google, etc) tend to higher employees without a college degree.
So does Gross have a point? Or does he simply represent one extreme of the spectrum? Here in Baltimore, we’re pushing college on our students starting in elementary school. We try to instill confidence in them and make them believe that college is something they can and, more importantly, should reach. But are we pushing them towards a goal that will ultimately have no real value in the end? Is college just a way to delay the inevitable for another four years: unemployment? How would this affect the values and mindsets that we try to ingrain in our students here in Baltimore City?
3 comments:
I tried this once already and lost the whole post…
The gist of the post is that what William Gross is trying to show that on an individual by individual basis sometimes it makes more sense to not go to college than to take the typical route. This is a compelling idea, but I wanted to take it even a step farther.
What this idea is showing is a phenomenon even bigger than the individual basis that Gross argues on. The fact that for individuals to make the choice not to go to college is not only feasible, but might make more sense points us toward a larger picture. It shows us that perhaps society is not investing our resources wisely. Think about all of the effort (and by effort I mean hard-earned tax dollars) that goes into getting a child into and through college. If we are seeing people turn down that investment, it might mean that overall something is amiss. I am not going to make a full argument out of what I think the alignment might be, but suffice it to say something in this whole situation shows us a key point that might need rethinking.
I tried this once already and lost the whole post…
The gist of the post is that what William Gross is trying to show that on an individual by individual basis sometimes it makes more sense to not go to college than to take the typical route. This is a compelling idea, but I wanted to take it even a step farther.
What this idea is showing is a phenomenon even bigger than the individual basis that Gross argues on. The fact that for individuals to make the choice not to go to college is not only feasible, but might make more sense points us toward a larger picture. It shows us that perhaps society is not investing our resources wisely. Think about all of the effort (and by effort I mean hard-earned tax dollars) that goes into getting a child into and through college. If we are seeing people turn down that investment, it might mean that overall something is amiss. I am not going to make a full argument out of what I think the alignment might be, but suffice it to say something in this whole situation shows us a key point that might need rethinking.
I chose to respond to this post because it is something that I argue with myself about all the time. However, I don't think that I truly know what the answer should be. My school is completely focused on college prep. We have a college bound advisor. We visit colleges, even as 8th graders. All of the classrooms in the school are required to have a college corner. College is almost overly emphasized in my school. Every other Wednesday we have college and career focus hour. However, it is important to consider the idea that maybe college does not carry the same meaning as it used to. Colleges are getting more expensive and the value of a college degree is going down. Sometimes, I wonder about my students going in debt for a college degree and then being unemployed when they graduate. People also raise the issue that perhaps college is not for everyone and maybe that is not really a bad thing. I think the idea to focus on is choice. It's not about forcing everyone to go to college and it's not about bribing people with money to not go to college. It is about creating options for every student in America. No one should feel like they're being forced through one door.
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