Rationalizing College - USM Forum -- Message Board

Obviousman · Status: Offline

Rationalizing College

Curmudgeon · Status: Offline

I give Gunther credit for raising an important question. For the students who start but never finish a degree (over half), he is surely on to something in terms of debt and foregone wages. One factor driving the over enrollment in higher education is credential inflation. Without getting into specifics, many of today's jobs filled by college graduates were filled by high school graduates a few decades ago.

Many years ago an old timer told me that if you are smart, you don't need school, and if you are dumb, it won't help. As educators we reject that "wisdom," but there is a kernal of truth there.

ram · Status: Offline

Curmudgeon wrote:
...

Many years ago an old timer told me that if you are smart, you don't need school, and if you are dumb, it won't help. As educators we reject that "wisdom," but there is a kernal of truth there.

Sure, if one is smart, lucky or driven enough (think Bill Gates) or if one is dumb enough (think up your own example), then schooling (as distinguished from education) may not be much of a help. But formal schooling targets the rest of us. As much as anything, it helps to assure for our society a moderately uniform product that is fairly tolerant of the frustrations borne of bureaucracy, regulation, procedure and perverse authority.

Date: Sep 16, 2008

Actually, my brother, who seemed to go for a year, then work two years, said that for every year of college he completed, he got higher wages and more respect. Some of my uncompleted students have said the same.