OpEd – Stan Bippus

TOO MUCH EMPHASIS IS BEING PLACED ON A COLLEGE EDUCATION
by Stan Bippus

A college education is a great asset in the job market, but not necessarily a requirement. Greg Ip wrote in the Wall Street Journal that “Globalization and technology have altered the types of skills that earn workers a premium wage; in many cases, those skills aren’t learned in college classrooms. And compared with previous generations, today’s college graduates are far more likely to be competing against educated immigrants and educated workers employed overseas.”

Regardless of what research says regarding work force needs, educators continue to place extreme amount of pressure for young people to earn a college education rather than helping young people make better career decisions. It is amazing how many young people start college with no idea what they want to do when they graduate. The strategy to get students to continue their education after high school seems to be working as the Department of Education estimates that 80% of high school graduates enter some type of post secondary education of which 35% attend a four-year college. The U.S. ranks fifth in the number of students who enter college after high school when compared to other countries who are members of the Organization of Economic Cooperation and Development. When it comes to how many students’ actually complete college, the United States drops down to sixteenth place and that is a red flag that young people are going to college for the wrong reason.

According to a study by Boesel and Fredland around 600,000 students leave 4-year colleges annually without graduating. A U.S. Department of Education study found that forty-six percent of students who enter post-secondary education of any type and sixty-four percent of students entering community colleges are required to take remedial courses in one or more subjects because they lack basic skills. That is another red flag that something is wrong with the system. Taking one remedial course lowers a student’s chance of graduating by twenty-five percent and taking two remedial courses lower the odds of graduating to fifty percent. It appears more emphasis needs to be placed on making sure young people are prepared for college, not just attending college.

Research clearly shows that the more education a person has the more money he or she will earn over a lifetime. When listening to educators defend the need for young people to be prepared to meet college entrance requirements the single, most common reason given is the earning potential of a college degree over an associate degree or a high school diploma. In a report by Day in Newburger, an individual with a high school diploma earns an average of $1.2 million in a life time of working; associate’s degree holders will earn about $1.6 million; and individuals with a bachelor’s degree will earn about $2.1 million. To break this figure down a little further, the US Census Bureau reports that workers 18 and over with bachelor degrees earn an average of $51,206 a year, while those with a high school diploma earn $27,915. Workers with an advanced degree make an average of $74,602, and those without a high school diploma average $18,734. From a financial point of view, it does appear to make the investment in a college education worth the expense of going to college.

In Indiana, the Department of Education has stated that if 10,000 additional students earned a bachelor’s degree, it could add as much as $267 million per year to Indiana’s economy. That sounds really good, but where are the 10,000 jobs that required a college education to be found in Indiana? It is really hard to understand why there is such major emphasis placed on obtaining a college education when less than twenty-five percent of all jobs in the U.S. require a college education and less than three percent require a college education worldwide. In addition, less than fifty percent of college graduates end up working in their field of study. Paula Rutherford discovered that half of all new teachers will leave the education profession after five years.

There is an overriding assumption that if you make lots of money, you will be a much happier person. Something is wrong when the major strategy used to try to motivate young people to take more “rigorous” classes to get into college is based around the potential for them to earn more money. When talking to young people about getting a good education, it appears unacceptable to talk about job satisfaction or preparing for a career in an area you enjoy rather than how much money a person can make. Afterall, how many times do you hear a parent say, “My child will work at a local factory, or as a sales clerk, or a cashier at a local store after they graduate from high school?” A great deal of people in semi-skills or low paying jobs are much happier and have a much better quality of life than the people making higher salaries.

There are students who will not attend a community college or technical school simply because they are not perceived to be as prestigious as a four year college. Yet, roughly sixty percent of all jobs in the U.S. require some post secondary training, not a college education, and only twenty percent of the current work force has the skills needed to meet the needs of new jobs being created almost daily.

It is fair to say that college graduates enjoy benefits beyond increased income. A report published by the Institute for Higher Education Policy found that college graduates also enjoy, “higher levels of saving, increased personal/professional mobility, improved quality of life for their offspring, better consumer decision making, and more hobbies and leisure activities”. Individuals with a college degree are less likely to be unemployed. On the downside, more and more white-collar jobs are being lost due to downsizing and outsourcing.

When talking to young people about career decisions it is critical to talk about the need for post-secondary education and to set realistic career goals. More jobs require a year or two of specialized post-secondary training than a college degree. Vocational and trade schools need a great deal more attention when discussing post-secondary career decisions. It is equally important that young people realize the value of demonstrating a good work ethics and understand that regardless of their level of education, they will rarely, if ever, acquire a six digit salary upon graduation from college. Education is very important, but young people need to understand the words of Clarence Thomas that he wrote in “From My Daily Planner ,” “Good manners will open doors that the best education cannot.”