Walter Russell Mead: The Higher Education Bubble

http://blogs.the-american-interest.com/wrm/2010/08/31/back-to-school/

by cwan • 16 years ago

9 3 16 years ago

SamAtt• 16 years ago

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.

naner• 16 years ago

That wasn't the thrust of this essay, though. I think you're assuming to much and jumping to conclusions. This was just a simple essay to future students, that doesn't mean this is all he has to say on the subject.

It doesn't surprise me at all. The classics are probably the best place to discover a philosophy of work and strategy that is useful in this environment (and any future environment).

Also, people in developing countries work like hell because they have to to survive. They were given nothing. We were given everything. We're not facing nearly the same risks. You can't just tell these students "Hey! You will have to work hard because those other guys are." and expect them to jump. You have to change the way their mind works, and the classics have the material to do so. Otherwise, people who have grown up with an easy life have a tendency to squander what they have and become fat and lazy.

timruffles• 16 years ago

Solid article. This problem is painfully evident in the UK, where we're aiming at 50% university attendance, when we have quality courses available for about 10% of students. The result: 3 more years of high-school quality education - quantitatively more education, but qualitatively these 'graduates' have just crammed, parroted and forgotten a little more.

The most important skill to take from HE is the ability and desire to continue to learn: the only skill that'll never be obsolete (I'd better keep telling myself that, since I'm a history graduate :) ).

Walter Russell Mead: The Higher Education Bubble

Related Stories