The New York times always has some interesting comments on education. “Vocation or Exploration? Pondering the Purpose of College” discusses what is the point of college. Students come to college for all kinds of reasons (or maybe hardly an reason at all). Think made me go look for some data about students coming to college. I found the following quotation and data at National Center for Education Statistics.
“Enrollment in degree-granting postsecondary institutions increased by 9 percent between 1989 and 1999. Between 1999 and 2009, enrollment increased 38 percent, from 14.8 million to 20.4 million. Much of the growth between 1999 and 2009 was in full-time enrollment; the number of full-time students rose 45 percent, while the number of part-time students rose 28 percent.”
More students are going to college, with growth faster than just standard population increases. All these “new” students that are attending that weren’t in the 1970’s must be there for a reason. I know so many students that go to college with little idea of what they want to do or what really motivates them, but it seems like they are coming anyway. So unless you want to be a vocational school maybe the goal needs to be giving the students experiences where they find what they will be happy getting up every morning to do.
UPDATE (5/31/2012) – Just to make this more interesting a study that I’ve seen sighted lots of places argues colleges don’t teach the students much anyway. They test for critical thinking skills and ability to make logical connections. This study is the Collegiate Learning Assessment (CLA, http://www.collegiatelearningassessment.org/), but you might go read the book Academically Adrift, which puts a lot of information together.
UPDATE (9/12/2012) – Chronicles and Higher Ed both reported on a study that finds even though a high education degree doesn’t shield you from unemployment, it does help.
UPDATE (1/10/2013) – Chronicles discusses how recession hurts college graduates, but less educated works are being hurt even more. Â Even if this recession is hurting college graduates more than previous down turns, it seems a degree still helps.
UPDATE (5/20/2013) – It isn’t just the degree, it is what the degree is in when it comes to employment outlook. Â This isn’t a shock I think.