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Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsCollege Degree Is the New High School Diploma A Minimum Requirement for Getting Even Low-Level Job
http://www.alternet.org/education/college-degree-becoming-new-high-school-diploma-minimum-requirement-getting-even-low-levelWhether or not President Obama's recent education-themed speeches are in direct response to Matt Taibbi's must-read Rolling Stone magazine article on the college loan crisis, it is great news that the White House is now taking the crisis more seriously. The credit bubble in college loans has ballooned into a systemic threat to the nation's economy. Additionally, as Taibbi documents, economic and political trends are now forcing an entire generation into a truly no-win situation: Either don't get a post-secondary education and harm your job prospects, or get a post-secondary education and condemn yourself to a lifetime of debt.
The economic trend fueling this perfect storm is about job credentials. Peruse employment data and you'll see that the New York Times was right when it declared that "the college degree is becoming the new high school diploma: the new minimum requirement, albeit an expensive one, for getting even the lowest-level job." Though the Times notes that the weak economy means the job outlook for college grads "is rather bleak," it is even more bleak if you don't have a post-secondary degree.
So, yes, some form of higher education is now increasingly as necessary as a high school diploma. Yet, in our financing models, America still isn't treating it as such. Just consider the critical difference between how high school and college education programs are funded.
The former is funded by broad-based taxes and few would ever suggest changing it to an individual tuition system. Why? Because we've come to view access to high school as a right. This view is based not just on notions of morality but also on an economic calculation. Basically, we know we need a workforce with as many high school graduates as possible, and we've decided that forcing young people to go into crushing debt to get a high school degree would deter many from getting the degree.
FarCenter
(19,429 posts)A high school diploma is now useless for screening applicants.
daleanime
(17,796 posts)GeorgeGist
(25,324 posts)what a bummer your life must be.
FarCenter
(19,429 posts)You need to deal with reality.
It's why they have bar exams, for example.
newfie11
(8,159 posts)Otherwise we will have a large population working for slave labor prices.
customerserviceguy
(25,183 posts)Are we talking some four year degree in liberal arts to get that McJob, or would a cheap two year community college associates degree suffice? Being as so many high schools use social promotion, it's no wonder a high school diploma has become meaningless to employers.
Also, as this is the NY Times, are they talking about the entire US, or just NYC?
Bradical79
(4,490 posts)Sure they're "cheap" relative to that four year degree, but that's only because the four year degrees usually cost a ridiculous amount of money.
customerserviceguy
(25,183 posts)and get the Pell Grants and tuition tax breaks, they're not terribly expensive. If you go to some fly-by-night outfit that advertises heavily on TV, then you're right.
One of my friends, upon receiving his B.A., said "ok, I've got my middle class membership card." That was 1992 or so.
reformist2
(9,841 posts)Bradical79
(4,490 posts)hobbit709
(41,694 posts)The system is rigged to keep you in debt slavery forever. I'm surprised they haven't made the heirs pay it off yet.
xchrom
(108,903 posts)KurtNYC
(14,549 posts)Some friends who were out of work recently applied for everything. The lower the job, the more likely the interviewer was to just cut off and say "this isn't for you."
College is archaic. It is now an only slightly revised version of what it was 100 years ago. In 1913, colleges were segregated by gender and race. There was limited access to outside information (no internet, fewer books, no TV, etc.) College was, in some ways, the white collar equivalent of a trade union. It still tries to be; for example college students may work on the research being done by their professor, a kind of apprenticeship.
100 years later, we still think of college as having a monopoly on access to good paying jobs but college has no monopoly on information, training or research. And it certainly is no guarantee of a decent job.
College has become more about brand -- football teams, Bowl games, name recognition, famous alumni. Colleges offer a much broader choice of courses, many of which have little or no application at all in available careers.
A college degree doesn't guarantee a jump in pay because there is no scarcity of the kind of education that colleges offer -- high supply, moderate demand.
The way to get paid is to get the skills that few others have, to become part of a supply of labor which is limited.
LuvNewcastle
(16,858 posts)College was intended for scholars and professional people, not people who want to run a store. Our whole idea of higher education needs to be revamped for average people, but that's going to be hard to do since now it's become such a huge industry.
We need so much done regarding our infrastructure and our teaching capabilities in order to move into the future, but we can't do any of that as long as we're spending all our money on a bloated military and constant war. War is destroying this country just as surely as it's destroying the countries we invade.
madville
(7,412 posts)Obtain skills or offer service that few others want or are willing to do. I've always been willing to travel and/or be on 24-hour call, that eliminates 90% of your competition for a job right there plus it makes one more money through overtime and per diem.
FarCenter
(19,429 posts)Students from a variety of backgrounds could study for the clergy, to become a doctor, and later to become a lawyer (originally reading law was done as an apprenticeship to a practicing lawyer).
Upper and upper middle-class students, mostly male, would take a four year liberal arts degree, then spend a year traveling, and then enter the family business or the business of a relative or a family friend.
raccoon
(31,126 posts)Township75
(3,535 posts)This makes sense.
I think a lot of jobs could do without the BS requirement they normally have but that will take 10+ years for employers to accept
madville
(7,412 posts)Technical degrees still have some value. I have certificates, military training and an associates in electronics, make $25 an hour and could go back to two former employers at anytime around that same rate, one asked just last week if I wanted to come back.
I'm encouraging my son to get a technical degree out of high school, maybe HVAC.
There is too much experience in the labor pool right now for college degrees to carry much weight. I know on my résumé I emphasize experience, education is a one line blurb because it's not as important.
GeorgeGist
(25,324 posts)with global warming feeding the fire.
madville
(7,412 posts)Haven't you heard, it may get warmer, it may get cooler. By changing it to "Climate Change" we're covered either way.
HVAC will be an even more important field if it warms up though.
Johnny Ready
(203 posts)I think that's good news.
yellerpup
(12,254 posts)in a job search. I saw an ad on TV last night for an online college and my first thought was, if people with college degrees (and the connections that implies) can't get jobs what are these internet students paying for? My thoughts are not always parsed in proper grammar. My apologies.
FarCenter
(19,429 posts)I'd expect that the on-line Master of Computer Science from Georgia Tech will be worth something.
yellerpup
(12,254 posts)Thanks.
Initech
(100,107 posts)I read a statistic one time where for every 100 math, science, accounting, and engineering majors, there's like 5000 people who sign up for something useless like "media arts design" or something of that nature.
Bradical79
(4,490 posts)Though how much use most college art degrees are in advancing that skill can be pretty questionable.
Initech
(100,107 posts)That's my point. Of course you could say that about 1/2 the jobs out there.
Supersedeas
(20,630 posts)Is a college education now something that should be covered in the same way that a high school education is covered as a matter of national priorities
Romulox
(25,960 posts)not even close to being the prime cause.