Questioning the Value of College for All
Graduation season is upon us. Throughout the coming weeks, thousands of high school seniors in caps and gowns will listen to speech-makers extol the virtues of college and the wealth of opportunities that four years of higher education brings.
With college widely considered a necessary pit stop on the road to the American dream, conventional wisdom dictates that all kids be steered in that direction.
Here’s the problem: Most students who enter four year colleges never graduate. According to the Department of Education, no more than 50 percent of students who began a four-year bachelor’s degree program in 2006 will graduate by 2012. The graduation rate is even lower for kids who finished high school in the bottom quarter of their class.
College is an expensive proposition which few students complete without incurring debt—and lots of it. In 2010, the average college student with student loans graduated with $24,000 worth of debt. The Pew Research Center just released a national survey showing that 48 percent of respondents repaying college loans struggle to pay the rest of their monthly bills.
No longer are college degrees the guaranteed tickets to steady employment that they once were. Last year, two million college graduates were unemployed.
It’s a dismal picture that’s caught the attention of a growing group of thought leaders who are questioning America’s “college for all” philosophy.
TakePart contacted Richard K. Vedder—economist, Ohio University professor, and director of the Center for College Affordability and Productivity—to learn more.
One Size No Longer Fits All
“I’m opposed to the idea that every student should be steered towards college,” Vedder begins unequivocally. “I’m in favor of the proposition that every student should have the education or training that would best fit their personal needs. In some cases that means something after high school, but not a formal university college training.”
In his view, alternatives to four-year colleges are better options for many people, especially in today’s economy.
“I think there is a disconnect between the expectations of students who go to college, what they think is going to happen to them when they graduate, and the realities of the American labor market. A lot of people today are graduating from colleges, and not getting jobs that historically college graduates have taken in the professional fields, technical fields, managerial fields. Rather they’re getting jobs doing things like being mail carriers, taxi drivers, bar tenders, beauticians, tree trimmers, long distance truck drivers, and the like. Some of these occupations are honorable. Some even pay fairly well. But they do not require a college education.”
Vedder doesn’t dispute that people with a college degree still earn more income on average than people without one—about $20,000 more according to the latest census. Nor is he suggesting that a college education is worthless or undesirable. He simply takes issue with high school counselors imposing a “one size fits all” career path on students.
“There’s nothing more debilitating than when a person is told by high school guidance counselors: ‘You can do it! You can succeed! You won’t be a success in life unless you go to college!’ Then they go to college, and after two or three years they drop out without completing a degree. That person probably feels like a failure, faces debts, and has lost two or three years of earning potential. Maybe in that same period, that person could have successfully taken a one-year training course in learning to be an electrician, or a plumber, or a truck driver, or a beautician, and felt much better about life and actually be in a better situation economically.”
The German Way
Vedder laments the state of vocational education in America today, which is unpopular and underfunded. Fifty years ago, he says, vocational training at the high school level was still considered respectable, though there was some stigma attached. As that stigma grew, vocational programs lost their political support base.
“When the school board is debating whether to get rid of a talented and gifted program for one group of students, or to get rid of a vocational program, the talented and gifted program often has a more vocal constituency favoring it,” he explains. “They’re the ones who make the noise and get most of the money.”
According to Vedder, vocational education is still a popular option for students in Germany and could serve as a model for what successful secondary and post secondary vocational education looks like.
“I knew the headmaster of one of those German vocational schools, and it sounded to me like they were marvelous programs,” he says. “They had apprenticeships they did in the high school, which in many cases led to jobs immediately after graduation at 18 and 19 years old. It’s a shame we’ve kind of lost that in this country. It really is a shame.”
College for Whom?
If Vedder’s opinion catches on, and high school guidance counselors only steer select groups of students towards college, who will those students be? TakePart asks Professor Vedder if he worries that disadvantaged minority students will be disproportionately steered away from four-year colleges, thereby widening existing income gaps.
His answer: not at all. On the contrary, Vedder explains that the college failure rate is particularly high for low-income minority students who suffer most from what he calls the “let’s push everyone to go to college” mentality.
“I think we should provide opportunities for minorities, especially in disadvantaged circumstances, to get ahead,” he clarifies. “It’s part of the American dream. Moving to more of a career-based approach for some students is not denying them opportunities. We’re creating new and more realistic opportunities for them given what’s happened in the last 20 or 30 years. I don’t think that this should be looked at as an anti-minority proposition.”
If the Pew Center’s results are any indication, the tide of American public opinion may be turning away from a perception of college as every student’s ideal goal. Only 42% of those surveyed said that young people need a college education to succeed in the world. Having a good work ethic, and knowing how to get along with people, were considered paramount.
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