College or Apprenticeships?
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Well it seems in these “belt-tightening” days of our economy that this is a growing topic of interest for many. Harvard’s Graduate School of Education argues in a new receiving considerable attention that we need to expand our options for young adults. They write:
Despite a clear message that college is important – and a pervasive desire among young students to attend college – only about 30 percent of Americans complete a bachelor’s degree by their mid-20s, with another 10 percent completing an associate’s degree by then. A massive effort in recent decades to increase those numbers has improved them only slightly.
“It would be fine if we had an alternative system [for students who don’t get college degrees], but we’re virtually unique among industrialized countries in terms of not having another system and relying so heavily on higher education,” says Robert Schwartz, who heads the Pathways to Prosperity project at Harvard’s Graduate School of Education.
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The report argues, rather persuasively I might add, that we might be helped by taking notice of what some of those other industrialized nations have implemented:
In Austria, Denmark, Finland, Germany, the Netherlands, Norway, and Switzerland, for instance, between 40 and 70 percent of high-schoolers opt for programs that combine classroom and workplace learning, many of them involving apprenticeships. These pathways result in a “qualification” that has real currency in the labor market.
Interesting stuff…what say you all?
I’m paying back school loans now and I cannot imagine doing it without getting a few nice scholarships & grants along the way. I like the idea provided above, but how would it fit into our current system? Any ideas?
PSEO has worked well for us as they only have to pay for 2 years of college since they finished 2 years while still in high school.
Jacob, we absolutely need a better system in the United States that includes vocational learning and apprenticeships, over and above what passes for ”academics” in our current system. I swung between extremes of excellence and despair academically, before arriving at a very practical masters degree that is still no guarantee of future economic well-being, given what we (as americans) have done to our economy.
Also, for all the complaining about lack of funding in education (mostly k-12) take a look at the size of the endowments of some of the more well established institutions of higher education in the US.
In short, yes, the four year and more degree is becoming a huge rip-off for the generations of students currently in school, and those following. (Plus you can actually learn more on your own anyway in many cases.)