Dr. Martin Luther King Jr, in his “I have a dream” speech, looked forward to a day when everyone would be treated equally and judged on character, not characteristics. Higher education can lead to that state of enlightenment.

Underemployment? Is employment the main or only reason to earn a college degree? I think not. Human existence is for enlightenment–higher education helps us down that road.

[A college education is a characteristic. Enlightenment is not something that is taught. It is something that is learned. You can learn it on your own by reading library books or books where-ever you find them. You do not need to go to college. It is not the only reason but without a job an education can be wasted.]

February 14th, 2008 at 6:07 pm

TPoise Says:

I agree with Ashley. Especially in the IT/Technology field, there is massive employment opportunities, however (Google it for verification) there are many studies that show that there are declining interest and graduates in I.T. and Computer Science fields. So at a time when demand is growing, our supply is shrinking. [Where are all these IT/Technology field jobs, India?]

We have to get away from the “Old Economy” ways of going to a 4-year school to get a liberal arts degree in Art History or Music Therapy and expect to be hired by their dad’s friend as a stock broker. Those days are gone, competition is king in America, and Americans will have to learn to compete against other Americans, and other nationals if they truly want to become “fully” employed.
[When was this ever true? I have had the education needed for the jobs I have held, probably too much. I did not think that that was even possible.]

Becoming gainfully employed with a great career is not some secret society that one must be born into, however in today’s “New Economy”, education is a must. However, not many students are being taught about the alternatives of online education, or the “New Economy” career fields, which aren’t the traditional professional fields of being a lawyer or doctor.

[These types of classes never were marketed much. Correspondence courses in general have never really been advertised and taken advantage of.]

February 20th, 2008 at 3:38 pm

Kelly Says:

Living in the United States where “anything is possible” there are far too many kids turning 18 who have no idea what to major in much less fend for themselves. In a society where we have instant gratification, technology at the touch of a finger, education (especially public) has sadly dwindled to just teaching the standardized test material and not much more. Music, and the Arts are being taken out of schools with alarming regularity which leaves our kids lagging behind in most other subjects as well as lagging behind other nations as it relates to education; which, in turn makes them ill equipped for higher education.

[Yes teach to the test is the mantra. It is ironic that since the federal government got into education the standardized test scores have gone down. SAT scores, and Math and Science world rankings we have gone down in the past 20-30 years.]

February 20th, 2008 at 8:20 pm

Christine Croysdill Says:

I am one of those other 85 percent, returning to school in my fifties. I did the traditional college routine, right out of high school, and I have always been glad I did. I attended and graduated from a small, private college with a double major in history and political science. Did I immediately do anything with that? Nope. I went to college to learn, because learning fascinated (and still fascinates) me.

[Learning has always fascinated me too. I went to college part time from 1983-2000, while working full-time. I had the equivalent of 60 semester hours before I started and working in Electronics. As of July 2000 I have the equivalent of 273 semester hours. I have degrees in Electronics (Equivalent of Associate of Applied Science), Mathematics (Associate of Science), Computer Information Science (Bachelor of Liberal Studies) and Computer Information Systems (Master of Science). That is 9.1 years of college at 30 semester hours per year. I got laid off May 2002 and have had 3 contract jobs and lay offs since. I have worked only 2 out of the past 8 years. I still cannot get a job. However, you do not have to go school to continue to learn. So an education does NOT necessarily mean a job, especially if you are over 40.]

February 25th, 2008 at 8:57 pm

Jason K Says:

[As I said I got an MS CIS. I got it from the University of Phoenix—online. At that level, at least, the instructors were providing the lecture and commenting on papers etc. But they did allow us more latitude than at the undergraduate level. They tended to stay out of the class discussions but not entirely.]

March 29th, 2008 at 1:01 pm

johnathan rose, PhD, MBA Says:

Until we solve global warming, starvation, the energy crisis and the healthcare insurance crisis we
need as many college graduates as possible. Why limit educating and developing minds for problem identification and problem solving when so many international worries exsist?

[It is kind of ironic that we, as a world, probably have more college educated people then ever before in history and yet the problems are not only not getting solved they are getting worse.

Consider: If we built water desalinization plants, many of them, we could pipe the fresh water where ever it was needed. It could mean instead of giving countries $Billions for food that just keeps them in poverty and promotes starvation, they could irrigate and growth their own food and have enough fresh drinking water ( and sewers/waste treatment plants). If you also piped some of this water through hydro-electric power plants they and we could have more electric energy that is cleaner that coal and safer than nuclear. If we had a better electrical power grid we could charge up the electric cars the would also reduce greenhouse gases. Work on battery development in parallel. This would reduce global warming, starvation, energy crisis, and help with health insurance in the sense that people would be healthier in more places in the world, including here at home. Doing this would also employ tens of thousands for decades.]

March 30th, 2008 at 7:33 am

Despite this notion that higher education for nurses is important, the fact remains that over 60% of nurses in the workforce today hold an associate’s degree in nursing (National Organization for Associate Degree Nursing, 2008). As the profession moves to a more highly educated nurse, there must be access to baccalaureate programs and these programs must provide practicing nurses with a seamless transition that removed educational redundancy.

The idea of higher education for nurses is certainly something that needs to happen. Will it become the entry-level standard in my life time? Probably not.

It is so true that the ‘college kid’ is now older, wiser, more time-constrained, and has more obligations than in the 1950s. Back then you could assume that the majority of college kids were fresh out of high school and still getting support from their parents. I was not one of them.

Born in 1956, to parents that divorced in 1964. Too many kids (3), too much struggling to make ends meet, and single parenthood, made it impossible for me and my siblings to go to college. When I was 19, I checked into financial aid (1975) and there was virtually none to be had, so I married and took a clerical job. I have been divorced, married again, had and raised a child, and buried a husband. At the peak of our life together, both working 40+ hours, we earned $55K in one year ($40K or under the rest of the 20 years).

In 1993, I went to college for the first time due to the last recession. Happily married, raising a son, I earned an associate’s then a bachelor’s in 5 years, working part time, living on scholarships/grants and $18K/yr trust fund (income of my invalid husband). I started a master’s degree in ‘98 and a second master’s in 2000! Now borrowing to earn the two degrees and I came up against the 150% time constraint! The administration couldn’t acknowledge that I was working on two degrees, nor any of my other circumstances. Then my husband of 20 years died.

I am only now starting back after 6 years to earn a master’s so I can be hired as a permanent professor instead of an adjunct. And I am almost starting at square one. Capella made it possible, transferred in 12/28 credits, but I have 36 more to earn, compared to the 8 credits I was short for my degree here. The first course seems to be more tailored to the instructors than the learners, more to learning ‘lock-step’ than learner outcome. I know I’ll get through and succeed as I always have, but it would be nice if the ‘powers that be’ had a little more sympathy and empathy for the ‘new college kids’ on the block. Thanks for letting me comment.

Your information is compelling and from my perspective, I would say it is quite accurate. I am one of the 85% and currently enrolled in an online doctoral program. Many years ago, I graduated from high school and then went to college for two years and pursued a professional program. For no good reason other than self actualization I went back and got my Bachelors degree.
It was a good thing because when I was finishing up my degree, I got laid off from the profession I had trained for years ago. I shifted gears and now have two masters degrees and, if the stars line up in my favor, I will have a doctorate someday. All of this education has been accomplished as the proverbial “non traditional” student. Thus, I want to say thanks to you for offering this site and providing insightful information

Thanks
Mort

The traditional Us, and especially the big name institutions, still have the clout to fight these efforts because they can make arguments – many that you covered – about there being too great an initial negative effect. I don’t think they’re right, and one would think that in order to secure those dwindling endowments they are otherwise concerned about, that they would be open to ways of making their case succinctly to their donors and creditors.

Taking their view for a moment though, I wonder if perhaps by reporting graduation rates, a school feels that it may inadvertently be recast as a kind of college it is not. For example, The University of Illinois in Urbana has a strong reputation as a school that graduates quality engineers and other technologists. Perhaps an effect of making their graduation rates public, the perception of U of I might shift in an unexpected direction and away from the degrees that make the university’s name.

That’s a hypothetical scenario, and it could even be pretty unlikely, but I figured I would throw that out there for consideration.