Home > Gwinnett.talk > Archives > 2008 > May > 22 > Entry
DEL.ICIO.USDo colleges prepare graduates for evolving market?
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Handout
Jim Grattan
I recently read reports indicating that 89 percent of Gwinnett County Public School graduates will seek post-secondary education, although there was no breakdown of the types of institutions being contemplated.
It wasn’t very many years ago when graduating from college was almost a guarantee of a stable, rewarding job, at least financially. But is that still the case?
According to data from the U.S. Department of Labor concerning occupations with the largest projected (numerical) increases over the next eight years, very few will require a college degree.
Some do: registered nurses, post-secondary and elementary school teachers, computer specialists, accountants and perhaps executive secretaries.
But overwhelmingly, the occupations involve jobs as retail salespersons, customer service reps, fast food preparers and servers, waiters and waitresses, general office clerks, home care and home health aides, janitors and cleaners, nursing aides and orderlies, child care workers, landscaping workers, bookkeeping clerks, receptionists and information clerks.
The path toward manufacturing jobs in our country is increasingly being closed, due to increased outsourcing. But the same is true for many jobs requiring a college degree.
If work can be done primarily from a computer keyboard, it likely can be outsourced, as computer programmers, architects and radiologists have discovered. These dynamics - outsourcing and the scarcity of some jobs - are having an impact on wages, even for college graduates. Wages have been flat throughout the 2000s, despite growth of the economy.
Frequent advice given to college graduates is to find a job they “love to do.” Though well-intentioned, the advice is probably unrealistic and may add unneeded pressure. Few people really know what they would love to do and, even if they do, enjoyment is often dependent on the workplace culture in which they find themselves. Add to that the dynamics of the job marketplace, and it is easy to see why college graduates may experience difficulty in finding suitable employment.
There is always the argument that college is not intended for job training; its purpose being to produce well-rounded, knowledgeable individuals capable of being employed in any number of fields. However, most students attend college with job prospects foremost in their minds.
In many ways, colleges and universities are a business. Have they oversold their product? Should any accountability be placed on institutions for the world of work their graduates will face?
A college education requires a huge financial sacrifice. Do graduates and their families get what they pay for?
Maybe it is time to examine in detail the role of colleges and universities in today’s changing economic times.
What are your thoughts about attending college or other post-secondary institutions? How do you see the role of post-secondary education in the future job market?
Jim Grattan is a software engineer and avid bicyclist. He lives in the Grayson area with his wife, Shirley, and four golden retrievers.
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By ben
May 22, 2008 11:02 AM | Link to this
Universities should not be about “job training.” We have vocational schools for that. Universities should be about teaching critical thinking skills and providing the foundational knowledgebase that informs those skills.
The problem is that people who SHOULD be going to vocational schools instead choose 4 year colleges. Why? Perhaps those kids perceive themselves as being “above” vocational school; perhaps their parents do. Most likely, though, is the fact that our country’s educational system is still running on antiquated notions of “get a bachelor’s, get a job” when the overall value of that degree has fallen due to oversupply (and, let’s be honest, grade inflation.)
An overhaul should occur, but not on the university level, but on a cultural level. Kids truly gifted enough should go to university (as is the case in Japan, France, etc.) while the rest go to vocational school to learn a skill.
By JSC
May 24, 2008 8:14 AM | Link to this
As a forty-something who was laid off in January and is about to begin college to be “re-trained” in our brave new economy, this is the exact worry that plagues me every day.
Am I just about to waste the next 4 or 5 years? And get further in debt? For what?
I read several subjects on a daily basis - I don’t “need” college to make me a “well rounded” person. But as it stands right now, I sure need that degree for the marketplace.
I just keep wondering if it’s worth it.
By One Man's View
May 27, 2008 6:32 AM | Link to this
It’s sad that educational institutions can’t be tailored to fit what one needs in the way of education. They invariably force one to take extra stuff. They are more concerned with their brand name than your efficient education. They also are very unwilling to acknowledge life experiences as perquisites.
Let’s say I want to take some courses on network security and I have been working as a professional programmer for years but have no degree in computer science. No way is any school going to let you take those courses. You will have to take CS 100, 101, 201, 202, etc. Your three-course program will turn into fifteen courses. Sometimes you can take a test to bypass a course. Of course, they just smile at you over that one, knowing full well that unless someone has gone through a course with a teacher and a book, that your chances of passing a final are zero and none. Like I say, colleges are a business. Your education is a side-effect, not the goal.