Americans apparently give a lot of credence to sobering media accounts of student loans bankrupting college graduates and philosophy majors only finding jobs as waiters.
Maybe too much credence.
Because more people now support career and technical education in high schools than advanced academics. That was among the findings of the last week’s annual Phi Delta Kappa International Poll of the Public’s Attitudes Toward the Public Schools. Only 45 percent of the respondents believe the main goal of public education should be preparing students academically. And 68 percent declared it was better for their public schools to offer more career-technical or skills-based classes than more honors or advanced academic classes.
There’s nothing wrong with career-tech if that’s where a student’s interests lie, but we should not steer kids away from four-year colleges out of a belief degrees lead to a dead end. While a cap and gown may be an ill fit for some students, college graduates still face brighter prospects in everything from how much they earn to how long they live.
In discussing the PDK survey on social media and sharing my dismay about the lack of support for academics, I received this response: “Could parents be getting wise to the trap? You choose: MBA or bachelor’s with $15,000 student-loan debt or a license for plumber, electrician, or auto mechanic for $3,000 at most. Your college graduate gets laid off while skilled craftsmen are in high demand. Over time who has more financial success? Remember, not everyone can be an engineer or doctor. Most college degrees are not money makers compared to skilled career, technical and agricultural education or licensed labor workers.”
A lot of Georgians agree, maintaining we’ve oversold college. But Georgians need more academic education, not less, starting with high school diplomas. The state ranks ninth in the country in the number of adults between the ages of 18 and 64 without a high school diploma or a GED. Only about 35 percent of Georgians hold bachelor’s degrees.
No matter how many tales of college graduates making lattes for a living, a degree remains a smart investment and the greatest lever of socioeconomic mobility, a fact worth emphasizing this Labor Day.
Yes, wages have fallen and tuition has soared, but as the Federal Reserve Bank of New York’s Jaison R. Abel and Richard Deitz pointed out in a 2014 analysis of whether the benefits of college still outweigh the costs: “The return to a college degree has held steady at around 15 percent, easily surpassing the threshold for a sound investment. The driving force behind this seeming contradiction is that the wages of those without a college degree have also been falling, keeping the college wage premium near an all-time high while reducing the opportunity cost of going to school. Indeed, while the past decade has been a challenging time for college graduates, those with less education have struggled even more.”
Georgia must continue to promote college, especially to rural students. Students in rural Georgia are less likely than urban peers to enroll in higher education. When they go to college, they are also less apt to attend a four-year school, a private campus or a selective one. That is even more true of rural students of color.
While African-American high school students are often encouraged to consider college, a new University of Georgia study found they lack access to academically rigorous classes and need assistance with the application process, particularly if they’re the first generation in their family to go to college. (I have a graduate degree, two older kids who completed college and still find the application process with my two high school seniors frustrating.)
Is college for everyone? No, but all Georgia students deserve the opportunity and that means informing them of the benefits of a four-year degree and preparing them to meet the challenge.
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