I've been wanting to write a diary on education for a while. I went to a local college and graduated with a major in business and a minor in writing. I attended for many reasons. I came from a working class family and wanted to avoid the rigors of a proletarian existence. I also wanted to improve people skills and generally become a better person. Thankfully, I graduated with low levels of debt, but on the other hand, I was generally unsatisfied with my college experience.
I think the primary trouble with the status quo is the effect of credential inflation on higher education. With more and more students going to college, employers are asking for a level of education that is simply not necessary for the job. Jobs that required a high school diploma are now requiring a BA.
This is bringing a lot of students into higher education who do not want to be education. Instead, they want to become trained.
Education has become what I call "The Great Game." The players are the colleges, the students, and the employers. The colleges want status that comes with increased rankings as well as money that comes from student loans and subsidies. The employers want a skilled workforce without paying for it. The students get to borrow money and be indentured servants. Bankers will loot millions, but colleges will loot trillions and take your soul, too.
I would like to keep the diary short, so here are my suggestions:
1) Push out illiberal disciplines from higher education. My BA in business is a joke, which was only useful as resume padding. I don't believe that colleges should have business schools.
2) Develop a system of certifications to replace educational credentials. My cousin is in IT, and he taught himself coding that was far advanced than what he learned in his college computer classes. There should be a way for autodidacts to qualify for jobs without spending thousands of dollars and years in college.
3) I would like to see states and localities take over providing subsidies. The federal government should provide oversight and regulations, but the money would come from the states. This would allow states to see what works best and develop alternative ways of education.
My thoughts are based on observations from my own experiences collected over several years and written in bits and pieces. Contrarian views are welcome. I also would like to become a better writer, so critiques of my writing are especially welcome.
Thanks.