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The only people who should not go to college are the ones who don't want to go. Sometimes even they change their minds once they start taking courses they like. This happened to my brother-in-law.
The snide comment is not necessary. I don't think NCLB is analogous to this issue.
I am sure if education was more affordable there would be more graduates. But really, why would you get 20 K in student loans knowing all you'll make is 35 K for many years? If that! maybe it would be a better idea to reform trade schools, set requirements for trade degrees etc...
I've been *extremely* skeptical of college for generation y. It's become a babysitting system, rather than a system of growth.
1st - There was no net job creation in the 2000's! Where are all these degree holders going?
Previous generations had "normal" job expansions after recessions, and they weren't stuck with ever rising bills $$$. How much did Obama pay for his college education? I think the bill would be much higher today.
Generation y looks down on low wages (mcdonalds) because they see what a ripoff the system is. Wages aren't keeping up with tuition. If tuition goes up 4%, 6%, 8% a year for 10 years in a row, how many jobs keep up with that growth?
In the "old days", you may have worked for low wages and worked your way up the ladder (starting at mcdonalds at $4 an hour, and moved up to middle class).....but the rest of societies growth was also kept in check. Housing wasn't as unaffordable as it is now. Medical care? That was peanuts in the 60's or 70's.
2nd - When he says more college grads, he leaves out the fact that there's so much remedialization now.
75% of city university of new york students need remedial classes. Outrageous! How about firing the incompetents who weren't teaching them the right things in highschool, then move onto college. Or gutting the whole system and starting over. How about raising standards in k-12 back to what they were in the 50's and 60's, when basically everyone passed. I'll accept that rather than this watering down of college (highschool) graduates.
I've been *extremely* skeptical of college for generation y. It's become a babysitting system, rather than a system of growth.
1st - There was no net job creation in the 2000's! Where are all these degree holders going?
Previous generations had "normal" job expansions after recessions, and they weren't stuck with ever rising bills $$$. How much did Obama pay for his college education? I think the bill would be much higher today.
Generation y looks down on low wages (mcdonalds) because they see what a ripoff the system is. Wages aren't keeping up with tuition. If tuition goes up 4%, 6%, 8% a year for 10 years in a row, how many jobs keep up with that growth?
In the "old days", you may have worked for low wages and worked your way up the ladder (starting at mcdonalds at $4 an hour, and moved up to middle class).....but the rest of societies growth was also kept in check. Housing wasn't as unaffordable as it is now. Medical care? That was peanuts in the 60's or 70's.
2nd - When he says more college grads, he leaves out the fact that there's so much remedialization now.
75% of city university of new york students need remedial classes. Outrageous! How about firing the incompetents who weren't teaching them the right things in highschool, then move onto college. Or gutting the whole system and starting over. How about raising standards in k-12 back to what they were in the 50's and 60's, when basically everyone passed. I'll accept that rather than this watering down of college (highschool) graduates.
Because every time you raise standards, you exclude someone, thus precluding the philosophy of public schools that states that everyone deserves, nee, needs an education. If you are a teacher and you try to flunk someone (b/c you've raised the standards), you run the risk of being blamed for that student's failure (like your comment above). In short, most teachers end up passing students in order to keep their jobs.
Why do we need to produce more college graduates? Because there are so many unfilled jobs out there that require college degrees? Employers are hungrily waiting for degreed applicants to come in and fill all those empty places?
Tell that to Japan's lost generation. Google lost generation and parasitic singles. Basically what happened is these folks went to college and society just threw them in the trash like excess spoiling food. When the recession ended they were considered past their expiration date and left to rot. Also that assumes the recession ever will end and that 9%+ unemployment and widespread underemployment is not the new normal like $4/gallon gas.
Wow!
President Obama, we need *jobs* for people with or without college degrees!
Because every time you raise standards, you exclude someone, thus precluding the philosophy of public schools that states that everyone deserves, nee, needs an education. If you are a teacher and you try to flunk someone (b/c you've raised the standards), you run the risk of being blamed for that student's failure (like your comment above). In short, most teachers end up passing students in order to keep their jobs.
My mom, a baby boomer, went to a small, rural k-12 in the 50's and 60's in California. Which was the golden age of education. Basically the exact opposite of whats going on today.
-No one flunked out.
-No gimmicks. They were reading "classics" in the 4th grade. Teachers encouraged reading.
-No summer school, or it was rare.
Basically, education did its job then. Everyone was on the same page. Everyone graduated. Most people who went through education in the 90's or 00's can't even understand education from the 60's or 50's. No buzz words. No department of education. No bloat. Simple quaint concepts like, teachers helping students. Reasonable class sizes.
What we have now is glorified babysitting from grades 1-16. College is fast becoming the 13th to 16th grade. I don't think we teach the logic, concentration, reasoning skills, etc they learn in china, india, asia. These hs and college graduation rates are supported by a pretty flimsy foundation.
Lifting graduation rates without lifting standards is not going to equal instant economic success.
And who is qualified to make the determination of who can be, or can't? I think everyone should be prepared to be able to attend college. I am very much opposed to vocational programs in high school that are supposed to prepare kids for the job they will have until their retirement, which will probably be age 70 for today's high school students. I'm fine with voc courses that also have students taking the courses one needs to get into college. I think that except for the intellectually disabled, everyone can go to college. This doesn't mean I think everyone should go; you have to want to go.
Everyone learns at different speeds and also at different times in their lives.
One thing that definitely needs to be done away with is the "one-size-fits-all" approach to learning in college.
Slower students will benefit from slower instructors, quicker students will pick it up faster from swift instructors and time-intensive courses.
Yes, everyone has the ability and the chance to learn something new.
It's just that some thought has to be given to those of us who get "left in the dust" when it comes to certain subjects.
"The best economic policy is one that produces more college graduates," he told the audience at Kenmore Middle School. "We need to make sure we're graduating students who are ready for college and ready for careers." President Obama
Haven't people who went to college gotten us into the mess we are in? Both Bush and Obama went to prestigious schools. How is their education working for you? Academic elitism and people trying to "fix" people doesn't work either. We need to produce college graduates? How?
He's right and guess what? You are absolutely wrong. Education is paramount and should always be encouraged.
Poor man can't win. How can you argue for the populace to uneducated? Big business and dumbazzs like michelle bachman (wants to eliminate the board of education) want to keep the masses uninformed thus easily manipulated by the media (faux and others)
That is a surefire recipe for disaster. Shouldn't US learn from all the uprisings in the developing world? In every community of working people, the importance of most of them being thinking individuals cannot be overstated. The college goal may not be realised by many, but the importance of a good education to prepare a person for life is too much to be shouted down.
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