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Conclusion seems to be that one should know what they are capable of or at least go to college while you work towards another career if things don't work out.
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There's another factor at play, though, which has less to do with the cost of a degree, and more to do with the changing nature of our job market, as well as the way our education system has failed to keep up with it. Today, it's harder to earn a middle-class wage without a college degree. As the Harvard study notes, high school grads make up just 41 percent of the U.S. workforce, down from 72 percent forty years ago. All of the net job growth since the 1970s has been in occupations that require some post-secondary education, whether it's a bachelor's or an associate's degree. That demand for skills is causing more students to sign up for school than ever before, as shown in this chart from Pew.
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That's the basic message of a recent article by Reuters' Lou Carlozo, which digs into the reasons why so many American college students fail to finish their educations. Just 56 percent of students who embark on a bachelor's degree program finish within six years, according to a 2011 Harvard study titled Pathways to Prosperity. Just 29 percent of those who seek an associates degree obtain it within three years. According to the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development, just 46 percent of Americans complete college once they start, worst among the 18 countries it tracks.
The article gives away quite a bias by saying that people who don't go to or finish a college degree "have not completed their education." If the assumption is that one must go to college and get a bachelor's degree as a minimum, then of course a lot of people don't do that. I don't know that people aren't prepared, but that there isn't a lot of reason for everyone to tromp off to some kind of college/school at age 18 regardless of ability or interest. (I say this as someone who had the ability and no interest. I have since only gone to school to get jobs, very specifically gone to school for specific jobs).
The author does point out that in Europe, there is an extensive voc alternative. I don't know if Europeans have this "to get a good job get a good education" pounded into their brains.
Then again, people left Europe to live in the U.S. to get out of more rigid social structures and often see college as the way up and out.
I dropped out of college for lack of interest and seeing loans coming that would make be a taxi driver or waitress in debt for my not-so-blazing interest in social sciences.
The article gives away quite a bias by saying that people who don't go to or finish a college degree "have not completed their education." If the assumption is that one must go to college and get a bachelor's degree as a minimum, then of course a lot of people don't do that. I don't know that people aren't prepared, but that there isn't a lot of reason for everyone to tromp off to some kind of college/school at age 18 regardless of ability or interest. (I say this as someone who had the ability and no interest. I have since only gone to school to get jobs, very specifically gone to school for specific jobs).
The author does point out that in Europe, there is an extensive voc alternative. I don't know if Europeans have this "to get a good job get a good education" pounded into their brains.
Then again, people left Europe to live in the U.S. to get out of more rigid social structures and often see college as the way up and out.
I dropped out of college for lack of interest and seeing loans coming that would make be a taxi driver or waitress in debt for my not-so-blazing interest in social sciences.
The article gives away quite a bias by saying that people who don't go to or finish a college degree "have not completed their education." If the assumption is that one must go to college and get a bachelor's degree as a minimum, then of course a lot of people don't do that. I don't know that people aren't prepared, but that there isn't a lot of reason for everyone to tromp off to some kind of college/school at age 18 regardless of ability or interest. (I say this as someone who had the ability and no interest. I have since only gone to school to get jobs, very specifically gone to school for specific jobs).
The author does point out that in Europe, there is an extensive voc alternative. I don't know if Europeans have this "to get a good job get a good education" pounded into their brains.
Then again, people left Europe to live in the U.S. to get out of more rigid social structures and often see college as the way up and out.
I dropped out of college for lack of interest and seeing loans coming that would make be a taxi driver or waitress in debt for my not-so-blazing interest in social sciences.
Seems like you were looking to be offended. If you start and don't complete not sure what else you expect them to call it.
People drop out of college for many reasons. In my limited experience teaching at two universities, the majority of students do not drop out because they just can't handle the material. I have seen students drop out because of a family situation such as a parent's death or divorce, financial reasons, pregnancy, misconduct (kicked out, not dropped out) and a few other miscellaneous reasons not tied to academic performance.
Academic performance is usually part of it ('A' students less likely to drop out) but it is rarely the whole reason. Again, my experience is probably biased by the selective admissions standards at the schools of which I am familiar.
People drop out of college for many reasons. In my limited experience teaching at two universities, the majority of students do not drop out because they just can't handle the material. I have seen students drop out because of a family situation such as a parent's death or divorce, financial reasons, pregnancy, misconduct (kicked out, not dropped out) and a few other miscellaneous reasons not tied to academic performance.
Academic performance is usually part of it ('A' students less likely to drop out) but it is rarely the whole reason. Again, my experience is probably biased by the selective admissions standards at the schools of which I am familiar.
Since you are in the "driver's seat," your point of view is really appreciated. However, I'd like to add that there are a lot of bright people, from my experience, who dropped out because (1) they found it boring and/or too bureaucratic, (2) they didn't know exactly what it would do for them, usually because they weren't in a "vocational" major, and (3) they were willing to risk how their lives turned out by trying their hand at the real world, and some succeeded...in family businesses such as restaurants/delis, driving a rail transit vehicle, and learning a trade, among others. If some of those options were available, or interesting to, all people, I'm sure college would be less interesting to even more people.
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