My VIP for this week is Mike Rowe, the TV star who claims that a college degree is not necessary for success
in the United States. With his
history, it was important to get his position on the recent discovery that rich
parents used their wealth to get their children into elite universities. More
than forty such people were arrested last week on charges that they bribed
coaches and staff at testing centers to make sure that their children got into
college. As reported by The Western Journal, Rowe posted the following on his
Facebook page.
The cheating is galling, as is the scope
of the scandal. I wish were as outraged by the cost of college, as we are by
the wealth of the cheaters.
You don’t have to be rich or famous to
believe your kid is doomed to fail without a four-year degree. Millions of
otherwise sensible parents in every tax bracket share this misguided belief,
and many will do whatever it takes to get their kids enrolled in a “good
school.”
The cost of tuition continues to
rise at universities and colleges across the nation. The website for Yale
University states that tuition is $72,100 for one year of undergraduate study.
Rowe
is not anti-college or anti-education. He just does not believe that a college
degree is everything that it is claimed to be or that parents should do
everything possible to get their children into college.
Obviously, those who resort to bribery
are in a class by themselves, but what about parents who allow their kids to
borrow vast sums of money to attend universities they can’t possibly afford?
What about the guidance counselors and teachers who pressure kids to apply for
college regardless of the cost? What about the politicians and lobbyists who so
transparently favor one form of education at the expense of all the others?
What about the employers who won’t even interview a candidate who doesn’t have
a degree? Where’s the outrage?
The cost of college today has almost
nothing to do with the cost of an education, and everything to do with the cost
of buying a credential. That’s all a diploma is.
(N)one are necessary to live a happy and
prosperous life, and none of them come with any guarantees. And yet, the
pressure we put on kids to borrow whatever it takes is constant, and precisely
why tuition is so costly. It’s also why we have $1.6 trillion of student loans
on the books along with a widening skills gap. That’s a bigger scandal, in my
opinion.
Rowe has much more to say on the
subject. I would like to say that he is right about the pressure that parents
put on their children. Quite frankly, I told my children that they needed
college degrees, and they do need them for the fields that they chose. Do we
really want a doctor, nurse, or physical therapist that did not earn a few
degrees? Do we expect our budget managers in our cities to know about budgeting
and managing? Do we want our teachers to have teaching credentials? The answer
to all these questions is yes. There are many advantages to having a degree,
and some of them depend greatly on the field.
None of my children lost their jobs
during the Great Recession when millions of Americans were out of work. In
fact, several of them changed jobs, and they either moved to a better location
or received more pay than in their previous jobs. Even though I believe that
degrees in certain fields are good to have, I agree with much of what Rowe is
saying.
Rowe and I believe that college is
not for everyone. Not every person is cut out for academic life. They do not
enjoy college and/or they wish to do something else with their life. Why does a
young man who wants to be an automotive mechanic need to go to a university? He
does not, but he does need to get some advance training in order to become more
than just a grease monkey working for low wages.
Rowe and I agree that school
districts should bring vocational training back to the high schools of the
nation. He emphasized that removing shop from high school sends a definite
message to the students.
What better message could you possibly
send to a kid who’s trying to figure out what’s important than by simply
removing the entire discipline from consideration?
That’s what happened when vocational
education got pulled out of high school. We made it crystal clear that all of
the jobs that votech (vocational-technical school presaged were not worth
having. There’s just no other way to spin it. The jobs that are worth having
are the jobs that require the things we’re teaching. And the things we’re
teaching, therefore, become the things that are aspirational.
Rowe is exactly right in saying that
one can do well without a college degree. I would add that there is still a
need for training. Carpenters, plumbers, and numerous other tradesmen most
likely do not need college classes, but they do need some training and a lot of
experience to be good at their craft. Those who work smart will succeed, while
others will get by. That is exactly what
America is all about!
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