Favorable e-mails still rolling in from around the country off my DMN column regarding how educational romanticism is failing kids who aren't smart enough to do college-level work. Most come from teachers who say their experience in the classroom validates what I wrote about in my column. But here's one from a business consultant:
As part of my consulting practice, I do a lot of work in the construction industry (commercial, industrial, and governmental). These three fields are doing very well and projections continue to look very good even though there may be some slowdown. The slowdown is not anticipated to be significant or very long. Here’s the problem – the industry can’t find enough good people, especially at the craft level. Rod, we’re talking about jobs for which many companies will pay people to get training. We’re talking about jobs that can pay $20 per hour after the training is completed and more after that. We’re also talking about jobs from which people grow into front and middle level management after some years – if they desire and show the potential.I’m not a construction expert, but I’ve facilitated many planning retreats for construction associations and companies. Some of the companies actually hold back their business development because they just can’t find the young people. In many discussions I’ve facilitated, I hear industry leaders in their respective region say they’ve found one of the problems is that high school counselors keep encouraging kids to go to college.
In light of this, it’s interesting to be mindful of the high dropout rate in the first year or two. Lots of young people are just not interested in “that kind of learning” but they do very well in the crafts – if they happen to find their way into such an industry.They love doing things with their hands. I’m somewhat envious of these people…I’m helpless when it comes to doing things like that. I have to pay to get everything done!
Wow, your lead sentence in the last paragraph, “there’s no value in a phone idealism that ends up breaking people’s spirits by giving them false hope” is right on target with what I’m seeing. The irony is that there appears to be lots of opportunity out there -- and it’s not just in construction.
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At it's best college teaches you how to think. The best college professor I had taught english lit, it's not the facts that I learned from him but, how he taught me to learn that was important. (Much to my shame I have forgotten all the grammar he taught. I've just bought The Transitive Vampire to relearn how to write effectively.) I think that everyone needs that experience of being taught how to think, however most of college is functionally useless. 22 year old college graduates are barely allowed to make coffee, 22 year old soldiers are responsible for millions of dollars of government equipment and other soldiers lives. Just food for thought.
Chris
Rod, not sure if you've heard this from other emailers or commenters, but as a high school teacher, one interesting (and maddening) side-effect that I've encountered from the 'college for everyone' mentality is that it seriously undercuts the motivation of a (maddeningly large) number of students. For many, there is no incentive to study or work hard on the high school level, because, well, they know they're going to college somewhere.
As a teacher you used to be able to hold college over a student's head ("your going to have to work harder than that or you'll never get to college"). But today, the kids just don't buy it. Every one of them knows someone (perhaps even an older brother) who slept and partied their way through high school and still got accepted somewhere. They can coast all they want, and still get admitted at the local state school or community college or the low-profile liberal arts college that is struggling to keep its doors open.
A kid who rarely ever turns an assignment in will tell me with a straight face that he's going to go to college to be an engineer. And he really believes it. He knows that he's not going to Cornell, but he'll get in somewhere.
I'm actually a big fan of Friedman, and I preach his message to my students...but Friedman's deeper insight is about the value a society places on education. Because college today for so many is a foregone conclusion, we are losing sight of how important education is. I think that's the larger problem.
"I think it's important to remember that it isn't only kids who "aren't smart enough" for whom college is a bad choice. Besides intelligence, there's the matter of personal temperment and inclination. Those should be considered, too. "
Hear, hear. All those years I wasted studying - right through to my PhD. I'm not thick - my PhD's from one of the best in the UK - but I hate brain-work. I like working with my hands, and I like heavy work. College ruined my life.
"We've become an increasingly credentialized society, in which having the credential itself is more important than what one may or may not have actually learned. It also acts as a sorting mechanism for potential employers. Many jobs that really could be done just fine by someone without a college degree are now advertised as requiring one, mainly because that allows the employers to conduct an initial sorting of the applications and winnow what would otherwise be a large pile down to a more manageable size."
Maybe, but don't you think a lot of employers will increasingly prefer employees who actually have a bit of experience, and a bit of self-discipline, rather than ones who have spent four years smoking dope?
Talk about malinvestment of capital - the schools funnel the not-so-inclined into business management courses at college level, to manage whom might I ask? Or What? The purchase orders streaming thru the SAP enterprise data software on their way to Mexico, India, China? Meanwhile the fabricated parts for constructing or rehabbing your residence or office come floating back to be installed by whom? We live in a 20-yr old home-owner association run community, where the builder-grade roofs, stucco stoops, aluminum windows and HVAC systems are all failing at their expected longevity deadline. We can't get -- for love nor money -- skilled craftsmen who know a thing or two about the hi-tech "Made in China" gadgets we'd like to upgrade with. What use paying for improvements if they're so poorly installed that they detract value from our equity? My husband installed the HVAC himself, then lent and read the HVAC tech book from the library and took the certification test needed to handle refrigerants safely. (He's an engineer, and says that the microprocessor stuff is so advanced most kids with high school diplomas wouldn't "get" it). There is only one pit left in Pennsylvania that mines the blue slate I'd like for my hallway and kitchen floor: at three times the price for the multi-hued variety from China at Home Depot. They even cut it into the multiple sized rectangular pieces I'd need for the traditional design while the Chinese stuff is just squares, squares and more squares. What is the flooring contractor going to offer his clients? If he hopes to make any profit it won't be the local stuff sad to say. How does the flooring contractor ensure his apprentices learn all he learned if all he offers his customers are squares? He doesn't - we are losing a little bit of our culture every day, in this drip, drip, drip death of a thousand cuts...
Why have we settled for this mediocrity? The labor value theory, my friends... efficiency (whether Marxist or Adam-Smithist) forbodes the death of cultural goods... or at minimum aggregationism leads to imperfect aggregates... and Government? They need your money - taken by taxes or seignorage on your currency holdings. Services? Sorry they're drip, drip, dripping away by the same mechanism of labor value theory - each year your municipality will need more of your money and do less with it, we are on the slipery slope to a tyranny ... not of your choosing but of those you elected to the school board, traffic court, township chief of police etc. etc. (can't remember casting a vote? Perhaps you trust your neighbors to democratically manage your liberty for you? You'll like tyranny well enough then. For the rest of us: WAKE UP! Begin exercising the responsibility of your patrimony! Liberty isn't free, the price is your autonomy!
I take issue with the comment about school counselors encouraging kids to go to college. We (high school counselors) have been fully aware for years that many jobs do not require a B.S. degree and that much of the job growth is and will continue to be in technical fields requiring some training, a technical school degree, etc. We often encourage our students to look at these careers. It is, however, a battle as many kids do not want to hear tech school or apprenticeship - they want to attend a four year college. The problem does not lie with school counselors - we are fully aware where the jobs are and will be.
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