Jeff Jacoby has written a very good column entitled Dumbing down democracy which provides stark evidence concerning the appalling civic education provided by both high schools and most colleges and universities. His assertions are drawn from data collected in a survey conducted by the Intercollegiate Studies Institute and the size of the sample involved - 14,000 freshman and seniors - and survey design are sufficient for the data to be considered representative of the matriculating population.
The results are completely unsurprising to anyone with knowledge of the current focus of high school education. I'm quite sure that the students involved could regurgitate pap concerning the importance of diversity, tolerance and acceptance at length as well as being able to demonstrate an extraordinarily high level of self esteem which the survey proves is totally unfounded.
The NEA is producing as fine a herd of docile mushheads as they could ever hope to see but they seem to have forgotten that apathy feeds on ignorance. As these collegiate sheep have their fine fleece of ignorance sheered by life's vicissitudes they are going to become somewhat less docile and perhaps willing to engage in a little payback at the ballot box.
The devaluation of a high school degree and especially a college degree may be the reason that more male high school seniors are deciding that matriculation at a four year school is an economic error. The 'unseen hand' may be working with its slow but steady efficiency in marking the value of a college degree to fair market, making those seniors decision one of rational economic interest rather than an indicator of the educrats inability to provide a meaningful educational experience involving thinking rather than feeling.
The differential in lifetime income between a college graduate and a high school graduate is still very substantial but it is a comparison of the mean of one versus the mean of the other. It is quite possible that a fair number of male high school seniors are uninterested in subjecting themselves to a feminized system of instruction solely on the basis of a beneficial economic return whose first fruits don't show up in the bank account until ten years after graduation. That is especially true given the fact that a three year apprenticeship program in many trades pay a second year apprentice far more than most college graduate will receive for their first years work.
thinking rather than...?
ReplyDeleteI'd have a tough time justifying university to many young people. Yes, since they haven't learned much in high school, it's time to knuckle down and do some serious studying about human reality (including transcendent realities). And having four years to get going in a good library is invaluable. But given the cost of tuition, just how invaluable? Most public libraries in big cities will allow you to study the liberal arts while you devote your day time to acquiring a marketable skill you can't otherwise acquire in your free time.
However, universities will have to increasingly erode the left-liberal hegemony because it's all too clear to many parents and the public debate that the tenured radicals have less and less worth teaching every year. Don't be surprised if conservatives are prominent in the schools in thirty or forty years. Some young intellectual types might well focus on becoming one of the new wave.
TP,
ReplyDelete"Thinking rather than feeling." Thanks for the catch.
I've got a baseball team of grandkids who will be making the decision as to whether the college game is worth the candle and my advice to them will remain constant. As far as I can tell they all have sufficient intelligence to pick up a degree (although two or three are probably marginal) - that being the case, I tell them that they have to continue to think of school as a very long corridor with many locked doors - they were born with the keys and they damn well better not lose any or throw any away because they're heavy because they cannot know what treasure lies behind the door until they have unlocked it.
Skook,
I keep thinking of the parallel system as nurturing the kids who will contend for leadership roles with the 20% of the college seniors who actually passed the test.
I am well above average in many respects but I grew disinterested in university. I had to pay my way so economic considerations figured in my decision to leave my studies. I realized that, at least at my second rate public university, an additional 2+ plus years of part time study would merely delay and add little to the accomplishments I sought. The carefree life of the mind seemed like an expensive luxury better suited to the early retirement I seek.
ReplyDeleteI have worked in many corporations and startups, earned a very high income at times and only once found a door closed to me due to lack of a degree. It was the wrong place for me anyway.
My years in college awakened me to the life of the mind and helped foster a love of learning. That, the self-exploration and friendships from that time form 90% of the value. I definitely felt a decreasing marginal return with every year. I acquired my professional skills on my own and never looked to university for that.
As incomes for men have gone down relative to women and as having a family has become less attractive economically and emotionally for men, it is no surprise that men are less interested in college. Even as college now assures women of a middle class lifestyle independent of a man, it no longer assures a man much of anything -- not anything really important. Financial security, social status, love of a good woman, a decent household -- all these things are things you must work hard for once you are done with your four to six years of school and none necessarily require a degree.
I was discussing with my officemate today the value of the "Studies" departments, as in "Women's Studies", "Blach Studies", "Ethnic Studies". In general, Designated Victims Studies. He claims that it is a shame because naive young students enter these programs, thinking they're just the same as all the other programs—after all they receive the same sanction from the university as economics or chemistry—only to find that they have a worthless piece of paper.
ReplyDeleteMy rejoinder: aren't almost all of those degrees worthless pieces of paper? And while college can be a fun place to hang out for 4 years, except for a few exceptions like engineering and architecture, do we really think any of these degrees have value? Latin, mathematics, english?
Knuck,
ReplyDeleteMaybe this will help gain some respect for marble masons:
Wages $ 30.80
Vacation 4.00
Union Administration 1.49
Total Taxable Wages $ 36.29
Health and Welfare 4.85
Defined Benefit Pension 3.64
Defined Contribution Pension 3.62
International Pension .40
Promotion .01
International Masonry Institute .10
Apprenticeship .35
Total $ 49.26
That's a $100K annual package for a guy that knows what he's doing and shows up. True, it will take a kid about five years to get a journeyman's card - but he starts at 50% and a $50K package for a high school grad isn't bad.
That's the current NorCal package.
I spent about 6 months in between jobs a few years ago, doing manual labor for a friend's contracting business. It was exhilarating and liberating in many ways. I was by no means a craftsman, though I worked with a few talented fellows. The comraderie was wonderful (when I was not left to work on my own) and I found the physical exhaustion mentally refreshing. I could spend much of the day lost in my own thoughts while doing tasks, measuring and calculating, doing philosophy, designing software in my head or sometimes just thinking nothing at all, sometimes out of doors. I could eat like a horse and drink all the beer I wanted in the evening without getting fat. On the whole, it is an attractive low wage trap. It is honorable work though and quite real in terms of visible accomplishment compared to many corporate jobs. Good thing it paid less than 1/10th of what I make with my professional skills or I'd still be doing it.
ReplyDelete