3/13/2007

Is college worth it ?

The U.S. News & World Report (March 12, 2007) ran a special report on many issues existing in the US undergraduate college system. Among them:
1) high dropout rate - only 63% of entering freshmen will graduate from college within 6 years, and fewer than 50% of black and Hispanic freshmen will.
2) sky high tuition - 4 years at a public in-state college costs $65,400, up more than 27% in past 5 years.
3) decline in the education quality - a recent survey show only 31% of college graduates were able to complete basic task (read texts and draw inferences) at a proficient level, down from 40% a decade earlier.
It sounds like our undergraduate colleges are becoming underachieving colleges.

8 comments:

Mignon said...

I like your blog and I agree college isn't always worth it, but I think it depends on what you want to be. In Holland they actually have a pretty interesting setup that I'm not sure I agree with ,but still it's interesting. They have three levels of highschool and depending on which you take will decide what you'll be when you grow up. The highest one takes 13 years and it's for doctors, lawyers, scientists, ect. The lowest is for janitors, burger flippers, waitresses, simple jobs that don't require any college education. The one in the middle are for jobs where you just have to take like a quick course in a low college and then you can get a job in that field. Check out my blog sometime http://mophoto.blogspot.com/

Bijoy said...

hey ther kewl report, nice blog and intresting stuff you have got there like to be in touch

regards Biby - Blog

khengsiong said...

High dropout rate - it probably means the standards of the colleges are so high that less-than-bright students can't graduate.

Remember that Bill Gates was a Harvard dropout. Steve Chan was hired by e-Bay before completed his degree.

Karina said...

Hello-
I like numbers also! and I like your blog!
saludos,
karina

Billyo said...

It's a problem we have in the UK too. For 20 years successive governments have attempted to get more and more people to go to university, but it's gone too far:

- 7 years ago there were no tuition fees at all. Now fees are £3000-5000 a year.

- Too many young people are coming out of rubbish universities with rubbish dregrees in pointless subjects. Worse, they then feel that because they have their degree in "Media Studies" that they should be given high salary jobs. Upon not finding them, they just claim the dole.

- Schools seem to put forward University as the only option after school. No kids are encouraged to take up vocational training as Builders/Plumbers/Electricians etc. so those there are earn four or five times the salary of a teacher.

Is it worth it? No. Save your money, go and take vocational training.

P.S. I like the blog.

John A Hill said...

I think that most companies use a degree as a certificate of trainability. Degrees in business, management, personnel, etc. are just a way of saying I've been toilet trained before, I can be traines again. Of course, some degrees are necessary for more specialized fields.
I enjoy your blog.

ilove0088 said...

I like this blog!

walker and Amily said...

I like your blog.
thank you for your words and menmbers.