

Walter Russell Mead: The Higher Education Bubble - cwan
http://blogs.the-american-interest.com/wrm/2010/08/31/back-to-school/

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SamAtt
The irony is this author never once questions why American degrees aren’t
paying off. If I was a professor at a University and I acknowledged the fact
that degrees aren’t paying off I’d be looking for a solution. Not shrugging my
shoulders and telling future students to accept the inevitability of their
useless education.

It amazes me that he can make a point of mentioning the tough competition from
China and India (where degrees are more “skill oriented”) and then go on to
suggest students spend their college years pursuing a “liberal education” as
he calls it.

Don’t get me wrong. I’m all for General Education classes that introduce
students to basic ideas of philosophy, other cultures and so on. But the
University system needs to realize that those classes are the gravy and not
the main course. The focus of college is to get a usable skill that will make
you a productive member of society. I’m continually amazed by people in my
professional life who have gone through 6 years of college (MBAs) and
seemingly have no useful skills to show for it.

I think it’s time for University teachers to take ownership of the problem and
start creating curriculums that are designed to fix it.

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naner
That wasn't the thrust of this essay, though. I think you're assuming to much
and jumping to conclusions. This was just a simple essay to future students,
that doesn't mean this is all he has to say on the subject.

 _It amazes me that he can make a point of mentioning the tough competition
from China and India (where degrees are more “skill oriented”) and then go on
to suggest students spend their college years pursuing a “liberal education”
as he calls it._

It doesn't surprise me at all. The classics are probably the best place to
discover a philosophy of work and strategy that is useful in this environment
(and any future environment).

Also, people in developing countries work like hell because they have to to
survive. They were given nothing. We were given everything. We're not facing
nearly the same risks. You can't just tell these students "Hey! You will have
to work hard because those other guys are." and expect them to jump. You have
to change the way their mind works, and the classics have the material to do
so. Otherwise, people who have grown up with an easy life have a tendency to
squander what they have and become fat and lazy.

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timruffles
Solid article. This problem is painfully evident in the UK, where we're aiming
at 50% university attendance, when we have quality courses available for about
10% of students. The result: 3 more years of high-school quality education -
quantitatively more education, but qualitatively these 'graduates' have just
crammed, parroted and forgotten a little more.

The most important skill to take from HE is the ability and desire to continue
to learn: the only skill that'll never be obsolete (I'd better keep telling
myself that, since I'm a history graduate :) ).

