The availability of student loans has changed our financial and employment landscape. While attending college used to be something just a few did, “We now send 70 percent of high-school graduates to college, up from 40 percent in 1970,”according to Marty Nemko, a career counselor based in Oakland California (The Chronicle of Higher Education). While 70 percent of high school graduates attend college, the number of students who graduate with a degree is smaller. Even when a student does obtain an undergraduate degree, a job is not guaranteed. “Among the members of the class of 2010, … [Read more...] about Should Every Student Pursue a Four Year College Education?
Thriving at College
Death by Degrees
This article requires a slow, careful reading. It offers a devastating and provocative critique of modern higher education and, in particular, the ranking of schools which leads to something of a caste system. A few excerpts: "As union jobs have disappeared, participation in the labor force, the political system, and cultural affairs is increasingly regulated by professional guilds that require their members to spend the best years of life paying exorbitant tolls and kissing patrician rings." "Like the market for skin care products, the market for credentials is inexhaustible: as the … [Read more...] about Death by Degrees
Reducing Costs in Higher Education
Governor Scott Walker of Wisconsin, fresh from his political victory earlier this summer, has set his sights on lowering higher education costs. Last Tuesday, the Governor unveiled the University of Wisconsin Flexible Degree Program. Walker announced: The unique self-paced, competency-based model will allow students to start classes anytime and earn credit for what they already know. Students will be able to demonstrate college-level competencies based on material they already learned in school, on the job, or on their own, as soon as they can prove that they know it. By taking advantage … [Read more...] about Reducing Costs in Higher Education
Switching Jobs: How to Decide?
There's every indication that changing jobs is becoming more common in our economy. How should post-college Christians respond to desires or opportunities to switch jobs or careers? That's the topic of my latest Boundless article, in which I unpack four principles to guide us in making this decision. Here's the opening: Once upon a time people grew up, finished school, entered their profession and eventually retired on an employer-provided pension after many years of faithful service. For most jobs, pensions are a thing of the past. So is spending your career with a single employer. These … [Read more...] about Switching Jobs: How to Decide?
Has Higher Education Become an Engine of Inequality?
The Chronicle of Higher Education hosts a "round table" as it were, asking nine scholars of higher education policy and related fields to address this topic: Inequality is growing in the United States, and social mobility is slowing. A study by the Pew Charitable Trusts found that 62 percent of Americans raised in the top one-fifth of the income scale stay in the top two-fifths; 65 percent born in the bottom fifth stay in the bottom two-fifths.Education, long praised as the great equalizer, no longer seems to be performing as advertised. A study by Stanford University shows that the gap in … [Read more...] about Has Higher Education Become an Engine of Inequality?
Jean Twenge on White Horse Inn
Michael Horton talks to Dr. Jean Twenge about her fascinating book The Narcissism Epidemic: Living in the Age of Entitlement and her previous book Generation Me: Why Today's Young Americans Are More Confident, Assertive, Entitled--and More Miserable Than Ever Before. Dr. Twenge quotes a study that found one third of all college students think they deserve a B if they show up to class. And two thirds of students thinks that if they try hard, a professor should increase their grade. Both of Dr. Twenge's books were very helpful to me as I wrote Thriving at College. … [Read more...] about Jean Twenge on White Horse Inn