Selling Dreams, Not Reality
Choosing a college major is a life-altering decision, made millions of times a year by 18-year-olds with little exposure to higher education or labor markets. Colleges frame programs in terms…
Posts tagged with
“employment”
The Business of Selling Dreams
The point of a college degree is to gain essential skills and knowledge that support your career. In other words, it is to get a job in a field you’re…
A Memo to College Presidents
The higher-education landscape has been radically transformed in recent months. Yet, for all the excited headlines and frenetic chatter, I’m not sure that college presidents, trustees, and alumni groups fully…
A New Liberal-Arts University Arises
Ralston College counts among its first graduates a 24-year-old man who, in his third term of study, asked me what he could do to help ensure our fledgling institution would…
After Student-Loan Forgiveness, Mandatory Credentialing Has to Go
President Biden recently announced a controversial, half-trillion-dollar student-loan-forgiveness scheme in which his administration would use a minor provision of the post-9/11 HEROES Act to excuse student borrowers from repaying roughly…
Are College Exit Exams a Valid Measure of Learning? It’s Complicated
Given the enormity of the public and private investment in US higher education, of course we should evaluate its effectiveness. But, how? It is claimed that over 200 higher education…
Blowing the Boiler of American Education
The need for change in the visual arts may offer a way to fix two of the many fundamental problems afflicting American liberal arts education in general. These are the…
The Scuba Model of Higher Education
Scuba diving ought to be very dangerous. Recreational diving involves submerging to depths of up to 60 feet. If something goes wrong at that depth, a quick return to the…
Regional Colleges Can Compete by Emphasizing Choosing the Right Major
The wage premium attached to a bachelor’s degree largely explains why high school graduates who would have previously looked for a job now apply to college. But they need to…
To Close the Skills Gap, Create Industry-Vetted Certificate Programs for Students
Even though experts believe college is still worth the cost, employers question the value to their businesses. Many believe college degrees do not provide graduates with the skills needed in today’s workplace.…