The onslaught of midterms hasn’t eased, and persnickety professors have you peeved. It’s times like these when you may want to give up on your degree and leave, but don’t.
A recent New York Times column highlights just how hard it can be to find a job without a college degree. Many employers won’t even grant an interview if they don’t see B.A. or B.S. on a resume. And with the recent unemployment spike driving up the competition for the jobs that remain, the column’s author Phyllis Korkki says a college degree is more important than ever now.
But a handful of experts interviewed in a Chronicle of Higher Education question-and-answer session disagreed. Charles Murray, a political scientist at the American Enterprise Institute, pointed to a study that showed that notching a B-average in a traditional college setting requires levels of linguistic and mathematical ability that only 10 to 15 percent of the nation’s youth possess. He concludes:
“That doesn’t mean that only 10 to 15 percent should get more than a high-school education. It does mean that the four-year residential program leading to a B.A. is the wrong model for a large majority of young people.”
Marty Nemko, a career counselor based in Oakland, Calif., adds:
“Students with weak academic records should be informed that, of freshmen at “four year” colleges who graduated in the bottom 40 percent of their high-school class, two-thirds won’t graduate even if given eight and a half years. And that even if such students defy the odds, they will likely graduate with a low GPA and a major in low demand by employers.”
But if you want our view? Don’t believe the haters. Be cool. Stay in school.
From The New York Times
Quick hits:
- Just in case you live under a rock (or spent all weekend in a drunken haze): The House of Representatives passed a sweeping reform of the nation’s health care system this weekend.
- A new study shows that the number of text messages sent in the United States grew by more than 80 percent over a yearlong span between June 2008 and June 2009.
- And in case you were wondering what ever happened to hood ornaments, The Big Money has the answer.