The School of Hard Shocks
The School Of Hard Shocks
It may sound like educational heresy, but here's a provocative question: Should everyone go to college?
That was the question probed by Public Agenda and the Urban Institute, who convened a panel of experts for a September 17, 2009, forum, "School of Hard Shocks: Should Everyone Go to College," at the Urban Institute in Washington, D.C.
Jean Johnson (center), Public Agenda executive vice president and director of Education Insights research, at the Urban Institute in Washington, Sept. 17, 2009.
The discussion comes at a critical juncture. According to Public Agenda research, a large majority of Americans agree that college is growing less affordable. At the same time, the number of Americans who say that many qualified, motivated students don't have an opportunity for higher education is at an all time high. "There is absolutely no question," said Jean Johnson, executive vice president of Public Agenda and director of Education Insights research, "that [this] is one of the most important issues facing the nation."
Joining Johnson on the panel were Robert Lerman of the Urban Institute; Charles Kolb, president of the Committee for Economic Development; and Paul Lingenfelter, president of the State Higher Education Executive Officers, with National Public Radio's Claudio Sanchez as moderator.
Kolb noted that college completion rates are declining and the nation is now likely "to have the first generation that is not as well-educated as its predecessors."
The panelists agreed that the status quo is not acceptable for the nation's educational system and emphasized the need to re-examine the idea of college and the process of learning within the context of a rapidly changing and globalizing society. "There are nuances here," said Lerman. "We should not discourage college but we should provide better non-college options, better options for young people, so that… they have an idea of what would be a very useful and rewarding alternative."
Illustrating this point, Lerman referred to data from the U.S. Department of Education in which an overwhelming majority of high school seniors in the bottom quarter of their class, asked what they were going to do upon graduation, said they would go to college. "Now, they didn't go to college," said Lerman, "but it was more of a measure of that being the only thing that seemed viable… we have to look at not only college but other methods of education and training."
A major obstacle in this pursuit, however, lies in a disconnect between policymakers and the public. "The public hasn't really thought much about this question," said Johnson, adding that a great majority of Americans believes there is a kind of a moral obligation for society that every qualified and motivated student should have a chance to go to college and should not be deterred by cost.
Public Agenda, in the latest edition of our Squeeze Play series of reports on problems posed by rising college costs, found more than half of survey participants said a college degree is an absolute necessity, a dramatic increase from the 31 percent who said that in 2000. Referring to the study, Johnson said researchers have observed "a rising sense that you can't make it unless you go to college."
The problem is, however, more complicated. Johnson noted that six out of ten Americans say that employers ask for a college degree when it is not really required. "There's not necessarily conviction that all these jobs need college."
Educators, for their part, look at the problem in a different way than the general public. Only a third of all public school teachers believe that all students should go on to college. This is "the biggest target for engagement," said Johnson.
Johnson pointed to Public Agenda's focus group report, "Campus Commons? What Faculty, Financial Officers and Others Think About Controlling College Costs," and noted that researchers found "broad concerns that way too many of their students were not prepared for college… [and] substantial concern that a lot of these young people didn't even really want to be there: they went to college by default." Educators, Johnson said, were ultimately concerned that "unless you do something about [students'] preparation, unless you give me more resources, unless you work with me, they're going to get that degree and it's not going to be worth the paper it's printed on."
The responsibility right now, noted Johnson, lies in expanding the conversation among parents and communities. The main question we need to tackle first, she said, is, "Are we talking about improving and diversifying our system or fundamentally changing it?"
