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What is the value of gaining a higher education?
I was reading an article today in the Guardian about the consequences of higher education. The writer's premise was that if graduates could not be guaranteed entry to the job market, higher education was meaningless. Does higher education have value beyond economic/ business needs?
Topics:
education university
Carlos Miranda Levy 500+
So I have wandered through life without a degree. As an entrepreneur, it never bothered or limited me. The only downside was repeatedly listening to mom about the importance of a degree in today's competitive job market. It mattered little for me to explain that I didn't have a job, didn't need one, wasn't looking for one and, later on in life, that my field and practical achievements were acknowledged and more valuable than any degree.
Then the dot com bubble burst and my revenue was reduced in 90%. I closed my office, let my employees go and held on to most of my on-line properties while going into the consulting market.
Although I was well connected and well received, the lack of a degree proved a complication in the hiring process of international organizations (and projects funded by them). Luckily, someone usually found a loophole or a way to skip the strict terms of hiring requirements, but mostly because I was a good fit for the job.
I was lucky to have a head start in experience with Information Technologies for Human Development and landed several gigs as a consultant in that area in the early 2000's, but it was probably because there were yet no formal degrees for that area and my experience proved more relevant and valuable than the then available degrees in technology, social sciences, economics and similar (plus, I did have 5 years of Economics, just not a degree).
I did make sure I was in the right place at the right time most of the time, ahead of the market, researching, innovating, creating, joining processes and adding value to any process I would participate, paying my dues as a beginner, early adopter, finding mentors and always working hard.
University friends remain for life and a degree may be nice, but don't let it and a secure job limit you
Debra Smith 200+
Robert Swick
Wu Meng
Sidharth Hariharan
Ramakrishna Dhavala
I am kind of late in jumping into this conversation. So please forgive me I am repeating the points already discussed or I seem a bit incoherent.
Higher education like any learning is meant for personal development in many ways. The capacity to earn and learn a decent life is perhaps the most important expectation out of it. Only if this need gets satisfied, things like adding value to organizations, societies etc. would happen. The problem is what is one 'Need' is another person's 'Want' and as a result the greater goal of helping the society with higher knowledge takes back seat. Added to this aspect, there are outliers in the negative side where highly educated people are jobless and this make people insecure. Amassing wealth then becomes the sole aim of an highly qualified person. Seldom it has happened that people in labs and design studios have also been the richest in the world.
Education should be a means to reach to a higher goal. There are many problems in our world that need to be solved for the betterment of the society. It would require a common thought and action process among nations of the world so that demand and supply gap of intellectuals can be bridged. Imagine you are a great civil engineer and your actual need is in Cambodia but you are underutilized in Canada. Too much time has been already wasted in national jingoism, religion, race etc. and therefore some nations lag behind as if there are in medieval times. Yes, you cannot help hostile regimes but wherever talent is invited ,things like money and standard of living conditions are acceptable, people must help each other across the world. Towards that end, higher education creates meaning.
No matter how much money one can earn, life without meaning is hollow.
Rama
Seun Owolabi 500+
Quaima Boylan
Joe qiao
Anthony Rodriguez
Panharith Ean
Nikhil Kumar
~nik
Zanele Shongwe
Kent Spencer 10+
Michael Allison
What would all of the professors do if they didn't have tenure within the university system? Most of them would be useless to any corporation - they can lecture but they can't do.
I don't mean to say that all higher education is of no use, but many of the courses that are taught in universities are of no practical use once one gets into the "real world."
Universities are competing for the same thing - students = dollars = profit = more money to keep too many useless professors employed.
Amy Peach
Before I left, my mother told me to remember that college isn't about training for a job. It's training for life. As we move into the digital age, it's important to remember that this training can be done in a more "just in time" method than was ever possible even when I went to school. I think higher ed has become even more relevant as it has the potential to expose you to the skills that will be more valuable than anything else: strong communication skills and an open mind. Your employer can teach you the program you need to use your job...but they expect you to be ready to go on your first day with the ability to communicate clearly. (so don't sleep through your composition class!!)
Allan Macdougall 30+
Steven Puplett
Jay patel
have u ever heard begger or poor commit sucide than rich people????
Lyman Zhang
One are people who are good at studying alone, you are expected to see them at the quiet area in the library.
One need environment and some companion.
I'm the first kind of people.
Early today my show my mum a TED video, and she ask me: are you learning anything from it? Don't get her wrong, she think it's inspiring and fascinating. Instead of answer the question, I ask her questions.
"If I go the the University without taking any course, but study exact every subject of someone's else degree, what's the difference?"
She is like:"A degree and maybe some valuable connection"
Great, so I continue "What if I take all the courses, but also I make friends, pretend to be one of the students and talk to the lecturers and do all kinds of social things, what's the difference?"
She is a bit lost, but still :"Then a degree."
Perfect, because I have little interest in my current degree in Australia now, for many reasons I choose it.
And I know my mum is same as me, who if it is possible to skip all the courses and get the degree, will definitely say 'skip' (and then use some time to watch TED)
So I continue: why not people like me just google and steal the course guide from the Uni and sneak into lecture then go to library and study everything out by our own? It's free and even awesome! Same result, same knowledge! Free of charge! How is this?
She laughed.
I don't know about you. But I feel sorry for the education system now, where Uni promise graduates 'if you have a degree, you can get a job'. Coz I think 10 years ago chief might say to a boy 'if you know how to cook, you can have a living' (no offence to chief). I know this is one bad joke. I'm just sorry at this moment, for both me and Uni.
Stuart Byers
Obviously, this is meant to argue the need for a tighter communications curriculum at this person's college.
Estela Estela 10+
You can learn some of these skills outside of college but college is a buffer for what comes later, it prepares you by making you more capable. It is a time of exploration before you plop yourself down in the more solid, concrete life of work and more fiscal responsibilities.
You don't always do what you learn in college (ie your major) but that didn't matter to me. I hope that everyone goes to college and has a 'learning' experience (one without too much booze, I hope-lol) And believe it or not, I'm not necessarily a 'school person' and still found value in it.
Become educated and you become more aware, in general. College life exposes you to many types of learning.
Caveat: Make sure you are smart about your journey so it doesn't cost you an arm and a leg and, like I said, don't let the social outweigh (beer) everything else you do there haha).
Sharon Turner 500+
Thank you for your answer. I really like your idea of exploration at university. You go on to say 'before your plop yourself down'. Do you think exploration still continues after university or that the more 'solid', concrete life of work and more fiscal responsibilities' deaden the ability to explore?
Estela Estela 10+
Debra Smith 200+
Sharon Turner 500+
Thank you for stopping by. I agree the value of higher education is internal if you are in the right environment of course. The whole experience of critical thinking, not taking things at face value was truly enriching. However, sometimes I wonder whether all higher education is still like this, with the greater demands of economy and business. I have seen over the years business try to encroach more on higher education and this does concern me. Also as a non-linear thinker university was sometimes hard for me to access due to the way that I thought. I would love to see universities address different thinking styles rather than just a linear format. I was extremely lucky though at Lancaster University in the linguistics department. They did provide the most amazing environment to think critically and to access ideas, and also for undergraduates to critique professors work. It was a truly inspirational environment and one that really shaped an important part of my thinking life.
Debra Smith 200+
You make some great observations above. Education is also partly the personal adjustments one has to make to get what they need out of the educational environment. Without those challenges we do not learn as many life skills. Even so, I often wonder what happens to the young people who cannot make the adjustment or keep digging until they get what they need. So many people bump up against education and fall away. I agree that more can be done but given the current system someone who cares about the individual needs to be there to give guidance and direction. It can be a Prof, a TA, a guidance counsellor or a friend.
Business feels that they have needs that must be fulfilled and so they often have or buy input into university courses. My greatest concern is that when they endow one area, the administrations deem other- less business friendly (read less donation attracting)- faculites as less relevant when this is truly not the case. I think part of what we are facing as societies has to do with the generations that believed that education was for 'making a bigger buck'. We need people who have learned how to think 'the big thoughts' and to challenge the assumptions.
Amy Peach
Debra Smith 200+
I got my university education mostly on scholarships after I had become the mother of 5 kids and had worked in a factory for 10 years as the first woman to take a skilled trade. I did not get the chance to have the typical university experience. For me it was work but work that I loved. I learned as much as I could about as many things as I could. I got a masters degree in Social personality psychology because I am fascinated by people in every manifestation. I spent much of my time as a TA and I loved that role very much. I was awarded a full scholarship for a PhD based on my work on a neuroscience test which gave insight into the way precogntion works but my life made other demands on me (to my great disappointment because I wanted to teach at the university level) and i had to get a job. While in the job, I gained an MBA in marketing (as a way to focus my mind after a divorce0. Thus education has done far more for me than just what is on the label. It has helped me grow, cope, understand and find a renewed life.
How about you?
Nikhil Kumar
I fully support higher education and thanks for your experience.
~Nik
Bill Harrison 10+
Th edification value of higher education, in the digital age, is certainly not worth the price. The stratification/certifcation value, however, the fact that having an overpriced, high-status degree can make you a more attractive person to both employers and the fairer sex, may well be.
In the Internet age, in which all digital textbooks, videos, interactive tutorials, etc. can be recreated for everyone at zero marginal cost, the transfer of knowledge from one generation to the next is much cheaper than at any other time in human history. The reason the cost of higher education, at least in the US, has risen ~4 times faster than the rate of inflation is partly due to waste/social stratification/unconscious peacocking.
So while higher education might have value from an individual perspective, the absurd cost is not the way a rational, self-aware society operates. The present system is just an absurd waste of human potential and talent.
In the US we need to 1. Tax the rich 2. Improve the diets of the poor 3. Create a cheaper credentialing system to certify knowledge, which will allow us to take advantage of the digital age and have a more flexible workforce.
I am not a free market fundamentalist by any means, but these absurd barriers to entry need to die and be replaced by a system in which equality of opportunity is at the very least on people's radar.
Sharon Turner 500+
I loved your answer and your solutions. With the digital age it doesn't make sense to pay so much for a college education. However, as you rightly point out for the individual the cost might appear appealing to become more attractive to others. I have recently discovered such sites as the open Yale courses online as I no longer need to be certified for work. I can explore for my own satisfaction and intellectual enhancement. When I think about this, it is bitter sweet. How sad that I am now 38 years old and have just really embarked in the last 4 years on my own learning journey but how wonderful to have that freedom. A question I keep coming back to is, shouldn't university help all students to take their own learning journey? Is this possible in today's climate?
Derek Crytser
Sharon Turner 500+
James Kindler 20+
James
Sharon Turner 500+
James Kindler 20+
James
Ria Navarro
In other words, higher education is f u n (wink wink ).
Sharon Turner 500+
Borrah Campbell
It is very difficult to become an expert on your own. This is why we pursue higher education. Of course, most people can't afford it... which I find kind of silly. (I'm a saver!) Once settled into the entry level, stay home with the parents, or with the roommates & pay off your debts. It's that simple. No debt should last longer than a year or so when making a professional - level salary & no bills... Yet the majority of the planet is in debt? It's permanently beyond my understanding...
Also, finishing college is really... really stressful & it is very difficult. Be prepared for that if you decide to go. We are animals & were not designed to sit still for hours every week for months on end.! For some, this is necessary.
You might have a gift. You may have a talent so great that you feel you don't need to go to college. Maybe your a good masseuse, live musician, artist, public speaker, performer, the list goes on...
If you have a special talent that society can use, flaunt it!
olina yang
I think we could learn more knowleges about many directions ,and find out our like in college .But it's hard for the students to practise and confirm whether they learned it well or not ! Only when they get out of school and work ,they would find what they really learned !However ,it's a little late .Because we also have great presssure at work ,we have to have great skills on jobs.
Sharon Turner 500+
Yes college can be stressful due to the debt, financial burden as well as the fact that sitting still for hours on end is really difficult. Do you think there is any other way to teach people in higher education rather than having them sit for hours?
As for the debt, I had to be in debt for university but not until my last year. My parents couldn't afford university but luckily I had a state scholarship in the UK. Despite working as well as studying in my last year my scholarship no longer covered my basic financial needs. However I did pay it off within a year as I had a very strict bank manager who I am eternally grateful for.)
Christophe Cop 500+
Is that not valuable?
(Which does not mean you cannot gain that value trough other means as well)
Sharon Turner 500+