We need to do a better job educating our population, for sure. Most of the failings are at the K12 level. IMO (as someone who works in edtech, in both K12 and higher ed), the primary issue with higher education is not that we're not doing a good job of educating students, it's that the cost is sky-high and does not correlate well to the value provided. So much of the value is in signaling and network-building, not in the actual teaching itself.
So IMO, this is not a choice between "better educating our population" and reducing the reliance on college degrees. The percent of the population that gets a college degree has shot up in the last 70 years, and it's likely we've overshot the sweet spot. The pendulum is starting to swing back a bit, and hopefully we'll reach an equilibrium point that makes sense and is affordable.
To your point, I even hope that when we reduce our overspending at the higher ed level, the government will be able to shift those resources to K12, where the bigger failings are happening.
> So much of the value is in signaling and network-building, not in the actual teaching itself.
People keep repeating that, but what is the basis? Reptition doesn't signal truth; it signals the opposite, arguably, that people are following each other rather than examining the facts and arguments.
We need to do a better job educating our population, for sure. Most of the failings are at the K12 level. IMO (as someone who works in edtech, in both K12 and higher ed), the primary issue with higher education is not that we're not doing a good job of educating students, it's that the cost is sky-high and does not correlate well to the value provided. So much of the value is in signaling and network-building, not in the actual teaching itself.
So IMO, this is not a choice between "better educating our population" and reducing the reliance on college degrees. The percent of the population that gets a college degree has shot up in the last 70 years, and it's likely we've overshot the sweet spot. The pendulum is starting to swing back a bit, and hopefully we'll reach an equilibrium point that makes sense and is affordable.
To your point, I even hope that when we reduce our overspending at the higher ed level, the government will be able to shift those resources to K12, where the bigger failings are happening.