In a world which is increasingly becoming more global, more technical, and where we (i.e. Americans) are beset with any number of competitors, the idea of dismissing a college education as irrelevant would seem to be ridiculous…

This argumentative gambit gets many people’s eye, but the real truth underneath these links, and a growing number of people who are profoundly dissatisfied with the results of having spent thousands and thousands of dollars not about the lack of a reason for an advanced education, it is more of an indictment of how corrupt and out of touch the education industry has gotten over the last generation.

The traditional college education (i.e. a liberal art curriculum) , when appropriately and effectively administered can certainly be a worthwhile method to create a broad and wide background for our future leaders…That was the intent all through the 18^th, 19^th and for most of the 20^th centuries. The fact is that things have changed, this classical form of curriculum (especially in that it has been taught with lowering standards and is mostly presented by an elite cadre of people who have little or no real interaction with the rest of our culture…business culture, our foreign or domestic policy points (other than being staunchly against the ‘man’), and is actively anti military.

This is not my intention to throw rocks while visiting this glass house; I am merely stating the obvious. The last valuable innovation in college curricula might be the post WWII Harvard business school MBA curriculum… after that the only real innovations in college curricula are in the research in the sciences which many universities and colleges perform.

So, other than creating more technology, we are doing a pretty lousy job of preparing the next generation… Depending u0pon who you talk to, many would add in any number of previous years too…

I think that a topic like this is a good place to consider what some possible alternatives are… As with K-12 education, we should be considering what the traditional forms of schooling prepare one for. Our current primary system has roots going back a century, where it was considered appropriate to socialize students to become inured to factory work (I’m speaking pretty broadly here…). The four year baccalaureate college degree and the traditional liberal arts college (the system and the actual curriculum) go back quite a lot further than a mere century.

Is it possible that thing shave ‘really’ changed? Do we need to look at what our modern culture has become, outside of schools how good a job are we doing to prepare the next generation? How many more changes will our children have to deal with? And finally, how well does the status quo work for us?

Does everyone need a college degree? Maybe not, says Harvard study.
http://www.csmonitor.com/USA/Education/2011/0202/Does-everyone-need-a-college-degree-Maybe-not-says-Harvard-study

Report: First two years of college show small gains
http://www.usatoday.com/news/education/2011-01-18-littlelearning18_ST_N.htm?csp=hf&loc=interstitialskip

COLLEGE IN AMERICA, A HUGE WASTE OF TIME AND MONEY
http://www.blurofinsanity.com/collegewaste.html

College: Waste of Time
http://gawker.com/5303654/college-waste-of-time

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