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Is university education becoming too common?
- Thread starter theowne
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ShonTron
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I really think there needs to be a change to distinguish workplace training and trade schools from higher learning, but everybody needs to do this at once. If only one or a handful of jurisdictions change the definitions of what university means, students will feel cheated.
There should be trade schools, institutes of engineering and technology (these two categories basically representing an enhanced community college system), and universities.
And trades are so underrated these days. We need to address the problem of people looking down on colleges.
Or you could just distinguish yourself with an extra 1-2 years and go for the M.A. At least in grad school, only the cream rises.
There should be trade schools, institutes of engineering and technology (these two categories basically representing an enhanced community college system), and universities.
And trades are so underrated these days. We need to address the problem of people looking down on colleges.
Or you could just distinguish yourself with an extra 1-2 years and go for the M.A. At least in grad school, only the cream rises.
tempperm
New Member
Maybe i don' t know what "socio-economic" means...but if it has anything to do with money i think it's a bad idea.
scarberiankhatru
Senior Member
A few children of the rich and powerful are needed at every university.
syn
Senior Member
tempperm
New Member
Don't u worry....they ll find a way in....
scarberiankhatru
Senior Member
Not if it's solely merit based and filled with career-focused nerds.
King of Kensington
Senior Member
I think the problem today is not so much "too many university students" but rather this rather instrumentalist view of education where students feel that since they're paying for this credential, they're entitled to a good grade.
carrefour
New Member
In Japan, almost everyone goes to a university. And then they have jobs as stock boy at the local grocery store. I kid you not.
How is it the same job that required less than a grade 8 education in my grandfather's day, required less than a high school diploma in my parent's day, now requires a Bachelor's?
University was never meant to be about getting a job. If you want a job, go to college ! Univeristy was meant to be about learning and academics, academic in the french sense of the word. If I were a university president, I would slash enrollment by 20,30%
And a society needs an elite. A group to aspire to, rightly or wrongly. Otherwise, we are all at the same level. And that, my friends, is Communism.
How is it the same job that required less than a grade 8 education in my grandfather's day, required less than a high school diploma in my parent's day, now requires a Bachelor's?
University was never meant to be about getting a job. If you want a job, go to college ! Univeristy was meant to be about learning and academics, academic in the french sense of the word. If I were a university president, I would slash enrollment by 20,30%
And a society needs an elite. A group to aspire to, rightly or wrongly. Otherwise, we are all at the same level. And that, my friends, is Communism.
syn
Senior Member
Society will always have an elite. It's ridiculous that they should have some sort of special right to university though - that's exactly the kind of thing that devalues a degree.
theowne
Active Member
That's a good point about universities being places of higher learning and intellectual discourse. Rather than degree-producing factories where you enter, write some essays, then leave with a bachelor of Arts.
Chuck
Senior Member
In this case, I think that it is the intellectually elite as opposed to the financially elite that is being referred to. If a simple clerical job requires a university degree, then what does that say about the value of a university education?
Back in the day, you only went to university if you wanted to become an Engineer, Doctor, Lawyer, or Professor. Today, kids basically go to university in order to get a minimum wage job as an office assistant. People are already starting to question the value of a university education, and I think that they should be. The fact that U of T has 50,000 students racking up millions of dollars of student debt for jobs that don't even require a university education shouldn't be seen as positive.
syn
Senior Member
scarberiankhatru was referring to societies' rich and powerful - not the intellectual elite.
People didn't just go to university to become a professional either. They needed a bachelors for a white collar job.
Right now, a lot of those people with degrees working as office assistants are doing so because they don't know what they want to do. They don't need a degree to be an office assistant.
As I said, university should be accessible to anyone qualified - the problem is that people don't know their options. I can't count the number of people I knew in university who really had no idea what they wanted - they just figured they'd get a degree and a nice job would fall into their lap. Things don't work that way.
Towered
Senior Member
On a related note, I heard on CBC radio yesterday that Hesse just became the fifth German state to abolish all tuition fees for higher education.
scarberiankhatru
Senior Member
Back in the day, universities were never filled only with the intellectually elite, so why should they be in the future? It'd be horribly dreary if career-focused nerds were the only ones there...