Hey all. There are likely people more informed than I on this issue but wanted to raise it and present what I do know at least for those unaware.
I think my generation (Millennial, born 1980<) will be suffering under a bad education policy of both the US and Canada, a policy which pushed all able into university. I have been seeing a few reports on massive student debt being accumulated, and especially for those taking the ‘B.A’, a pretty uncertain future for paying it back. Many of those taking such degrees are also not working anywhere where such a degree actually increases their productivity. In other words, they could have skipped the time and debt and entered the work force without any loss. On the other hand, I think employers, and more so today, are using university degrees not at all for what is taught, but merely as a personality and work ethic check, ie. if you can get a degree, it says something about your work ethic, ability to arrive on time, etc. Therefore, the university degree is more and more a screening device for character, not at all a training institution. College seems to be relatively healthy and still provide direct job training, it is the academic universities in a decade or two that will suffer scrutiny for not providing what is expected of them. It used to be the case that a university degree was uncommon and guaranteed a high office or position in a company. Now it is so common and thus devalued. In the meantime, it has fueled a massive increase in university size, especially graduate programs pumping out PhDs (myself included). When will this bubble break, and what will be the economic consequences?
I guess a deeper question could be, what can we reasonably expect from an education? Can we, through mass education, increase the rate of new inventions or technology? Or do we depend on an eccentric few, regardless of their education or the educational level of the masses?
So do you think my(our) generation has seen an over-investment in education?
