The Dangers of Diplomas

updated 4/11/19

If you ask adults going for a degree the question, “Why are you going to school?” they tend to respond in these ways:

1. In order to make more money;
2. In order to raise my station in life, that is, gain respect;
3. In order to speak with authority, that is, more easily persuade others to accept what I say;
4. to learn more about things I am interested in;
5. to improve my character or acquire wisdom.

Educational institutions of all kinds focus their advertising on such goals, emphasizing them in the order given above, particularly items 1, 2 and 3. Items 4 and 5 are left for faculty, counselors and late-night campus bull sessions to address informally, if someone appears to be receptive to them.

But although recruiting advertisements proclaim there is a correlation between higher degrees and life-time income increases (With which degree? In which field?) events have shown that for the randomly selected graduate student (you, me or our friends) the link between degree and well-paying job is tenuous.

I began taking graduate courses because, as a public school teacher, state and school district requirements mandated that I take courses to maintain my licensure. Contract incentives moved me to enter a Master’s degree program. It took me more years to make back the money I spent on tuition than I received by my salary increase for the higher degree.

However I did learn some interesting things and meet some interesting people as I worked at the university, but mostly, by luck: by just being around when things came up. That meant I had to spend substantial time away from my family to take advantage of such opportunities. The short-term tradeoff was not encouraging. Long term advantages were post-schooling circumstances: things happened.

Two not uncommon results of acquiring higher degrees are

a. overblown self-esteem, a pride that outstrips capability, even in one’s speciality (the The Curse of Knowledge vs The Dunning-Kruger Effect) and
b. a sense of entitlement based solely on possessing the sheepskin.

Everyone vaguely associated with a college or university knows some pompous twit with a doctorate who constantly complains about being underpaid. But there are corporations that will not hire from certain highly reputed business schools because “all their graduates really know how to do is expect a beginning six-figure salary.” (People in basic education can look forward to the likelihood that wherever they are hired, a large number of people will treat them as overpaid ignoramuses.)

If you have acquired a higher degree, ask yourself, “Did it make a difference in who you are? Can you honestly say you’re a better person for it? Or did you just learn to keep your opinions to yourself unless you could flatter someone higher up on the food-chain with them?”

There is a bizarre correlation to consider: cheating and plagiarism in high schools and colleges are reputed to be at an all-time high. So are applications for admission to all kinds of higher education. Has someone found the real road to success?


To examine these issues further, see KNOWLEDGE IS GOOD: some misgivings


Cordially
--- EGR

College Graduation? No Guaranteed Ticket to “Success”

If you’re going to college just to party, you’re wasting your money – or your parents’ money – but perhaps you’ll end up with some fond memories from it.

If you’re going to college to find a job to make yourself wealthy, you should aim to graduate other than into an economic recession. According to an article in the Wall Street Journal, graduating into a down-turning economy badly affects a job-seeker's income for years. ( See WSJ, May 9, 2008, The Curse of the Class of 2009: For College Grads Lucky Enough to Get Work This Year, Low Wages are Likely to Haunt Them for a Decade or More)

That article goes on to state

…for each percentage-point increase in the unemployment rate, those with the misfortune to graduate during the recession earned 7% to 8% less in their first year out than comparable workers who graduated in better times. The effect persisted over many years, with recession-era grads earning 4% to 5% less by their 12th year out of college, and 2% less by their 18th year out.

So, in 2011 with a 9% unemployment rate, you should, roughly calculating, expect a minimum of 10.5 to 12% less in your first year of employment, than you would have in, say, a year with an unemployment rate of 7.5%.

You might as well party your way through college, it seems. Or do something better: learn what really interests you. (A little partying won’t hurt, either. Neither would picking up saleable experience or a skill during summer vacation.) But take advantage of college to study something you really enjoy, something that lights up your life. Just don’t expect to earn your living at it. It may happen; it may not.

A common strategy among graduates is to stay on in school and get a higher degree. This costs more money, usually borrowed, and offers no more guaranteed a result than the undergraduate degree.

You, I and a lot of other people, have been brought up on unrealistic expectations: school success does not have the influence we imagined on our chances for job success. An A, B, C or D in calculus, or English, or chemistry, whether we get it in high school or college, is likely all the same to a future employer, whose future needs will be far more important to the decision to hire us than any of our past academic pains and glories.

To examine these issues further, see Moral Responsibility in the Education Industry. 
How much can school reform enhance a student's occupational fitness?


Cordially
--- EGR