I have blogged about my dissatisfaction of colleges before, but this is more focused.
I think that if employers were to take the lead, it could revolutionize our colleges and universities and make them more competitive and economical. If done as I will describe, there would be little that colleges and the teacher's union could do about it. Interested in what it is?
Currently, employers focus on degrees and the college where you gradated and little on transcripts. That's right. Employers appear to just be lazy and are not doing their jobs. If they would go just by the transcripts and ignore the degrees, they would have a lot better chance of getting the best person for their jobs. Does this sound logical to you? It gets even better.
If the above were the case, why would you actually need a degree? You wouldn't. You could take just the courses that you determined would best prepare you for the career that you wanted rather than have the college and the teacher's union tell you what you should study and "pay" for. In most engineering degrees, they require between 128 and and 140 semester units and many kids end up taking more than that to satisfy deficiencies or prerequisites. They often take more than 4 years to earn their degree too. This is a big cost because it runs up the cost of a degree and shortens the payback period. Hidden in the above is a bunch of worthless classes that the college and the teacher's union mandate that you have to have to earn a degree. If most of these were eliminated, the student could graduate in much less than the 4 or 5 years as now and could focus more and do better in the classes that they have selected.
If the above were adopted by the employers, it could have a major impact on the cost and time required to become well educated and competent in the area of concern of the student and the employer. In the end, I think that the employer would get better applicants and everyone would be better off. It would provide a degree of competition for the colleges and make them better respond to the objectives of their students and the potential employers. True, it would put more responsibility on the student and the employer and I think that is where the responsibility should be. The free enterprise system would be allowed to work rather than putting all of the trust in the government and the unions.
Currently, the only competition that the colleges and universities have is from "on line" types of learning and I don't think that is the way to go in many areas, especially in technology. In most cases the tax payers built the colleges and universities, so why turn them over to bureaucrats and unions? If employers would do what I have described above, it would put the actual control of higher education into the hands of the students and the employers where it belongs. All that is needed is for the employers to recognize their responsibility and take the lead in what is actually to their advantage. A problem that I recognize is that those who run our major companies are also products of the current educational system and it is hard for them to think outside the box on matters like this.
I am not going into it here, but if you look at our medical system you will see that those who have graduated from the system and who now control the system have created obstacles that make it difficult to impossible make the system that they graduated from more efficient.
If high school advisor would get on board with this concept along with the employers, I think that the USA would be a lot better off and we might start catching up with the rest of the world on our education. If current trends continue, we will be wasting both time and money teaching bull shit classes at the expense of what we should be teaching. The only way to by pass this current trend is to put the student, their parents and their employer in charge of higher education rather than political bureaucrats and unions. I think this could also apply to high schools too where bureaucrats and teacher's unions now have too much control. I don't think you need to "graduate" from high school either. What you need is an education!!!
PS---Where does the power of the high schools, colleges and universities come from? Ever thought about that? It comes from lazy employers who require their employees to have "degrees". By requiring kids to have high school diplomas gives bureaucrats and teacher's unions the power to force our children to take brain washing classes that parents disagree with while being paid for by their parents. Interesting how simple it is and how powerfully it works. Employers need to stop trusting bureaucrats and the teacher's union to screen their candidates and do it themselves. As you can see, this business of Degrees or Diplomas is the source of the power and we need to take it back!!
PS--Notice that the value of a Degree or Diploma does not command the same respect that it used too? Maybe there is a reason to be optimistic. The problem is that we still have the "boot camp" factor still in operation. What is that? You might ask. It is what prevents change and progress. "If I had do go thru it, then so do you". You have seen this and know it is true.
I think that if employers were to take the lead, it could revolutionize our colleges and universities and make them more competitive and economical. If done as I will describe, there would be little that colleges and the teacher's union could do about it. Interested in what it is?
Currently, employers focus on degrees and the college where you gradated and little on transcripts. That's right. Employers appear to just be lazy and are not doing their jobs. If they would go just by the transcripts and ignore the degrees, they would have a lot better chance of getting the best person for their jobs. Does this sound logical to you? It gets even better.
If the above were the case, why would you actually need a degree? You wouldn't. You could take just the courses that you determined would best prepare you for the career that you wanted rather than have the college and the teacher's union tell you what you should study and "pay" for. In most engineering degrees, they require between 128 and and 140 semester units and many kids end up taking more than that to satisfy deficiencies or prerequisites. They often take more than 4 years to earn their degree too. This is a big cost because it runs up the cost of a degree and shortens the payback period. Hidden in the above is a bunch of worthless classes that the college and the teacher's union mandate that you have to have to earn a degree. If most of these were eliminated, the student could graduate in much less than the 4 or 5 years as now and could focus more and do better in the classes that they have selected.
If the above were adopted by the employers, it could have a major impact on the cost and time required to become well educated and competent in the area of concern of the student and the employer. In the end, I think that the employer would get better applicants and everyone would be better off. It would provide a degree of competition for the colleges and make them better respond to the objectives of their students and the potential employers. True, it would put more responsibility on the student and the employer and I think that is where the responsibility should be. The free enterprise system would be allowed to work rather than putting all of the trust in the government and the unions.
Currently, the only competition that the colleges and universities have is from "on line" types of learning and I don't think that is the way to go in many areas, especially in technology. In most cases the tax payers built the colleges and universities, so why turn them over to bureaucrats and unions? If employers would do what I have described above, it would put the actual control of higher education into the hands of the students and the employers where it belongs. All that is needed is for the employers to recognize their responsibility and take the lead in what is actually to their advantage. A problem that I recognize is that those who run our major companies are also products of the current educational system and it is hard for them to think outside the box on matters like this.
I am not going into it here, but if you look at our medical system you will see that those who have graduated from the system and who now control the system have created obstacles that make it difficult to impossible make the system that they graduated from more efficient.
If high school advisor would get on board with this concept along with the employers, I think that the USA would be a lot better off and we might start catching up with the rest of the world on our education. If current trends continue, we will be wasting both time and money teaching bull shit classes at the expense of what we should be teaching. The only way to by pass this current trend is to put the student, their parents and their employer in charge of higher education rather than political bureaucrats and unions. I think this could also apply to high schools too where bureaucrats and teacher's unions now have too much control. I don't think you need to "graduate" from high school either. What you need is an education!!!
PS---Where does the power of the high schools, colleges and universities come from? Ever thought about that? It comes from lazy employers who require their employees to have "degrees". By requiring kids to have high school diplomas gives bureaucrats and teacher's unions the power to force our children to take brain washing classes that parents disagree with while being paid for by their parents. Interesting how simple it is and how powerfully it works. Employers need to stop trusting bureaucrats and the teacher's union to screen their candidates and do it themselves. As you can see, this business of Degrees or Diplomas is the source of the power and we need to take it back!!
PS--Notice that the value of a Degree or Diploma does not command the same respect that it used too? Maybe there is a reason to be optimistic. The problem is that we still have the "boot camp" factor still in operation. What is that? You might ask. It is what prevents change and progress. "If I had do go thru it, then so do you". You have seen this and know it is true.
