Greetings folks, do you know what makes one-third of college graduates depressed? Their jobs don’t require what they spent four years, thousands of dollars, and a plethora of stressful sleepless nights acquiring: a college degree. But wait, don’t shed tears just yet because there’s a silver lining to this sad tale. Yes, my beloved readers, college enrollment is down, and this is good news. I can practically hear your jaws drop, but hear me out on this.
My theory is that our dear Rona (Covid-19) might have a hand in it, but for the last ten years, college enrollments have been plummeting at a rate of around one percent per annum. However, there’s a bright side to this trend – many young folks are landing neat jobs instead of loafing at the back of lecture halls, and guess what they don’t need? That’s right, useless bachelor’s degrees that have lost their value in today’s world.
Now wait a minute, let’s have a heart-to-heart talk about this “college wage premium.” Back in the 70s, high school graduates earned less than a university graduate by 35%, but that figure surged to 66% by 2001. That statistic was back in the days when student debt was reasonable and inflation was sane, unlike now, where student debt clocks in at over $1.7 trillion, and the graduation rate in four-year academic institutions drops to 60%. Can you blame folks for doubting that college is worth the cost? Apparently 56% of American adults don’t think so.
It gets even more comical when universities churn out Ph.D. holders that exceed employment market demand, and nearly 70% of all professors lack tenure-track positions. Can you believe that? I’m not yanking your chain. To make matters worse, women currently make up more than half of all college students, and Chinese students that bolstered revenue growth have suddenly dropped. So, ladies and gentlemen, with such a bleak picture, who will fund the academias’ faculties and their expanding administrative bureaucracies?
Here’s some news that will throw universities into a loop – thanks to a recent Supreme Court decision in 1971, “credentialism” that focuses on hoard degrees is slowly being phased out. Back then, corporations required standardized testing, but since that was struck down, they opted for college degrees instead. Believe it or not, almost 62% of all entry-level jobs require a college degree. Luckily, some sensible minds have come to the realization that a college degree has no correlation with one’s ability to work. Recently, several states like Pennsylvania, Maryland, Utah, and North Carolina have ditched the college degree requirements for public jobs. Yes, folks, no degree required!
Now, let’s get down to the nitty-gritty. Why should one bother with studying Victorian literature when studying computer science opens up a world of possibilities? There are plenty of financial incentives for studying more technical courses, but that’s not the only reason why folks are fleeing from the humanities. Would you want to study history when it’s always presented as an indictment of the past’s shortcomings? Can you blame anyone for avoiding a literature major that mostly focuses on fancy theories? So, you can imagine the New Yorker’s shock when plummeting humanities enrollments were explained by one writer’s statement, “What does this have to do with how most humans read?”
In conclusion, people might devalue college degrees in the future, but that won’t stop universities from using ever fancier dorms, better football teams, and even Mongolian barbecues in food courts to entice students. Just remember one thing – the saturation of academia with progressive politics is what’s scaring conservative minds away from colleges. Almost 75% of Democrats believe colleges positively impact the nation while only 37% of Republicans agree. Funny stuff, isn’t it?
Serious News: washingtonpost
