A NYT Op-Ed lays out the problem with graduate education in the US very well, but then goes on to suggest work-arounds that do not address the actual root cause. The problem: too many graduate students trained in niche fields for too few academic jobs and little preparation for alternative jobs.
At the end of laying out the problem, Mr. Taylor states:
If American higher education is to thrive in the 21st century, colleges and universities, like Wall Street and Detroit, must be rigorously regulated and completely restructured.
Regulation of Wall Street and Detroit has gotten us into many messes over the years, and contributed to the current recession. There are some good points that he makes in his solutions, but they are bandages, not cures.
The problem is degree inflation caused in large part by state-subsidized education. You do not need a PhD, Master’s or Bachelor’s degree to be a productive member of society. Some people may not even need a high school diploma to be an important part of the economic world. But, K-12 is “free” and mandatory, so, in order to weed out those who can read and write, employers look for higher education. But those are heavily subsidized with low-interest student loans, so employers need yet another weeding out step – the advanced degree. Again – advanced degrees are subsidized directly and indirectly with federal grants and student aid. Get rid of the subsidies, and you’ll get rid of the degree inflation. Then, there won’t be too many undergrads needing cheap teaching labor (aka, grad students) and a Bachelor’s degree will actually have substantial meaning. In the end, there won’t be too many grad students all vying for a handful of job openings each year.
12:39 pm on April 30, 2009
