Is the bubble bursting for Universities?

[llamatron]

maybe we need to educate people about the people that are successful without a degree. Schools now make kids feel that they are a failure if they are not going to university with the result that people who aren't cut out for academia feel that they have to go. My step bro being one of them, he is now now doing media studies at uni after failing the first year of his A-levels and only completing two of the three.

[scentral]

I'm afraid we're stuck with this 'system' for the foreseeable, as it's fed by the unis, the government, the would-be students and their parents.

 

Firstly, the unis, in order to feed the myth that 'if you haven't got a degree, you're no good' will always perpetuate the status quo. Similarly, any job within the unis state that a degree is 'essential'. (How discriminatory is that?)

 

The Government is obviously happy not to add hundreds of thousands to its already manipulated unemployment figures.

 

Then we've got the kids who generally see that going to uni is a natural progression from school. All their friends are doing it and if they can put off entering the big, bad world for 3 (4 with 'gap' year) years, why not? The fact that most degrees only require around ten hours of lectures a week (which the unis inflate to 20 with 'online tutor support') is a bonus.

 

The parents realise that their darling offspring have little chance of finding a job, don't want them stuck around the house for years so happily pack them off to uni (or, more usually poly-which-has-rebranded-itself). In 3 or 4 years time, the economic situation may have improved and they think a degree will give their kids more of a chance of getting a job.

[Snook]

Cleverness has nothing to do with it.

 

To pass, you need to be prepared to do the work and be well enough organised.

 

You need to be clever enough to realise that you have to prepare and do the work.

[mossdog]

I'm afraid we're stuck with this 'system' for the foreseeable, as it's fed by the unis, the government, the would-be students and their parents.

 

Firstly, the unis, in order to feed the myth that 'if you haven't got a degree, you're no good' will always perpetuate the status quo. Similarly, any job within the unis state that a degree is 'essential'. (How discriminatory is that?)

 

The Government is obviously happy not to add hundreds of thousands to its already manipulated unemployment figures.

 

Then we've got the kids who generally see that going to uni is a natural progression from school. All their friends are doing it and if they can put off entering the big, bad world for 3 (4 with 'gap' year) years, why not? The fact that most degrees only require around ten hours of lectures a week (which the unis inflate to 20 with 'online tutor support') is a bonus.

 

The parents realise that their darling offspring have little chance of finding a job, don't want them stuck around the house for years so happily pack them off to uni (or, more usually poly-which-has-rebranded-itself). In 3 or 4 years time, the economic situation may have improved and they think a degree will give their kids more of a chance of getting a job.

So it seems that everyone getting a degree is a great buffer for government, students and parents whilst economic circumstances improve!.......................can anyone see what's round the corner that will improve the economic circumstances of this country from it's present state,..........or am I just missing something?

[spinac]

I agree, in essence, with Cyclone's comment that it's not possible to over-educate someone. All education and knowledge is worthwhile.

 

As a principle it would be hard to argue against that.

 

However, in practice the disconnection between the subjects/qualifications on offer and their relevance and value in the workplace is a real problem.

 

How valuable is a degree in Theatre and Costume design from the University of Croydon (my daughter's choice) or Media Studies at the University of Leicester (my son's choice)?

 

Benjamin Franklin said that "the only thing more expensive than education is ignorance," but I'm not so sure ...

 

"Too much of what is called 'education' is little more than an expensive isolation from reality." (Thomas Sowell)

 

I've advised my daughter and son in the best way I can and will support them in furthering themselves through education, however I fear they will learn a very hard and expensive lesson about how academia fails to prepare many students for the realities of the workplace.

[L00b]

It is, however, possible to over-educate a population to the extent that people with degrees are working manual jobs and minimum wage positions.

On the other hand ... we do still need people to dig roads, clean toilets and collect the dustbins every week. It's a waste of everyone's time and money if people are led to believe that better education will always lead to a better job, because there are only so many jobs out there that require degree-level education.

Nail on proverbial head.

 

Look at France, which started upon the lofty "degree-for-all" route at least a decade before the UK: you don't have a hope in hell of landing a job in the Civil Service (e.g. and I'm talking entry-level, here: post sorting office, receptionist, a smidgeon up from minimum wage thanks to past union leverage), unless you're at least 4 years-past baccalauréat (basically, a BA or BS). Because all the other job applicants are at that level.

 

And for private sector employment, actual selection is way past the qualification itself: it's which Uni or Business School you came out of, not what qualification with (because the qualification/grade requirements are the same for all would-be applicants). Has been for years and years already.