Education Rebel @ Work

Must read article on a class of students that were offered guaranteed college scholarships when they were in the sixth grade and what happened to them over 23 years later. This insight from the program director sums up exactly what we must understand about the lure of “college for all” as a measure of “success” in 2011. Right, Mr. Obama?

“What Proctor learned, he says, is that Dreamers’ achievements cannot be defined by a diploma, an attitude that he says Pollin and Cohen eventually embraced. The doctor and the pharmacist are successes, for sure. But so are the UPS driver and the Prince George’s police officer. They may not have college degrees, Proctor says, but they have a sense of purpose and ambition.”

This is an infographic by Course Hero on the ROI of going abroad. DISAGREE! Most of the career coaching clients I work with who are unable to do what they really want professionally because of student debt accumulated a significant amount of it during their semester abroad. 

I don’t disagree that traveling abroad is certainly an amazing opportunity, but with their ROI arguments. There are lots of ways to gain the experiences detailed in the infographic in your own community.

I was honored to speak with Michael Goldstein last week about the diminishing returns of a college degree, and educator responsibility for a graduate’s ability to earn a living. The picture refers to one of his charts on ROI of a college degree.

You can read the whole blog post here.

“If the size of student loans are capped at a low level, you know what will happen to the price of going to a college or university ? It will plummet. Colleges and universities will have to completely rethink what they are, what purpose they serve and who their customers will be. Will some go out of business ? Absolutely. That is real world. Will the quality of education suffer ? Given that TAs will still work for cheap, I doubt it.”

Rich guy and Dallas Mavericks owner Mark Cuban, offering up some ideas for OccupyWallStreet. This one? Capping student loans at $2,000 per year, thereby bringing overall college prices down. Brilliant. A bunch of his other ideas are fascinating, too. (via shortformblog)

(via shortformblog)

This sh*t does not serve unions well. Instead, why doesn’t the AFT chapter take some of the dues they collect and provide support to their members so they feel prepared and comfortable teaching online? Everyone gets hurt here- current students, future students who can afford lower cost online classes, and the lecturers who stay stuck in time. 

Terrible infographic, but incredible stats.

I feel like you could substitute “teacher education program” for law school in almost every instance in today’s NY TImes article and it’s the same story. 

Colleges and universities are making increasing profits off people who enroll with the belief they’ll be positioned for quickly disappearing middle class jobs… and people wonder why people are predicting a higher education bubble. The higher education defense is that they are meeting students’ demand, but colleges know that there are limited jobs based on their alumni experiences and economic data. It’s hard not to find a moral issue here.

When I did a career coaching workshop with the Fresh Air Fund kids in NYC, one of the staff members asked me why I didn’t push back on some of the kids who said they wanted to be fashion designers and artists and encourage more “white collar” jobs. The truth is that my entry- level fashion client who set up shop on the internet is making more money than my lawyer client. It’s not just about following your dreams.