Should Universities Focus On The Future Employability of their Students?

The smart-aleck in me says "yes", because then the vast majority of the "Aggrieved Studies" majors would, of necessity, disappear overnight, but employment is only one purpose, and perhaps not even the most important purpose, behind getting an education.

But what if the federal government required schools to focus on graduate employability?

A true “education” is a profound and complex thing. Narrowing its purpose to “gainful employment” in a “recognized occupation” seems to both demean our notions of “higher” learning while shoe-horning its purveyors into a new, decidedly un-capitalist, field of “employment guarantor.” Yet, the Department of Education’s “Gainful Employment Rule” demands precisely such a guarantee.

An article worth your time. I like one of the suggestions in the piece:

(I)nstead of the onus falling solely on colleges and universities to insure their students get “gainful employment” to pay back government loans, maybe the onus should fall equally on the loan recipient to demonstrate his or her academic focus, drive, and worthiness.

Hear hear.