Saturday, May 16, 2015

Gallup: Schools Not Doing So Well

From Gallup:
Ninety-six percent of Americans say it is "somewhat" or "very" important for adults in the country to have a degree or certificate beyond high school. Clearly, the perceived importance of postsecondary education remains very high, especially considering the majority of American adults do not have a degree. But something very troubling lurks beneath the surface of this finding in the recently released fourth annual Gallup-Lumina Foundation poll.
Only 13% of Americans strongly agree college graduates in this country are well-prepared for success in the workplace. That's down from 14% two years ago and 19% three years ago. This is effectively a "no confidence" vote in college graduates' work readiness, and if we don't work to fix it, there will be catastrophic effects for the American education system and economy.
The no confidence vote gets worse: Americans with college degrees are much less likely to strongly agree college grads are ready for the workforce than Americans without college degrees -- 6% vs. 18%, respectively.
Where is the disconnect?

2 comments:

pseudotsuga said...

The disconnect is between the idea of what higher education is: a 4 year (or more) college degree or post-high school training in a trade (plumbing, electrician, HVAC, for example).
The college graduates know what their degrees are actually good for, and that's usually just being educated. That's not much help in getting a job, however, since degree inflation, credentialism and political correctness make a college degree alone mean much less than it used to.

AnnaA said...

In my opinion, part of the disconnect is caused by those of us who have to work with the new college graduates. The work ethic,common sense and lack of asking questions are all major challenges for me and my boss. (We have two lab techs that are fairly recent college grads)

I will be glad to provide examples, if anyone desires.