Study says college isn’t for everyone

[Guest guest]

http://news.yahoo.com/s/yblog_thelookout/20110202/us_yblog_thelookout/study-says\

-college-isnt-for-everyone

Wed Feb 2, 12:36 pm ET

Study says college isn't for everyone

By Liz Goodwin

A new Harvard study (PDF) says American students need to begin to decide in

middle school whether they want to prepare for four-year college and then a

career. The alternative approach, the study says, is to begin vocational

training for a job earlier.

The study is inspired by European systems of education, and its authors say too

many students are graduating high school without middle-level skills that could

help them land well-paying jobs as electricians, for example. About a third of

jobs in the next decade won't require a four-year college education, the study

says, and this program would help American kids prepare for them.

The study may raise the specter of " tracking " --the process by which minority and

poor kids are pushed into vocational programs at their schools and held to lower

expectations. EdWeek's Gewertz notes that the authors seem to

anticipate that concern, writing that students should be able to change their

minds about whether they want to go to college or try a different career at any

time. But the report also argues that " the coursetaking requirements for entry

into the most demanding four-year colleges should not be imposed on students

seeking careers with fewer academic requirements. "

Gewertz writes that one of the study's co-authors, Schwartz, previously

championed a " college for all " approach to K-12 education.

Higher ed policy analyst Sandy Baum told the AP the idea is to enhance

opportunities for everyone. " What we'd like is a system where people of all

backgrounds could choose to be plumbers or to be philosophers, " Baum added.

" Those options are not open. But we certainly need plumbers so it's wrong to

think we should be nervous about directing people in that route. "

President Obama has said he wants the United States to lead the world in college

graduation rates again.

(Stock photo: Getty.)

[Guest guest]

Everything in this article was something I learned in college back around 1991.

That was a state school. Pity I didn't know that harvard was doing the study

now. I could have gone to Harvard and taught a class on this subject.

Administrator

http://news.yahoo.com/s/yblog_thelookout/20110202/us_yblog_thelookout/study-says\

-college-isnt-for-everyone

Wed Feb 2, 12:36 pm ET

Study says college isn't for everyone