Who Needs College Anyway? Question by David Moltz, InsideHigherEd

President Obama set an ambitious new goal in his speech to Congress on February 24, 2009, proclaiming that by 2020, America will ...have the highest proportion of college graduates in the world.

But some experts, like author Charles Murray, dont think we need more Americans going to college. In his new book, Real Education: Four Simple Truths for Bringing Americas Schools Back to Reality (Random House, 2008), Murray argues that Americans place too much value on the bachelors degree.

Murray and researcher Anthony Carnevale debated Who Needs a College Education Anyway? at the Hechinger Institutes Seminar for Higher Education Reporters in December 2008. Scott Jaschik of Inside Higher Ed moderated the debate.

Murray, the W. H. Brady Scholar at the American Enterprise Institute, contends that because ability varies and 50 percent of people are below average, our current system of higher education makes little sense.

Carnevale, Research Professor and Director of the Georgetown University Center on Education and the Workforce, argues we should encourage as many students as possible to attend and graduate from college, because intelligence isnt fixed at birth and can be influenced by education.

After their remarks, Murray and Carnevale took questions from journalists participating in the Seminar.

Category:

Education

Tags:

• college
• bell curve
• degree attainment
• postsecondary attainment
• college access
• below average
• drive a forklift
• social mobility
• social inequality
• upward mobility
• american education

[LeftLiberalSoCal]

Quantitative Methods. I took quantitative methods of business which was a calculus course converted into word problems. To this day I have NEVER used one bit of it in the real world nor 99% of what I "learned" (memorized to pass the tests) has never been used by me. College is a business and a SCAM. They are all out of touch with reality. The professors think they are gods.They are petty, vindictive, and lay favorites. The administration is invulnerable.

COLLEGE. = DEBT SLAVERY

[independence442]

I love the smart look on the guy's face @ 0:18

It turns out "Dave" that you don't need a stinkin' degree to be intelligent or successful. Just look at Bill Gates. He didn't need a degree to get where he's at.

A lot of the most successful entrepreneurs don't have degrees.

So "Dave", do some research before acting so arrogant and ignorant. That's a good example of academic arrogance.

[movcrit]

@LeftLiberalSoCal Then you didn't learn how to use calculus lol.

[CollegeReform]

Let's start a movement to change things. Type Reform Higher Education Now in the search box on Facebook or click CollegeReform below.