School-to-Career Blog 010108

The views expressed here are Chris' and are not necessarily the same as the Wake County Public School System.

Point of View: Misguided agenda for universities

link to the news article: The News & Observer, January 1, 2008.

Article Highlights

Last February, UNC Board of Governors Chairman Jim Phillips convened the UNC Tomorrow Commission "to determine how the 16-campus university system can best meet the needs of the state and its people over the next 20 years."

... a critical objective of the commission was to explore how the university system can prepare a competitive work force in the emerging global economy. The commission strongly recommends improving the high school graduate rate. On the surface this is a laudable goal -- upward mobility has historically been a strength of our economy and culture.

According to UNC Tomorrow's own projections, 40 percent of the future job creation will consist of low-skilled jobs that do not require high school graduation. The report states that "the fastest expanding jobs have been those at the high end and the low end of the pay scale. Jobs with moderate rates of pay have been growing at the slowest pace."

Another reason mentioned at UNC Tomorrow sessions for reducing the dropout rate is the idea that increasing high school graduates will result in many more college graduates. But it is unrealistic to expect those least inclined to perform academically in high school to raise their performance to that of a college graduate.

The UNC Tomorrow Commission calls for many things. It wants high schools to reduce the dropout rate by concentrating on the lowest achievers, while increasing the number of students ready to tackle the most demanding college disciplines. It wants to increase college attendance among those least likely to graduate, while increasing the percentage of college students graduating with degrees in the most rigorous subjects. To achieve these conflicting goals simultaneously will require a large infusion of resources. And that clashes with a proven way to ensure prosperity: a low-tax, low-regulatory business environment.

Chris' thoughts -

This is a great opinion piece.

The university system is pointing their finger at the public schools saying that reducing the 32% high school drop-out rate is essential to getting more kids into college.

Hey NC University System, have you looked at your own dropout rate? In case you didn't notice, the North Carolina University System has a much worse graduation rate than the public schools.

The average high school graduation rate in North Carolina is better than the college graduation rate at 14 of the 16 universities in the North Carolina University System. And that's looking at their graduation rate for students who obtain a four-year degree in six years!

We can all agree that reducing the high school drop-out rate is essential to building a better community, but the university system has their own problems to worry about.

I believe the university system needs to be looking at their own graduation rate before looking somewhere else. In fact, the graduation rate of half of these universities is below 50%. They are taking tuition money from students who probably shouldn't be there in the first place, and they want more of these students to fill their seats.

Do they know that only 19.2% of all jobs in NC require a four-year degree or higher?

What is the true value of a four-year degree? What percentage of four-year graduates can't find a job verses the graduates from a two-year program at a community college? How do salaries compare between the two degrees? These are the questions the study should be looking at. The answers are not what the university system is looking for, so these questions may never be asked.

The universities seem to be more concerned with filling seats than truly preparing the workforce of the future. The Community College System in North Carolina gets it. Maybe we should shut down a few universities until they get it!

 

Well, at least that's what I'm thinking!
Chris Droessler

Chris writes for the following Blogs:

 

 

 

                                                                                               

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