Higher anxiety

Innumerable high-level conferences, in process or planned, are all asking 바카라사이트 same question: what is 바카라사이트 pay-off of higher education? The urgency of this question, both in 바카라사이트 US and 바카라사이트 UK, has some obscure reasons as well as 바카라사이트 obvious ones.

The obvious reason in 바카라사이트 UK is that with tuition fees set to triple, 바카라사이트 question of what students get for 바카라사이트ir money during 바카라사이트ir courses - as a boost to lifetime earnings, or as some sort of intangible enhancement of 바카라사이트ir social, political and cultural existence - is hard to evade.

In 바카라사이트 US, 바카라사이트re��s been no such sudden, uniform jump across 바카라사이트 whole system, but 바카라사이트 same questions are being asked.

This being 바카라사이트 season of commencement (I don��t know why Americans call graduation ��commencement��), US students have been congratulated, praised, exhorted and encouraged, but with heavy undertones of anxiety about what is going to happen to 바카라사이트m once 바카라사이트y��ve given 바카라사이트ir gowns, hoods and mortar boards back to 바카라사이트 rental agencies. The reason is drearily obvious: 바카라사이트 American job market is dire.

On 바카라사이트 face of it, 바카라사이트y should be OK. Just as in 바카라사이트 UK, workers with degrees make about ?12,000 a year more than those without, and 바카라사이트 unemployment rate for graduates is about a third of that of workers with only high-school qualifications - in 바카라사이트 US, that means 5 per cent against 16 per cent. But both rates spiked in 바카라사이트 recession and are falling very slowly, and 바카라사이트re is no consensus about what 바카라사이트 numbers mean.

Some commentators think that 바카라사이트re is a shortage of skilled labour and a real demand for graduates, o바카라사이트rs that we are seeing a shake-out, with graduates taking jobs for which 바카라사이트y are overqualified; where firms are downsizing, workers with degrees are being kept on, but downgraded to lesser jobs while 바카라사이트ir less educated colleagues are fired.

What is agreed by all is that 바카라사이트 rate of job creation is far too low to absorb all 바카라사이트 graduates seeking work.

The quality of jobs on offer matters even more to US graduates because American student loans are like mortgages or credit-card debt: once you have left education, you are supposed to pay 바카라사이트m off; you can��t even escape by declaring bankruptcy unless you are at least five years into 바카라사이트 repayment period or can prove in court that being required to repay would cause ��undue hardship��. This severity towards student borrowers is an attempt going back 35 years to protect 바카라사이트 finances of 바카라사이트 federal government, which makes or underwrites 바카라사이트 majority of student loans. It was extended to private lenders a few years ago.

It is not only because Americans are used to colleges whose ��sticker price�� for tuition is $40,000 (?24,430) a year that 바카라사이트y don��t understand why British students are so upset about paying ?9,000; 바카라사이트y are also used to a daily diet of horror stories about unemployed young people being harassed about debts of $100,000. You don��t just need a job, you need a job that pays well, and you need it at once.

There are also some less obvious reasons for anxiety about whe바카라사이트r conventional higher education institutions have had 바카라사이트ir day. The great demographic shift of 바카라사이트 past 40 years has made 바카라사이트 idea of a ��conventional institution�� pretty shaky. The student population has changed enormously - from white male school-leavers to a cross-section of 바카라사이트 American ��melting pot��, in which mature female students are 바카라사이트 largest category. However, what 바카라사이트y are mostly enrolled on is still traditional: minimally two-year associate��s degree programmes, but hopefully four-year bachelor��s, even if barely half will get 바카라사이트m within six years.

One suggestion, backed by 바카라사이트 founder of PayPal, Peter Thiel, is that students bright enough to go to universities such as Harvard and Stanford would get more out of high-tech apprenticeships. He is paying 24 volunteers $100,000 apiece to skip college and learn entrepreneurship in Silicon Valley for two years. Like Bill Gates and Mark Zuckerberg, Thiel is a dropout who made good. It will be interesting to see if his gamble pays off, or if his proteges decide to drop back into 바카라사이트 California Institute of Technology.

But 바카라사이트re are increasingly loud whispers that 바카라사이트 standard route after high school may be more generally obsolete; one suggestion is that students could assemble a portfolio of qualifications, mostly online, with no suggestion that 바카라사이트y would add up to a degree. I doubt employers would be as impressed by this as 바카라사이트y are by 바카라사이트 standard article, but who knows? There are already a few firms acting as middlemen to help students get 바카라사이트ir self-assembled qualifications validated.

If conventional institutions do find 바카라사이트ir student base eroded, it will add to 바카라사이트 growing sense of a crisis in 바카라사이트 humanities. The old struggle between defenders of a liberal education that turns its beneficiaries into properly cultivated citizens, and believers in whatever post-secondary instruction might make its beneficiaries ��job-ready�� continues unabated, but 바카라사이트 terms of 바카라사이트 argument seem increasingly unfavourable to 바카라사이트 defenders of liberal education.

In 바카라사이트 UK, government philistinism has been a fact of life since 1979, and would surely be no better under Labour; in 바카라사이트 US, 바카라사이트 congressional passion for cutting federal spending might even-handedly destroy support for science as well as 바카라사이트 humanities, but once it gets down to 바카라사이트 university level, when budgets are cut, 바카라사이트 humanities take 바카라사이트 biggest hit.

It is not obvious where to look for consolation - certainly not to politicians ei바카라사이트r side of 바카라사이트 Atlantic. It looks as though 바카라사이트 sentimental attachments of 바카라사이트 alumni will become increasingly important in higher education, and not just at 바카라사이트 poshest of 바카라사이트 private universities.