{"id":771,"date":"2013-05-28T04:12:05","date_gmt":"2013-05-28T04:12:05","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/getswitchedonblog.com\/?p=771"},"modified":"2019-09-27T12:48:51","modified_gmt":"2019-09-27T12:48:51","slug":"does-a-college-education-prepare-you-for-a-career","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blog.getswitchedon.com\/index.php\/2013\/05\/28\/does-a-college-education-prepare-you-for-a-career\/","title":{"rendered":"Does a college education prepare you for a career?"},"content":{"rendered":"
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There are now 111 universities<\/a> that cost over $50,000 a year to attend and that does NOT include room and board. What is amazing is that number has DOUBLED<\/strong><\/a> in just three short years! Yikes! If you are like me and have multiple children approaching college age, it is a real concern. When I went to the University of Oregon in the early 1980’s I believe my out of state tuition was under $7,000 a year. Is a college degree today worth it or more specifically, does what you will learn in college really prepare you for a career?<\/p>\n

The word education is derived from the Greek word educare<\/em>,\u00a0 which means to ‘draw out from within’ or to ‘lead forth’. The implication is that the purpose of education is to l ead the young out of their ignorance , draw out their potential, teach them to think and have the ability to learn. Are colleges doing that effectively? I do not want to get started discussing the “left leaning bias” of many teachers in the classroom and the goal of drawing out ignorance. I love this classic picture of John Belushi from Animal House. The movie was filmed at U of O the year before I arrived.<\/p>\n

\"belushi-1-mid\"<\/a><\/p>\n

You have seen reports that debt from student loans has now surpassed the total debt from credit cards. How many do you know with a college or even advanced degree that have a huge loan debt only to graduate and get a job for low pay or even worse are unemployed?<\/p>\n

A recent article, Colleges Get Career-Minded<\/em><\/a>, reports that finally some universities are now reconsidering what they teach. What skills do you learn that will really help you in a future career? What are they educating for? Some schools are working closer with employers in the classroom to define the skills the students really need.<\/p>\n

If you had $200,000+ saved for college is it a solid investment anymore? What are the alternatives? Could you spend much less and get the same result? If you had $200k saved could you buy a business and teach your child to run it with a mentor? Are kids learning how to show up on time with a great attitude, work hard for 10 hours and not complain, deliver amazing service and have the heart of a servant? Are they learning how to write and speak with precision and passion? How many are learning what it takes to be an entrepreneur and take an idea from start-up, to funding to fruition?<\/p>\n

A new model is needed for colleges and universities to impart the skills and mindset to succeed in the future without loading a student with a debt it will take them 20+ years to pay off. Students and parents deserve a\u00a0 clearer and quicker ROI.<\/p>\n

A recent WSJ article<\/strong><\/a> reported a 5% vacancy rate in manufacturing jobs that means 600,000 jobs right now are unfilled because they can not find employees with the right skills: machinists, craft workers and technicians. Almost none of these high paying jobs requires a college degree.<\/p>\n

What are you considering now for your kids and college or vocational\/technical training?\u00a0 I am looking at all my options and networking for potential internships. Are you considering any alternatives? What do you think colleges should focus on teaching now?<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

There are now 111 universities that cost over $50,000 a year to attend and that does NOT include room and…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-771","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-written-blog"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.getswitchedon.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/771","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.getswitchedon.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.getswitchedon.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.getswitchedon.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.getswitchedon.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=771"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/blog.getswitchedon.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/771\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2335,"href":"https:\/\/blog.getswitchedon.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/771\/revisions\/2335"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.getswitchedon.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=771"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.getswitchedon.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=771"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.getswitchedon.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=771"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}