Americans Are Losing Faith in the Value of College. Whose Fault Is That?

I'm unable to read the article, but there's a whole lot of blame to go around.

Everyone is supposed to go to college, regardless if that is the right choice for them. They're told they can only do this as fresh graduates from high school, even if they do not have any idea what they want to do with the rest of their lives. They're told this is the only way to a middle class or better lifestyle, there are no alternatives. They're told that this is a path to a middle class lifestyle and if you follow this path, you will be successful. We equate education with job and career success.

College costs have gone up dramatically, because it's (in my opinion) an inelastic good (no matter what the cost, if this is the way to a nice life, you need to pay it.) We're asking 18 year olds, who all too often have very little understanding what loans actually mean to go into long term debt without fully realizing the consequences.

We have under-invested in our education system at all levels. We're grossly underpaying teachers. Our schools are focused solely on putting butts in seats over actual education, because that's what they are judged off and rewarded for. This means that "school should be fun." (I agree, school should be fun). But not in the sense of "we spent more money on sports and entertainment than actually investing in things that benefit education."

Our schools are becoming diploma mills where it's about throughput, not actual education. Class sizes and online classes are increasing. Online classes are (again, in my opinion) arguably some of the worst systems of education I've ever seen. But that's becoming the norm, not the exception (see "Butts in Seats" above.)

A large part of our society seems to no longer value education, which since we're talking about the perceived value of something, makes quite a bit of difference.

I think that hits the low points.

Who's at fault? I'd argue we all are to some lesser or greater degree.

How do we fix it? All I'll say is good luck.

College used to be a stamp of competence, you used to be able to get a job unrelated to your degree by the simple fact that if you finished a college degree then you were at least certifiably competent and hard working. This is also why which college you went to mattered (and still does matter) a lot. A degree was basically outsourcing of part of the job interview process.

If everyone has a college degree it no longer has that intrinsic value, so only degrees tied to the job description have any value at all. Compounded to the fact that companies no longer train their employees because they don't stick around for their whole careers means entry level positions are evaporating.

The last ten years with the rise of tutorials, bootcamps, online courses, have affected how we use technology and how we approach problem solving. US tech companies are dropping college requirements because they understood they can find prepared software engineers that learnt to code by themselves. Going to college is still a good thing, but recruiters in the job markets have no clue how to address this.

it is the fault of freer money for education and greater expectations for amenities at colleges. higher education should be a measured decision where you literally calculate ROI on the cost of your degree