My university is proposing to offer shorter degrees. Others should follow suit
washingtonpost.com
washingtonpost.com
Instead, once the laughter dies and easy dismissals are out of the way, let me save you some time on this.
<< The four-year bachelor’s degree is a cornerstone of American society.
Arguably, but the more relevant question is whether it should be. Should society demand 4 year college for entry level job? Maybe some? Which ones? The article does not even begin to explore it. It just assumes this is the way it has always been ( and I would like to assume most HN know it isn't and wasn't ).
<<It will continue to be the mainstay of what NYU offers across an array of disciplines.
Eh, there are real discussions happening right now as to whether education as a sector will survive in its current shape. I am not talking whether NYU offers credentials based on 4 year tenure there. I am talking about whether NYU survives as an institution at all.
<< Reducing credits needed to graduate won’t always be practical or desirable.
I think the author doesn't get it at all. Credits should be the least of anyone's worries when it comes to education now.
<< But four years of college is not an inviolable standard.
True.
<< Three-year bachelor’s degrees are common across much of the world, and many U.S. students find ways to graduate sooner.
Also true, though with varying degree those degrees succeed. I am being mildly flippant, short of few major school and recognized states schools, unless the school is a simple diploma mill abroad, it mostly does not matter.
<< We offer multiple accelerated programs that allow students to earn their bachelor’s and master’s together in less time.
And here is a problem. The opinion piece is selling education at NYU. I shouldn't rail on that too hard, it is disclosed up front ( Linda G. Mills is the president of New York University. ) A lot of similarly largely useless 'we' suggestions follow.
<< Universities must evolve. NYU always has. And we owe it to our students to give them every possible path to success.
I agree, but I am not sure 3 year university will solve this.
> Arguably, but the more relevant question is whether it should be. Should society demand 4 year college ...?
This is part of where the coastal elites comes from. It's one part credentialed elites and another part that people have self-segregated by geography (states, counties, neighborhoods, schools). For many decades, we told people that in order to succeed in the new global economy, they need to go to school, which most people (60%) did not do nor are likely to. Even if they wanted to, it has become financially out of reach for them. So the educated get richer and the rest get poorer (wealth inequality in America has recently reached the highest levels ever recorded). If we turn around and tell them it's their fault they are poor (it's primarily not), there is also an implicit shaming and the anger it inspires in return. The globalists term is highly related here too.
I've only started this paper, Building Pro-Worker AI, and it has very interesting perspectives so far.
Highly recommend the Opus 23 video