Are Too Many Students Going to College? | Hacker News Reader

Are Too Many Students Going to College?

chronicle.com

10 pointstokenadult8 comments

I think too many students are getting watered-down educations in high school which necessitates further schooling just to get to the level of education they are aiming for.

When I compare the curriculum I had to the one my father had... well, there is no comparison.

Granted, he was a bit on the far edge of things. But, they were machining amateur rocket engines in high school. In junior high, he ran a printing press for the school paper, casing type, etc. -- the whole nine yards. He had the opportunity to perform on the stage of Chicago's Orchestra Hall.

Pure academic work also appears to have been of a higher caliber. This was a public school system. albeit one of the best in the area. I think he graduated with probably the equivalent of what would these days be considered a couple of years' worth of college level work.

My parents share the opposite story. I went to a public charter school and they always said how they didn't learn or do that until in college/after.

In your father's day a hell of a lot more people didn't finish high school, and that was okay. Now everyone is supposed to finish high school, so there's pressure to ensure everybody can actually pass the required curriculum, i.e. water it down.

Then there's a countervailing pressure, like in CA the state graduation requirements were set by reference to the entry requirements for the UC system (which is supposed to be for the top 12th of CA students)

My grandfather was in the US Navy in WWII. When the officer came to tell them they were shipping out, no one in the room had made it past a 6th grade education. But when he said simply "Gentlemen, there is a time and a tide," everyone knew which play he was referring to, and what he meant by it. http://www.enotes.com/julius-caesar-text/act-iv-scene-iii?st... , in case you're wondering.

Could you expand on that? What does the level of education they are aiming for mean? Is it (a) that level of skill and knowledge acquisition with which they are personally satisfied, or (b) the piece of paper that gives them an advantage over those roughly equivalent with them in getting a job, which is only available by fulfilling some conditions, usually based on attendance and test taking?

Definitely (a). I learned a lot more in high school than I would have by skipping, but I learned almost nothing related to my intended profession (software engineer), and I felt very disconnected from the "real world" in high school. Personally, if high school had been a better learning experience, I may not have bothered with college. But I didn't feel prepared.

Yes. University should be intrinsically leet. Top 10% only.

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