And we know there’s a recent brouhaha over lack of replication in some huge number of psych studies that so many came to assume were definitive over several decades. I don’t have a link to that at my fingertips, but it can be found.
With many academic studies, the point isn’t always to provide “the” answer. It really is to add to the conversation, to use that snapshot to further explore the issues or add an angle, not to stop there. Espenshade is a good example- CC loves to quote some things as gospel that he, himself, says are far too premature conclusions.
When the study quoted in NYT came out, there was discussion on CC. Many who were familiar with that, or with how groups are selected for testing, or how some countries are far less diverse/polarized than the US, etc, pointed out how the US pool of testees may differ from those in other countries. What you want to do is not link the NYT summary, but the actual source. http://skills.oecd.org/documents/SkillsOutlook_2013_KeyFindings.pdf
Got it. So the solution is for the directional state U’s and the third tier private colleges to either shut their doors completely, or to require that students ONLY major in STEM, accounting, etc.
Do you guys actually KNOW any of the students who attend these colleges?
Fact- nobody is attending third tier college because Dartmouth is too cold and Rice is too hot. These are students who couldn’t get into the first tier colleges (public and private) or who are first gen and/or poor and have no family support whatsoever, so that taking the bus to directional state U and living at home is the only way they’re going to get an education at all.
Fact- a third rate accounting major- who ends up doing tax returns at H&R Block ( a job which neither requires a college degree OR a degree in accounting) is better off than the kid majoring in History how exactly??? The Tax Prep chains near me will hire someone with a GED who can use a calculator; pay is better at the local restaurant down the block since you get tips AND they serve liquor so the tabs are high.
Fact- The issue isn’t with the colleges who churn out marginally educated/highly indebted kids whose degrees are paying out for them. The issue is with the crappy public HS system which graduates 18 year olds reading at a 7th grade level who can’t do algebra.
But sure- easier to blame the history majors soaking up all our national resources.
@lookingforward My point was that although there were no replication studies, there are other studies out there that can fill in the rest of the picture. It would be quite easy to pick out the piece that does not fit and analyze it for subtle bias .
Why the condition is the way it is does not affect my main point. @alh ‘s philosophy of education is interesting, but it again is a subplot to the main theme. I personally do not believe education is intended to make us moral, and if it is, it has failed miserably. People are driven by self-interest, a good education gives one better tools to rationalize it away, but it would not make one any less self-serving, imo.
@Zinhead I think Bock’s point that young people should have a plan going into college is a good one. I also think @Regulus7 hits the nail on the head with the comment about students at the left side of the “talent” pool as well. If these weak students are also lazy, then the odds of them earning more than high school grads are slim. If students have plans and are determined, on the other hand, they can, like Beth in “Aspiring Adults Adrift” do well.
Of course, how one chooses to live one’s life is not my business; I know what I would do though.