Only 29 percent of Americans have a college degree
theolympian.com
Along with the crisp air comes another sign of fall - throngs of stud ents going to college. Excitement for them, anxiety for their parents.
But as we pack our students off to college, we must ask an important question: What good is a college degree?
First, there's the question of what a college education ought to mean, and what it really is. College used to be a privilege, but our egalitarian society now believes everyone deserves the opportunity to attend. Thus, our government argues about college loans, and wise parents have investigated ways to set aside the money.
In February 2005, USA Today reported that 64 percent of high school graduates go to college, but the number of Americans with bachelor degrees is only 29 percent. So what happens to that other 35 percent between the time they go and four years later?
Many students simply aren't equipped to attend. They can't foot the bill, or don't have the academic skills. For many, their personal habits interfere with their success. Besides money, college demands maturity and self-discipline. If you don't have those, college can chew you up.
Secondly, there's the question of whether we need college degrees - as individuals or a society. The United States has the largest economy in the world, but less than a third of us have a degree. Yeah, we need educated folk running the country, but we rely just as much on those who ask, "Do you want fries with that?"
Finally, some choose to educate themselves in their pursuit of rewarding jobs and a comfortable life. In Washington state, the average salary for teaching, which requires at least a bachelor's degree, is $45,722. The starting salary for a power lineman (those good guys who climb power poles to keep our electricity coming) is $55,000. No college degree necessary, though some training (and risk) is required. That salary increases to $72,000 for journeymen.
I recently met a man with a PhD in physics. There's an accomplishment, wouldn't you say? A degree in upper level sciences - surely we need more like him! Actually, no, we don't. After the linear accelerator program died in the 1980s, the market for his skills dried up, and he retrained as a brain surgeon. Because he needed a job.
Sadly, a college degree no longer guarantees a good job. It might not guarantee any job at all. If you plan to get a degree in the arts or humanities (music, foreign language, history, literature), good luck. We could stop issuing degrees in English for 20 years and still have more than enough English majors to go around. (But Newsweek reported that medical schools are now looking for those with liberal arts degrees. Maybe there's hope for us English majors yet!)
So, what good IS a college degree? If you want to be a lawyer, teacher or businessman, it's mandatory. Not just one degree, but many. There's also evidence that college graduates have a better quality of life - they're healthier, happier, more likely to volunteer and vote. But if you're looking to live comfortably with work you find rewarding (be it butcher, baker or candlestick maker), you might not need one.
More than ever, today's students must do their homework.
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America The Uneducated
businessweek.com
A new study warns of a slide for the U.S. as the share of lower achievers grows
How did the U.S. become the world's largest economy? A key part of the answer is education. Some 85% of adult Americans have at least a high school degree today, up from just 25% in 1940. Similarly, 28% have a college degree, a fivefold gain over this period. Today's U.S. workforce is the most educated in the world.
But now, for the first time ever, America's educational gains are poised to stall because of growing demographic trends. If these trends continue, the share of the U.S. workforce with high school and college degrees may not only fail to keep rising over the next 15 years but could actually decline slightly, warns a report released on Nov. 9 by the National Center for Public Policy & Higher Education, a nonprofit group based in San Jose, Calif. The key reason: As highly educated baby boomers retire, they'll be replaced by mounting numbers of young Hispanics and African Americans, who are far less likely to earn degrees.
Because workers with fewer years of education earn so much less, U.S. living standards could take a dive unless something is done, the report argues. It calculates that lower educational levels could slice inflation-adjusted per capita incomes in the U.S. by 2% by 2020. They surged over 40% from 1980 to 2000.
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2005 Incomes, on Average, Still Below 2000 Peak
nytimes.com
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The nearly 90 percent of Americans who make less than $100,000 a year saved on average $318 each on their investments. They collected 5.3 percent of the total savings from reduced tax rates on investment income.
The I.R.S. data showed that the number of Americans making less than $25,000 a year shrank, down by 3.2 million, or 5.5 percent.
Nearly half of Americans reported incomes of less than $30,000, and two-thirds make less than $50,000.
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