When college is a waste of time and money...

What follows is my Op-Ed in today's Orlando Sentinel.  I hope you enjoy it.  I will be taking a break from blogging and pretty much everything else until August.  Have a great summer and be well...

Over the next few weeks approximately three million young people will graduate from America’s public high schools.  Of that number, according to the National Center for Education Statistics, over 68 percent will enroll in college next fall, bringing the total number of college attendees to nearly 22 million. 

These numbers would, on the surface, seem to be a source of hope and optimism for America’s future.  After all, if two out of every three high school graduates are ending up in the halls of higher education, wouldn’t that necessarily translate into a better educated, more productive labor force to compete in the global economy?

Well, no, it does not.  In fact, these numbers represent one of the biggest and most unfortunate lies in America.  That lie is that a college degree is the path to economic prosperity and employment security.

A few decades ago, it was largely inarguable that a college degree was the ticket to the good life.  Today a four-year degree is often a waste of time, money (see taxpayers) and energy and is, in essence, no better than a high school degree from our parent’s generation.

Consider this.  According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, less than half of all college graduates are working in a job today that requires a college degree.  Meanwhile, welders, pipe fitters, crane operators and field workers in our petroleum industry routinely pull down earnings in excess of $100,000 per year. 

I cannot count the number of students I have run into over the past decade or so, who passed through my college, went off to a university somewhere,  who are now working at coffee shops, restaurants or in low-paying retail sales jobs.  At no coffee shop is a degree in English or Psychology required – but at every university, debt often is.

Graduates from America’s colleges this spring have an average of over $29,000 in student loan debt.  Many of those graduates have selected majors that the laws of supply and demand are going to punish severely. 

It is a fact of our economic system that if you pick petroleum engineering, pharmacy, mathematics, computer software engineering, economics or other rigorous majors, you can expect to earn a good living over time.  That is because people who can handle the work in these areas are scarce, while demand is growing.

World-renowned education expert, Charles Murray has shown that in order to master some of the aforementioned disciplines, an IQ of at least 120 is necessary.  The problem, his research shows, is that roughly 10 percent of the population has an IQ this high.  Therefore, if 68 percent of our high school grads are going off to college, they are either going to have to major in something easy – and less valuable to employers – or they are going to most likely end up with debt and disappointment as they realize college as not for them.

Compounding this problem is taxpayer-support for college education.   Every semester I ask my students who is paying for their attendance in my class.  I have noticed over my 23 years as a college professor that students who are paying out of their own pocket usually survive with at least a passing grade.  Students who are taking up seats on the income taxes of other working Americans almost always fail or drop my class by the middle of the semester.   Thomas Paine once said, “That which we obtain too cheaply, we esteem to lightly.”  He was right.

If we really cared about young people in America, we would consider a radical change in our education philosophy.   My home country of Germany is a good model.

There, children are identified early in their lives for the potential to study at the university or to learn a trade.  Political correctness and delusions of grandeur are replaced with a realistic view of aptitude, intelligence and the probability of success.  This is what we need here.

It is morally wrong to keep bilking the taxpayers and lying to young people about their chances of success in college when we could help millions get into apprenticeships and trade schools to fill jobs where shortages – and high earnings – abound.

It is no disgrace to not attend college.  It is a disgrace to encourage people to waste four years of their lives doing something they will ultimately regret.