A new report from Harvard University reports that emphasizing college as the only viable career path after high school has probably harmed more students than helped them. From the Christian Science Monitor:
“It would be fine if we had an alternative system [for students who don’t get college degrees], but we’re virtually unique among industrialized countries in terms of not having another system and relying so heavily on higher education,” says Robert Schwartz, who heads the Pathways to Prosperity project at Harvard’s Graduate School of Education.
Emphasizing college as the only path may actually cause some students – who are bored in class but could enjoy learning that’s more entwined with the workplace – to drop out, he adds. “If the image [of college] is more years of just sitting in classrooms, that’s not very persuasive.”
Emphasizing college as the only path may actually cause some students – who are bored in class but could enjoy learning that’s more entwined with the workplace – to drop out, he adds. “If the image [of college] is more years of just sitting in classrooms, that’s not very persuasive.”
Surprisingly, Secretary of Education Arne Duncan was at the event where the report was released. And unsurprisingly, Duncan “noted the importance of transforming career and technical programs, in which more than 15 million high school and postsecondary students are enrolled.”
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