The college degree, does it hold the same status it once did? We must start by looking at the high school degree. In this age of everyone graduates, the high school degree has been watered down to the point that it no longer matters. If you can breath you will graduate from high school. This in turn has made the threshold for getting into universities lower than ever. Community college and online college have made this threshold non existent. While universities like to think they are exclusive, the reality is that the standards are lower to accept applicants with lower knowledge and skill sets. Universities and community colleges are churning out hoards of graduates who bring nothing to the table. For example, the amount of effort required to get a liberal arts degree is minimal. Sit in a bunch of lectures, do a few group projects, take a couple multiple choice tests, and boom you’re a college grad. The decline of the college degree is not helped by the “everyone must go to college” mentality. The more people who have the degree, the less valuable it becomes. I would argue that the masters degree is today what the college degree was 25 years ago because it is still harder to attain. Having a college degree doesn’t set you apart from the masses because the masses have college degrees. I am not arguing that people should not go to college, or that going to college does not improve you as an individual, I am simply stating that the college degree is not as hard to attain as it once was, and thus it has been devalued.
*UPDATE: Time magazine agrees with me.
wow, you have several different points, that you’re intermingling to confusion. i’d say your logic is fuzzy. i think the title of your post is great, but i think your conclusion about value is a digression, and not supported well by your talking points. you offer little evidence and talk about college degrees as if they were all the same (liberal arts degrees do vary, wildly, by the way).
“the” college degree – at a good school – is not any easier than it ever was. trust me.
#1) more people go to college, so it’s more common, so less valuable = not true, in my humble opinion.
yes there is an economic theory of supply vs demand (less supply = more money for those with BA/BS, or have a Ph.D.), but that’s measurement of value at one point in time. over time, the theory doesn’t hold up so well. for instance good health used to be rare in the middle ages, and is common now, but we still value it highly, probably even more so now than we ever did.
the standard of a college education now is up because work/life is more complex. just because the masses are getting a college degree doesn’t make it any less important, or valuable, because the “new normal” means we all need more education (even a liberal arts degree helps).
it is *not* true that “the more people who have the degree, the less valuable it becomes” if you’re comparing today to the past (25 years ago), because the world has changed, too. if the world had not changed, then yes, you’d be correct. however, standards have changed (as your title indicates) and so the value of the college education, you could say, has gone up! (i.e., you can’t get by without one today, so it’s even more important, than decades ago when it was optional.) that’s where’s where your logic got fuzzy.
which leads me back to another point: the world is more sophisticated, so a college degree now is what a high school degree used to be (per the title of your post). i think this *is* true.
but, btw, keep in mind we’re talking about the U.S. a college degree may be more common in the united states and other developed countries. not so much in the developing areas of the world where poverty is still widespread (china & india, for instance). there getting a college degree is still a major achievement. (and people don’t go to study art so much, but strive to learn practical skills.)
#2) “the reality is that the standards are lower” – i disagree with this generalization and you give no evidence for this except that more people are going to college, and that there are colleges for every skill level. you have to distinguish between the schools now, because there are so many more of them then there used to be. there’s a huge difference between community colleges, on line colleges, and say ivy-league schools or “good schools” (most state colleges). i’m pretty sure harvard would say the current class of 2014 is smarter (more educated) than the class of 1964.
just because dummies are getting paper mill degrees doesn’t make a degree from a worthy institution less valuable. just because dummies (or poor people) can get into community colleges today, doesn’t mean everyone can actually graduate. just because more people can try to go to college doesn’t make getting a degree less valuable, especially when we all need more education.
instead (and i think you would agree), we are all more sophisticated about education in today’s world (especially in the developed countries). we all know the difference between a BA from UMASS and Phoenix University, for instance. the value of a good college education is still high, but you get more career value from a four year institution than a two year community college, or (god forbid) an on-line university. (although personally i think we’ll all be online soon, and still learning throughout out lives. take a look at MIT’s policy of posting online all their course materials.)
lastly, universities, in the plural, is different than in the possessive, i.e. a university’s reputation, is different than, more universities offering degrees. (change the “y” to “i” and add “es.) i know we’re informal in blogs, but you make the same spelling / grammar error three times.
thanks for your post – it made me rethink my own opinions. (and no, i’m not going to put down the names of my alma maters, just to be annoying.) cheers.
BA, 1984
MBA, 1996
Massage Certification, 2010
It made you rethink your opinions, but did it make them change them?
Reading your entry, I found a couple basic and fundamental grammar issues that makes me wonder if you need to go back and learn proper English.
Universities, not “university’s,” and you’re, not “your” in “…and boom your a college grad.”
In light of your topic of “the college diploma is the new high school diploma,” those two mistakes themselves considerably undermined your credibility.
made* not makes. My mistake.
Ouch. I’ll retreat into the corner to lick my wounds.