Higher Education and Good Jobs

There is unrest nowadays over our system of higher education, much of it centering on the declining monetary value of a college degree. A good deal of the criticism— which is riddled with faulty logic, poor definitions, inadequate information, and overwrought extrapolations—implies that the sole purpose of higher education is to provide students with specific job skills. Too many educated people have forgotten that college instills—or should instill—in students the ability to think, read, write, calculate, learn, get along with people, and even use their leisure time to best advantage.

Even among the people who believe that the purpose of college is to enable graduates to get a “good job,” there is no general agreement on what a good job is. This is partly a definitional problem, but the lack of clarity also results from lack of data. A current study, The Utilization of Education in Careers, which I am directing for the National Institute of Education and the College Placement Council, is filling these gaps. Its findings are based on a national survey of college graduates. Because first jobs are often temporary—indeed, 50 per cent of graduates change career plans after they leave college—we surveyed 4,000 men and women who had entered college in 1961. The questions dealt with what benefits are derived from college education and what college graduates seek from their work.

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Lewis C. Solmon

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There is unrest nowadays over our system of higher education, much of it centering on the declining monetary value of a college degree. A good deal of the criticism— which is riddled with faulty logic, poor definitions, inadequate information, and overwrought extrapolations—implies that the sole purpose of higher education is to provide students with specific job skills. Too many educated people have forgotten that college instills—or should instill—in students the ability to think, read, write, calculate, learn, get along with people, and even use their leisure time to best advantage.

Even among the people who believe that the purpose of college is to enable graduates to get a “good job,” there is no general agreement on what a good job is. This is partly a definitional problem, but the lack of clarity also results from lack of data. A current study, The Utilization of Education in Careers, which I am directing for the National Institute of Education and the College Placement Council, is filling these gaps. Its findings are based on a national survey of college graduates. Because first jobs are often temporary—indeed, 50 per cent of graduates change career plans after they leave college—we surveyed 4,000 men and women who had entered college in 1961. The questions dealt with what benefits are derived from college education and what college graduates seek from their work.