Rip Van Skillsgap – NYTimes.com.
“Please, Prof. Krugman, you are too important a voice not to pay attention to data that screams that there is a gigantic gap between what you think is an education, and what “customers” (once quaintly known as “students”) are actually getting – even in many so-called “elite” schools.
There is nothing in the data you point to that contradicts the fact that, at almost all American colleges, students learn far less, and make far fewer gains in thinking skills, compared to your day.
Please read Arum and Roksa’s “Academically Adrift”, or David Riesman’s “Higher Education”, or works by Clark Kerr, or, the documented stories on my blog. Or, go online and look at calculus tests at Washington U. in St. Louis (where I taught) and the grading scale. Or look at U. of Mich. tests and grading. You can make a difference, but only if you open your eyes to what is going on.
There is high demand for “highly educated” workers. Take a look at salary data from a place like Carnegie-Mellon, or other schools that still maintain high standards. I think that you will see that a lack of skilled workers drives
salaries UP for those workers – and DOWN for scammed “customers”.”
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