In today’s New York Times, Prof. Krugman has a column arguing that there is no “skills gap”. http://www.nytimes.com/2014/03/31/opinion/krugman-jobs-and-skills-and-zombies.html?ref=opinion&_r=0 I believe he is making a misake which I explained in a comment. “I am afraid that Prof. Krugman – whom I admire greatly – is making a fundamental mistake. He is, probably unknowingly, equating a “degree” […]
Excellent Op-Ed But, Again, The Author Seems Not Aware of the Fundamental Problem.
March 3, 2014 by
In her New York Times Op-Ed, SUZANNE METTLER, points out how college now increases inequality. This is no surprise to readers of this blog. Here are the relevant posts. American 15-Year-Olds Fall Further Back in Math No Jobs for Ph.D’s? Depends on what you mean by Ph.D. Professor Alfred Doesn’t Know What is Wrong with […]
Tom Friedman’s “How to Get a Job at Google”
February 24, 2014 by
It is good because it quotes the Sr. VP in charge of hiring on the five attributes that companies like Google are looking for in an employee. Here is the link http://www.nytimes.com/2014/02/23/opinion/sunday/friedman-how-to-get-a-job-at-google.html?partner=rssnyt&emc=rss&_r=0 I want to point out the following statement from Tom Friedman, “…For most young people…going to college and doing well is still the […]
Good News: WSJ article notes that “Cash-Conscious Families Clamor for Numbers on How Much Students Learn”
February 21, 2014 by
The article is here. http://online.wsj.com/news/articles/SB10001424052702304899704579391513428597546 Here is my comment. “I am a former professor. Far too many universities cater to their naive and uneducated customers – once quiantly called “students”. They do this even when it means NOT educating them – just fooling them into believing they are getting the education they need. This new […]
Andrew Simmons in The Atlantic on “The Danger of Telling Poor Kids That College Is the Key to Social Mobility”
January 20, 2014 by
Here is the link: http://www.theatlantic.com/education/archive/2014/01/the-danger-of-telling-poor-kids-that-college-is-the-key-to-social-mobility/283120/ This is my comment, which explains my view on the essay. (For some reason The Atlantic rejected this comment for a couple of days, before posting it.) I think the article itself is good and worth reading. “The thought behind this essay is so well-meaning that I am loathe to […]
Jordan Weissman at The Atlantic Reports on a New Federal Reserve Report on Underemployment
January 16, 2014 by
You can read his article here http://www.theatlantic.com/business/archive/2014/01/the-growth-of-college-grads-in-dead-end-jobs-in-2-graphs/283137/#comments You will find a link to the Fed’s paper. Unfortunately, when the Fed looks at the data they leave out recent grads who are still in school, even part-time. I posted two comments that give my view on this and other aspects of the article. Here they are. […]
Atlantic Monthly Article on Faculty Concerns About High Graduation Rates
December 29, 2013 by
Here is the link, followed by my comment. http://www.theatlantic.com/education/archive/2013/12/we-are-creating-walmarts-of-higher-education/282619/ (The article is good – and shocking – especially the part about some state schools getting rid of history courses. State schools? Is this becoming a vicious circle? Uneducated politicians (probably with degrees, though) deciding not to educate? Whatever happened to Jefferson and his silly ideas […]
The Chonicle of Higher Education Headlines: The STEM Crisis: Reality or Myth? But…
November 13, 2013 by
Statisticallyl Interesting Report
In my previous post “Highly Educated” (From The Atlantic)? I Say Maybe “Highly Degreed” I referenced Jordan Weissmann’s Atlantic article http://www.theatlantic.com/business/archive/2014/01/highly-educated-highly-indebted-the-lives-of-todays-27-year-olds-in-charts/283263/#comments I think his statistics are wrong but very interesting and I expressed this in my comment. “If 84% of all of today’s 27 year olds have some college, then the number of 27 year olds with […]