151–160 of 174 posts
Universities got broken trying to make it for everyone, and also jacked up the price. Return to traditional degrees, get rid of the boutique majors and things that belong in job training centers.
What is a "boutique major"?
Right in the headline is a word choice I've notice lately that irks me, "democratization". "democratization" doesn't mean more people have access to it. In voting, "more access" means "more governing power" (in principle), but in other things, it does not. If you want to use "democratized" applied to higher-ed, it would mean more people are involved in the decision-making, leadership, or ownership.
>"democratization" doesn't mean more people have access to it. > I just don't like it and think it is relatively new usage and a change in the older meaning of the word. People have been using "democratize" to describe "more accessible to the masses" for a long time. Here's an example from 106 years ago in 1920 : https://www.google.com/books/edition/Soviet_Russia/qflaAAAAM... And 40 years ago a 1986 article of "micro…
Earlier quoted context omitted.
In 2024, 42.8% of the population ages 25 to 39, 41.5% ages 40 to 54, and 34.2% age 55 and older held a bachelor’s degree or higher. [1]: https://www.census.gov/newsroom/press-releases/2025/educatio... That does not seem like everyone is going to college.
"Everyone" is hyperbole, of course. But it's already too high a number.
In Europe only about 43% have a college degree. So even with heavily subsidized schools there is really only a certain percentage of people that take this path.
[1]:https://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/web/products-eurostat-news/w/d...
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God I wish community college would be subsidized. Some states now cover it for your first degree which is a great start and some also are now starting to subsidize courses for retirees but man I would so love to just go and do like random courses I have no intention of pursuing a career in. European universities are not resorts like in the US and community college keep that small footprint mentality as well. They hav…
Isn't LACC subsidized ($46/unit resident tuition seems pretty good)?
As long as people are allowed to vote in the US, we have an incentive to ensure they are all well educated. Surely a large part of this problem that the article doesn't mention is that college is too fucking expensive. And an obvious solution to that is to tax rich people and use that to fund universities so that students don't have to go so far in debt in order to become productive members of society. It's crazy how…
A system of heavily subsidized post-secondary vocational schools, like what Germany has, seems like a better path.
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Quick search shows around 6% unemployment for CS grads. Where is your number from? That is massively different.
Anyone have the stats for how the enrollment trends have been for CS programs at universities? Has there been a noticeable drop-off, potentially due to concerns of AI reducing/eliminating entry-level/junior roles? I suppose there would be some lag, since if you've been planning most of your high school career to get a CS degree, there is inertia in changing majors and applying to different universities. And now that…
"In 2023–24, Bachelor’s degree production fell 5.5% compared to the previous year across CS, CE, and I departments. Among departments reporting both years, the decrease was 4.3%. Despite this drop, production remains well above pre-pandemic levels and reflects continued strength following the post-2020 rebound. CS saw a 7.4% decrease and CE a 13.3% decrease."
But it also looks like enrollment in CS programs increased in 2024/2025:
"U.S. CS departments reported an increase in new majors per department of 12.8%"
https://datavisualization.cra.org/TaulbeeSurvey/CRA_Taulbee_Survey_Report_2024.html#Bachelor%E2%80%99s_Program_Production_and_EnrollmentsEarlier quoted context omitted.
You just have to fire 80% of the administration, kill all of the "programs" which are trying to do this or that, and focus on A) providing the basic resources for academics to study and B) providing the basic resources for teaching. Universities need to do very much less that isn't directly related to research or teaching and stop pretending the lead administrator of a university is an important position. The preside…
But then how will the NFL run it's free feeder and athlete development program? How will Disney get to profit off of selling college athletes as an entertainment product? If college is accessible to even the poorest Americans, how will we maintain the claim that they are bastions of liberal brainwashing against millions of conservative people getting reasonable educations in basic things like "Political Science" that…
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>"democratization" doesn't mean more people have access to it. > I just don't like it and think it is relatively new usage and a change in the older meaning of the word. People have been using "democratize" to describe "more accessible to the masses" for a long time. Here's an example from 106 years ago in 1920 : https://www.google.com/books/edition/Soviet_Russia/qflaAAAAM... And 40 years ago a 1986 article of "micro…
It could be that HN commnter replying to submission about education in the United States indicating that he is "irked" by the term "democratisation" is not located within the United States but rather in a non-English speaking country not initiallu founded upon "democratic" principles (cf. United States) and with a dissimilar history of "democracy". As such, his interpetation of this term could have different meaning…
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>"democratization" doesn't mean more people have access to it It literally does, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/democratic 3: relating, appealing, or available to the broad masses of the people : designed for or liked by most people
I do not know how it worked in the US but in my country until the 1960s university was for the upper class. No son or daughter of a butcher could ever hope to study law.
I think that the opportunity for funding should have higher ties to economic demand for certain degree programs over others. I'm not opposed to people that want to go to arts programs in college, but I'm not sure that they should be taxpayer funded necessarily.
I have thought that areas where we bring in foreign workers should largely be offset with higher employer taxes and those taxes funding grants for domestic study into the fields in question. I also think we need a much broader set of trade schools for more industries than typical. Even with technology and programming.
In terms of lower high school graduation rates, I think we've dumbed down and taken things to the lowest common denominator in an extreme fashion. Common-core has failed, along with "new math" and other more modern teaching methods. My great grandmother was a teacher, and I've seen some of the text books they used in the pre-1960s, the coverage was much more thorough and difficult even at a 5th grade level than what many kids today see through the end of high school.
There should be plenty of room for vocational study as well as traditional study... but we need to stop just giving kids a pass because they're a certain age when they don't understand the core curriculem.
I think college's value proposition and entire model has been eroded. Major school's CS grads are finding jobs upon graduation at an 11% rate (I don't have the primary source on this, but it is published by a site I read that never fudges these kinds of things, going back many years). AI probably has a lot to do with that, but it's exposing something more fundamental. CS wasn't supposed to be a programming boot camp…
The idea that the AVERAGE person should spend 4 years BOTH not working AND incurring massive amounts of (non-defaultable) debt is bananas. College either needs to be 1) way cheaper, 2) mainly for the state-subsidized exceptional and independently wealthy, or 3) move to a different model. We have too many colleges LARPing as Harvard, and too few colleges even attempting to be affordable, practical, or actually deliver…
My daughter got her associates carrying no debt... but has struggled to get into an appropriate higher level program. She's currently working PT in two jobs, one as a prep cook in a high end eatery and as a park associate at the local zoo. Neither is offering a particularly compelling pay or benefits that most jobs should offer IMO.
I'm with you on college though, in terms of there should be way cheaper options all around... I think there should even be grant programs for better vocational/trade programs as an alternative path for Bachelors class degrees.