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U.S. Cenusu Bureau
Amid all the chatter recently about whether President Barack Obama is a “snob” for wanting Americans to be educated or Republican presidential candidate Rick Santorumis anti-education for critizing Obama, many may have missed an important milestone.
The Census Bureau reported last week that a record 30 percent of Americans ages 25 and older have at least a bachelor’s degree. The data, from March 2011, marks first time ever that such high a proportion of Americans have had at least a four-year degree, and it follows decades of gradually improving higher education rates.
In the long term, experts say, that’s good news for the U.S. economy. After all, the majority of the U.S. economy is service-oriented, and that means many Americans who want to get ahead need to find ways to succeed in white-collar settings. Many also believe a highly educated, innovative workforce is one of several key ingredients succeeding against global competitors.
“The future of the U.S. economy is not assembling the computer. The future of the U.S. economy is coming up with a novel design for a semiconductor that gets into a computer, that will then be assembled in some emerging economy,” said Adolfo Laurenti, deputy chief economist with Mesirow Financial.
And yet, such long-term thinking may not feel so great to the many Americans out there who have a degree but either don’t have the job they want – or don’t have a job at all.
The unemployment rate for college graduates, which stood at 4.2 percent in February, is half the unemployment rate for high school grads but still high by historical norms. Also, although a college degree also generally leads to much higher lifelong earnings, many young grads in particular are feeling squeezed these days by low starting salaries.
“(There are) people who are very disappointed that, yes, they can get a white-collar job but that does not imply the financial success that it used to imply for their father’s generation,” Laurenti said.
In addition, many are burdened by student loan debt from earning that degree.
Another issue that has slowly been gaining attention over the past few years is whether every kid should be aiming to go to college. Manufacturers in particular are increasingly complaining that they can’t find skilled workers to run the more complex, sophisticated factories that are now the norm in America.
These people are calling for a return to the type of vocational training that fell out of favor over the past few decades, amid a push to get more kids to go to college.
Laurenti, the economist, said he is tentatively encouraged by more discussion about how to provide that kind of training to keep those types of factories running. But he thinks high schools need to be doing more to help prepare kids who would do well in those type of skilled factory jobs.
“They are not much interested in people with a bachelor’s degree in political science, but it’s not enough to get people who drop out of high school, either,” he said.
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They may be more educated but they have certainly fallen way down the scale on common sense and it is common sense that really counts.
And yet the average American does not think for himself.
The education bar has been lowered to such a low level having a degree is pretty much meaningless.
Maybe article is better titled 'Americans now have more college degrees than ever'. Having a college degree and being educated aren't quite the same thing. Not to say that they are not educated
More educated with nothing to show for it except the same old stupidity every year when dealing with Big Oil and OPEC.
Hey Americans how about voting for an energy plan huh?
What good is to have an educated mind when you are surrounded by people like the majority of the ones commenting here in this post? is not simply about a degree....is about refining abilities, strengthening capacity, acquiring information, molding styles,knowing how to construct lives...a better society.... how difficult is to understand this?????
There isn't a day that goes by that there isn't an article on this news site that doesn't have misspelled words, incorrect word usage, poor sentence structure, and/or totally unrelated content.
And I don't think there is a writer left on the planet who knows the proper usage of "I" and "me" in a sentence, so the lazy bums all just cop out and use "I" all the time.
"He's going with Jim and I." NO, NO, NO!!!!!!! Go back to English class, pay attention and stop being too damn lazy to figure out the proper placement of "I" and "me" in a damn sentence.
The Bachelor's Degree is the new high school diploma. Many colleges are diploma mills that pass students through, frequently from fear of a lawsuit.
More educated (brainwashed), but no smarter.
Pff....no WONDER I can't get a higher paying job! COMPETITION! I have a Batchelors Degree and I can't paid more than 2.36 times California Minimum Wage! People: Become stupid so I can get a better paying jobs! We don't need more of YOU Batchelors degree people! You are making my life HELL and NONPROFITABLE! STOP LEARNING DAMMIT!
Not everyone can manage getting a 4 year degree. Not with the cost and personal issues getting in the way. I'm not a repugnant, but I do care.
Not everyone can "...coming up with a novel design for a semiconductor that gets into a computer..." Seriously? For the record, it takes a hell of a lot more then a 4 year degree to do integrated circuit design. That's at least a 6 year engineering degree.
What about "the rest of us"? And I'm not talking about HS drop outs either. HS grads, 2 year degrees. The way that job analysts talk these days, you may as well stay home if you don't have at least a 4 year degree.
But people need to eat, they need healthcare and a roof of some sort. Are we going to insist on this current economic trend and disenfranchise millions more workers?
If so, then we better stop griping about a welfare state before we get a civil warfare state.
....and acting "stupider" than ever, too. smh
#retired teach
The 4.2 % unemployment does not nearly reflect the true picture for recent college graduates. How does one factor in the "underemployed" reality?
Educated in what??? Just going to school and passing these Mickey Mouse examinations for a 4 year college degree does not constitute education!
Seeing what comes from college is heart breaking for the amount of stupidity they represent and display.
Now, if this article was suppose to show that more people went to college, in comparison from 1947 to 2011, that does not mean squat and does not automatically qualify for better education. Look around and you see what I mean.
Based on past voting patterns, if this trend continues in spite of government cutbacks to education spending, along with the increased minority population, together this demographic would suggest that unless the Republicans win the Presidency and/or Congress, this may be the last they will have a chance for decades and most likely forever, as it's more likely a new national political party will arise to take the place of the Republican Party as a major national party as well as taking some from the Democratic Party or other third-parties by the 2016 elections.
Rick wants the 99% Americans to be unenlightened and or pregnant. The 1% have a much easier time with the uncurious and those mired in 8th grade patriotic irrationality.
We may have more degreed people, but many of our younger degree earners never got get an education in the school of hard knocks. I don't mean that they should have had a tough life, just that they had it too easy in their teenage years. Parents placed too much emphisis on an education from school and sheltered them from the more important lessons that life has to offer.
Having a degree does not always (and less often lately) make you educated. Paying for a piece of paper though an online 'college' isn't an education, and almost no one from those 'religious' scools has an education worth noting. I avoid both when hiring. Further, you have to look at the actual education level of the people that do not have a college degree - and that is a truly sad state of affairs.
The workers doing the work need to educate themselves more, they work to cheap! If things do not change for the lower wage earners it will cause big problems in the future!!!
That's funny just last week MSNBC printed an article about how the USA was far behind a great number of countries when it came to our Math & Science scores...so sure, there are degrees....but is the comprehension there?
People don't need to much education; they need enough to make money, and how to use the money they make, I know people who have college degrees, who make much more than me and do not have what I do! without the higher education!
If a person makes twenty five thousand dollars per year, and does not save any they worked to live only if they save 10 thousand, and by land or a house they can afford and get that paid for they can save more, If they rent the paid for house out for five hundred dollars per month they gave themselves a raise, if they end up owning five houses, and rent them for five hundred per month they can live on that and not work for anyone if they chose to not work, if the houses go up in value, they can sell one and invest this is education on how to make money! you do not need college to do it! It does help to be debt free, and buy a used car and pay cash!!!
Really! Maybe some day we can put all that education to "good" use
since 1992 up to the present a lot of people in AMERICA are luck of learning of behavioral attituted, even high school student at now they never know to respect their self , also same have high education they are luck of good moral character . MORAL CHARACTER it was start from parents up to the school but same of the parents are DUMMY, NEVER GO SCHOOL & the teacher most tech the student a GOOD MORAL CHARACTER , but it the same TEACHER HAVE NO GOOD MORAL CHARACTER TOO. WHAT AMERICAN PEOPLE expectation ? AMERICAN COUNTRY is totally missing up in AMERICAN WORD is @!$%# UP . For all DUMMY PEOPLE in AMERICA YOU CAN SAY I am wrong but those who have really a GOOD EDUCATION I am right. I read same of your all critism about education do not say any thing if you don't have any high school education , you are still a big DUMMY in AMERICAN COUNTRY IS MY SELF CLEAR . learn to be human that will be better for your self .
HERE in AMERICA most people who work in Government Agency have no education, just like in CITY OF HOUSTON most of the employee's them are UNEDUCATED PEOPLE & same are GRADUATED IN UNIVERSITY OF JAIL means INMATE CHICKING OUT same are supervisor & manager they are doing the WHITE COLLAR JOB & those who have a degree or education are doing the SLAVE WORK because they are not BELONG TO "RACIAL BLACK PEOPLE " FAMILY. To prove it , I work in CITY OF HOUSTON 6 & HALF YEARS my supervisor is smoking marijuana in the campos legal for the mananger there, drunk reported in work , mamangeral employee's doing interview for opening position smoking in the vicenity together candidate with marijuana same are drunk . this what i sow in CITY OF HOUSTON, education is not important as long you are belong to "RACIAL BLACK PEOPLE" you got the job . even now chick it out all CITY OF HOUSTON DEPARTMENT IS A LOT OF INMATE working there. Because they are brother & Sister. a lazy & dummy people & UNCIVILIZED PEOPLE AS FAR AS FREEDOM OF SPEECH IS CONCERN , AMERICAN WORD "bro" here in AMERICAN COUNTRY if you honest & hard worker they don't like you but if you are unhonest people they love you specially in CITY OF HOUSTON. I tell the "TRUTH" in the name of my FATHER GOD king of the universe in heave thru JESUS CHRIST the son.
This is not about politics in that one has to be uneducated and dumb to vote for a mainstream Democrat or Republican.
Ron Paul is the only candidate from either party worth anything.
Ron Paul 2012
americans confuse education and academic achievment with smarts or common sense
they are not the same. infact common sense is not so rare that it is considered to be a 'super power' these days