Associate’s Degree Or Tech Certificate: Don’t Learn To Think, Learn to Do

Obtaining a degree of higher learning is not a guarantee that a higher-paying job will be right around the corner.

College-age adults are finding that a technical degree at a lesser known school is worth more in the immediate future than a 4-year bachelor’s degree.

College Measures (CM) released a report finding that degrees in the fields of science, technology, engineering and math are more promising as far as employment after graduation than English majors.

This study was a joint venture between CM, the American Institutes for Research (AIR) and the Matrix Knowledge Group (MKG).

Funding for the report was provided by the Lumia Foundation (LF).

This group is comprised of such special interest groups such as:

• Former president of Sallie Mae
• Representatives of community colleges
• Representative of online schools

Mark Schneider, the author of the report, stated that “the findings challenge some conventional wisdom.”

This report was conducted for the sake of convincing students, parents, and lawmakers (including policymakers) that there is little value in higher learning and investments in technical schools will boost enrollment.

Schneider stated: “Until the data about potential earnings among graduates across the nation is unearthed and put to full use, many students will make poor decisions about schools and programs — decisions that will leave them saddled with debt and clamoring for a government bailout.”

The CM report claims:

• Short term degrees yield higher salaries
• Higher tuition does not guarantee higher wages
• Degrees in the scientific field prove more financially rewarding

Since “technical-oriented associate’s degree programs are helping many students successfully enter the labor market by equipping them with skills that are in demand” the encouragement toward a 4-year university seems inappropriate.

Mainstream media adds to the new social meme that technical degrees are better by expounding that a “Ph.D. is often a waste of time” and often causing “dissatisfaction” for being a pathway to “slave labor”.

Current acceptable skills obtained by lower-level education are:

• Paralegal
• Registered nurse
• Police officer
• Dental hygienist
• Diagnostic medical sonographer

Each degree necessitates a fair amount of education; however, they are reflective of the lack of actual labor that goes into more respectable positions.

While their pay rate is rising, these are grunt laborers of their respective trades and are not idealized for their social status.

Recently, President Obama spoke to students at State University of New York at Buffalo; a school where most of the student body is made up of children from middle-class families.

The purpose of this speech was to entice residents of lower-profile cities to a new scheme for affordable college.

As part of this scheme, there will be a new rating system (NRS) implemented to evaluate schools based on the needs of the students; while bringing the curriculum to those standards as well.

This would connect financial assistance to the value of the student. Those educational institutions that meet governmental standards would be rewarded with more financial aid.

Obama decreed that the 5 pillars of economic growth are:

• Quality jobs
• Education
• Healthcare
• Retirement programs
• Homeownership

Peter Thiel founded the Thiel Fellowship (TF) with the promise of “a no-strings-attached grant of $100,000 to a skip college and focus on their work, their research, and their self-education.”

Thiel Fellows “are given to immerse themselves in their work comes the opportunity to collaborate with each other.

Fellows are encouraged to learn from each other, and to use the group’s varied experiences, interests, and strengths to breathe life into existing ideas and to generate new ones.”

One of the most interesting positions that Thiel has held is having a seat on the Steering Committee of the Bilderberg Group.

The Steering Committee governs the Bilderberg Group with an elected chairman. They also decides who is extended an invitation to attend Bilderberg Group meetings – based on “their experience, their knowledge, their standing and their contribution to the selected agenda.”

By Susanne Posel

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