First appeared in the Detroit News
Could millions of college dropouts get a second chance
through a GED-style equivalent of a college diploma? In today's age of
blue-collar blues and online education, the idea of college-equivalency exams
doesn't sound so outlandish anymore.
The high school diploma is not the gateway to the middle
class that it used to be.
Amid new corporate efficiencies and the migration of
high-paying low-skilled jobs overseas since the 1950s, growing numbers of
college graduates are occupying jobs like postal worker or restaurant manager
that used to be filled by high school grads.
The result is new pressures on blue-collar families and the
class tensions voiced by presidential candidate Rick Santorum with his recent
verbal jab ("What a snob!") at President Barack Obama's push for more
college attendance. In fact, Obama, like Santorum, has been a major cheerleader
for community colleges and trade schools.
Yet, give Santorum his due. He touched on a reality that
deserves more public discussion: College isn't for everyone. Some very bright
students thrive better while learning a hands-on trade, for example, than they
do in a classroom. Others simply can't afford the time or tuition of college
because of personal circumstances.
As a result, the percentage of college graduates who come
from households in the bottom fourth of income earners -- as I did -- has
declined to only 7.2 percent from 12 percent in 1970, according to Ohio
University economics professor Richard Vedder, who also is director of the
Washington, D.C.-based Center for College Affordability and Productivity.
Author of the 2004 book "Going Broke by Degree: Why
College Costs Too Much," Vedder sees a disconnect between the cost of
college and the needs of the job market. He has found as many as 1-in-3 college
graduates today to be in jobs that historically were filled by people with
lesser education.
"These are jobs that do not require higher-level
learning skills, critical thinking skills, or writing skills or anything of
that nature," he said in a telephone interview.
At the same time, we see cheaper alternatives to college
like online education growing.
Let's go a step further, says Vedder. "As college costs
rise," he said, "people are asking: Aren't there cheaper ways of
certifying competence and skills to employers?"
People typically believe there are no good substitutes for
college. But if a prospective employee can certify to potential employers that
he or she is as bright, knowledgeable, good at communicating and eager to learn
as a better-than-average college graduate, they can present themselves as a
bargain -- willing to accept wages that are higher than normal
high-school-graduate standards, but low compared to most college graduate
salaries.
Vedder is encouraged by recent agreements between the
Education Testing Service (ETS), which operates the famed SAT test for the
College Board, and the Council on Aid to Education (CAE) to provide competency
test materials to students online through StraighterLine, an online education
firm.
The challenge is to persuade college accreditation
organizations and the business community that collegiate certification can be
as reliable as the 70-year-old GED, which certifies high school equivalencies.
At a time when economic success is increasingly defined by
educational achievement beyond high school, future generations need as many
alternatives as we can offer.
