Throughout
my childhood the goal was college. That’s what my parents did after high school
and that was what I was going to do. As I grew up I learned that this was not
actually the only path in life; that there were other routes to take than to continue
to higher education. Many people were successful in working in fields that did
not require college and our way of life actually depended on people not going
to college.
Although
this need for workers is known, it has still become an assumption in my
generation that almost everyone goes to college. In my high school, there was a
very small fraction of students not continuing onto college. Of the people that
did not go to college, there were two groups; those that went into some sort of
training school and those that went directly into the work force. Going directly into the workforce after high
school had been a much more common route in the past. Unskilled labor was a large
part of our economy, and still is but there is now a problem. My generation has
watched those unskilled workers replaced with technology. This fear of
joblessness is motivating the increase of people going to college.
Machines
are taking over factory work, for example. It is easier to build and maintain a
machine than it is to hire and pay full time workers. The machine is cheaper
and more efficient, only the few technicians are required as human
workers. Clerical jobs are being
replaced with office software and cashiers are being replaced with
self-checkout kiosks. It is easy to see jobs disappearing around us.
When it
comes to the end of high school, these 18 year-olds are left with a decision,
go into the workforce and risk your job disappearing, go into training in a
specific field when you are not necessarily sure what you want to do, or go to
college where you have time to figure out what you want to do and you will
leave with skills. In the end college is just the easiest choice; it allows for
procrastination of real life and a promise of a job. In my college search, one
of the largest selling factors was the placement rate. Hearing that a program
has a 100 percent placement after graduation is an incredible attraction.
College gives a hollow promise that you will not end up successful. People are
willing to pay a lot for that kind of guarantee.
From
2002 to 2012 enrollment in degree-granting institutions increased 24 percent according
to the National Center for Education Statistics. This is moving as the percent
of manufacturing jobs went from 20 in the year 2000, to 5 in 2012. I am proposing
that the lack of unskilled jobs is the direct cause of this increase in higher
education. With the looming fear of
unemployment, and the quickly growing technological takeover of unskilled jobs,
college has become the escape. It does not matter whether it is a smart
investment, it has become the only solution for the students this generation.
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