[A college education and a college degree are not the same thing, writes Chicago Tribune columnist Clarence Page. "Degree inflation" requiring a four-year degree for jobs that never required one in the past is shutting out two-thirds of the population.
A new corporate initiative, OneTen, will try to train a million black Americans over the next 10 years for jobs that pay enough to support a family but don't require a four-year degree to start, writes Page. If it works, it will be expanded to others.
Page suggests another way to help bright, competent people get a shot at good jobs, even if they don't have the time and money to complete a bachelor's degree. Develop a "collegiate version of the GED (General Educational Development tests) long used by high school dropouts to earn a high school equivalency diploma."]
[Page got the idea from Ohio University's Richard Vedder, his former economics professor, who's the author of a 2004 book called, Going Broke By Degree: Why College Costs Too Much.
"The concept and benefits of testing are well established," Vedder told Page. "The military, the government the foreign service exam is a very good example everybody does it and they get favorable results."
Vedder explains what he calls the National College Equivalence Test (NCET) in Forbes.
https://www.forbes.com/sites/richardvedder/2021/05/17/a-collegiate-ged-the-time-is-now/?sh=6f0cd98410a2
A new corporate initiative, OneTen, will try to train a million black Americans over the next 10 years for jobs that pay enough to support a family but don't require a four-year degree to start, writes Page. If it works, it will be expanded to others.
Page suggests another way to help bright, competent people get a shot at good jobs, even if they don't have the time and money to complete a bachelor's degree. Develop a "collegiate version of the GED (General Educational Development tests) long used by high school dropouts to earn a high school equivalency diploma."]
[Page got the idea from Ohio University's Richard Vedder, his former economics professor, who's the author of a 2004 book called, Going Broke By Degree: Why College Costs Too Much.
"The concept and benefits of testing are well established," Vedder told Page. "The military, the government the foreign service exam is a very good example everybody does it and they get favorable results."
Vedder explains what he calls the National College Equivalence Test (NCET) in Forbes.
"We need cheaper, less wasteful ways of certifying competence to enter the workforce than requiring students to spend $100,000 or more on a piece of paper," Vedder concludes.]Quote:
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Like most important examinations, the college GED test would have to be pretty long, say at least three hours. It would include a general education component, asking questions that most college educated persons should be able to answer, in many fields history, political science, literature, science, mathematics, etc. It might test for critical thinking skills and writing ability by incorporating into the exam a test like the Collegiate Learning Assessment. Finally perhaps 25 percent of the test should be based on more intensive knowledge of a specific field (such as what a college major usually provides), where the test taker picks the field on which to be questioned.
https://www.forbes.com/sites/richardvedder/2021/05/17/a-collegiate-ged-the-time-is-now/?sh=6f0cd98410a2