Americans’ low opinion of higher education

For as long as I can remember, especially for the low-to-middle class, a college education was believed to be the golden key that would open the gates to a rich, fulfilling, and financially secure life.

Gallup has just knocked the legs out from under that belief, with research that reports only 36% of Americans have confidence in higher education, down from 57% just eight years ago — a serious decline of some 42%. 

What has happened?

A clue comes from this stat: Confidence in higher education among Republicans is about 19%, while among Democrats, a majority, 59%, have confidence in higher education. 

Gallup did not probe the reasons for the decline this time, but noted it believes rising costs play a role in the declining confidence in higher ed.

In previous polling, Democrats complained about rising costs — which is not necessarily a loss in confidence, but affordability — while Republicans registered concerns about politics in higher education.

Now we’re getting somewhere.

Conservatives regard most higher education institutions as factories for left-wing indoctrination — and worse. You hear that every day on conservative outlets. 

It can’t be denied that liberal thought controls most college campuses, as it does Hollywood, large newsrooms, and the majority of large American cities. This is disputed only by ideologues who are blind to reality.

It’s hard to argue that most liberal campuses are filled with excessive discussions of gender, but a lack of candor on many subjects, with trigger warnings, “safe” locations on campus, separate graduation ceremonies for gay students, for Black students, speech codes, and an antipathy to speakers who don’t conform to campus politics.

One quick illustration, from my column a couple of days ago. The student newspaper at the elite Ivy League Brown University reported 38% of students claimed to be nonbinary, double the number from 13 years ago. At that rate, 76% of the students will (say they are) gay by 2036, and 100% a few years later.

Do you think you’d get the same result at, say, West Point? Really doubtful.

You may not feel it is “indoctrination,” you may think it is just open-mindedness, but it seems those beliefs are creating pushback on the right that steers them away from the once-cherished ideal of a college education.

Aside from its stated goal of creating well-rounded citizens with a broad range of knowledge, college was thought to pave a path to gainful employment. That’s one reason many students went into debt to get a degree.

Maybe because of excessive cost, America is rethinking the idea of a four-year higher education being required for a good job.

Shortly after he was elected governor of Pennsylvania earlier this year, Josh Shapiro declared that a four-year college education was not necessary for 65,000 state jobs, which is 92% of them, that candidates would compete for these positions based on skills, relevant experience, and merit.

An excellent idea and others are following in his footsteps. That is a major sea change and a blow to what’s called the college-industrial complex. College enrollment dropped 8% from 2019 to 2022, according to the National Student Clearinghouse.

Even before the dawn of this century, many too-smart-for-the-room colleges, in a massive demonstration of self-hate, were dropping “Eurocentric” courses, such as the History of Western Civilization, even while enjoying the benefits brought by Western civilization. In fact, Western Civilization has all but vanished from the curriculum.

This is not to say that other cultures should not be added, but at the expense of your own — the culture that created democracy and the Enlightenment?

This has been accompanied by the decline of other long-valued courses of study from English to philosophy. 

Many American literary bulwarks have been declared “too white,” as if it were a zero sum game: If you add Malcolm X, you must delete Mark Twain. That is the kind of insanity you find on too many college campuses.

We should reimagine college. Maybe there ought to be two types of education — the four-year liberal arts that leads to that “well-rounded individual,” alongside a two-year practical course of study that drills down on only the specific courses needed to get a job, as, say, an architect, or a nurse.

There may not be safety even in blue collar occupations.

I did a column on a well-known Center City hotel doorman who was retiring. During the interview, I told him he enjoyed a job that couldn’t be outsourced to China. He laughed.

That was true then, but we are getting close to that job being replaced by a robot.

The last time I was in Chili’s, I noticed there was a server, but she told me I could order my entire meal using a tablet on the table, and Chili’s isn’t alone. You can see where servers can be replaced and the meal can be delivered and cleared by a robot, eliminating the busboy. 

Experiments with long-distance trucks without drivers are being conducted right now. Also driverless Uber cars.

It may take a while, but how long before AI leads to the end of plumbers and welders?

Whoa! I got myself way off base.

I think we are at a point where the entire institution of high education will have to be rethought.

Right now, a great many Americans think it is too costly, and too political. 

I think both are right.