The education system in the US has not been keeping up.  To some degree, it’s why Kmart and Target feel they can demand college degrees to staff their stores.  Of course, it may also be related to the fact that many college grads can’t get the jobs they expected- so they are applying to Kmart and Target.

To be honest, if I were running those stores and saw the number of applicants walking in the door with Bachelor’s degrees, I’d choose them too.  Especially if they were willing to work for my starting wages.

But, part of this problem is that many of these college grads have not truly mastered what I would love to call a standard college education.  And, as you can see from the top 10 majors (which have not changed very much over the last decade or so), business is still the most common degree.

But, the problem is that too many schools are offering Bachelors of Arts in Business.  These folks miss out on the math and analytical skills they are going to need to success in business.

Moreover, those that do obtain a BS (and not a BA) in Business had to work harder than their counterparts.  According to the National Survey of Student Engagement, business majors manage to skate by.  What I mean is that they spend far less time reading and writing than those who graduate with different majors. And, too many of the curriculum’s required courses omit long writing assignments (10 or 20 page papers).  Standardized tests (consider the Collegiate Learning Assessment) demonstrate the critical thinking, communication, and analytic reasoning for these majors (and also for history, English, and philosophy majors) fall short of what many businesses want- and demand.

Then, we get to the next problem.  How many of these students actually finish in four years?  When I went to college, the attrition rate was high- on the order of 35% dropped out of their original major, while 10% never finished college at all.  Now, degrees seem to be awarded after 5 or 6 years far more frequently than those who finish in the standard four.  That has a lot to do with the motivation and work ethic of the student.  And, you can bet that businesses want folks who are motivated, folks with a strong work ethic.

So, while these graduating folks thought they were really going to work for corporations, they lack the experience (and probably the skills) needed to satisfy the job requirements.

Which is now compounded by the fact that, by staying longer in school, the students’ indebtedness (or the amount of money they spent out of pocket for their education) lowers the potential return on that educational investment they obtained.

Share this: