Selling Sno-Cones at the Beach

college dropouts

Today at work I identified 30-35 students we've been counting as geography majors that are not in the official major roster that comes from the central data source. What was most depressing was the number of students who have dropped out of the U, many of whom are nearly finished with their degrees, but came short somehow of getting the sheepskin. Either they didn't finish their final senior paper, or they are lacking a course, or they just seem to have lost interest in finishing other requirements.

It's hard for me to understand - but I suppose if you have a job for which the degree isn't "needed" (and most jobs in this country don't need the skills or knowledge gained in college) then there's no reason to go through the formality - and expense - of the abstraction of a piece of paper.

I'll be interested to continue participating in the debate over the value of higher education as I move into this second career of academe. I prefer the "intrinsic value" argument (critical thinking, context of being a global citizen, etc.) to the "instrumental" argument. If you take the latter position, that the primary value of a liberal arts education is that you will make more money and therefore have a better life, then the second that stops being true, for various instants in global time-space, you have nowhere else to go with your argument. The debate is over and you lose. Whereas if you choose the more abstracted argument, you can always regroup and come back with new variations.