October 18, 2012

College isn’t always the answer

Oct. 18, 2012 at 09:54 AM | By Stephen Smith | Comment Count

Every student deserves a high quality education and an opportunity to achieve his or her full potential. Every student should graduate from high school ready to succeed in college or another form of post-secondary education. But, should every student go to college?

I grew up in the hypercompetitive suburbs of New York City and graduated from high school twenty-five years ago. At that time and in that place, it seemed like there were only two choices for high school graduates: enroll directly in a traditional, four-year college program or resign yourself to a dead end job. In part, this was driven by a two-track system that sorted students between academic education and vocational training.

Now it's more fashionable to refer to "career and technical education" (CTE) than to "vocational training," but schools and society still struggle with a false dichotomy between academics and career preparation. The reality is that nearly all of us need to work, and there is no shame in wanting to be as well prepared to succeed in your career as in your education. Too often, CTE programs have been dreadful – poorly preparing students for yesterday's jobs. But, it doesn’t have to be this way. In fact, a modernized approach to CTE that fuses rigorous academics with practical, applied learning can be important for student engagement and critical for economic competitiveness.

Fortunately we’re starting to see some interesting developments. School superintendents and policymakers are working hard to reinvent CTE for the twenty-first century. In addition, we're seeing increased flexibility in how students pursue education, allows many to blend career and academic development. Cristo Rey schools combine a rigorous academic curriculum with one day of professional work experience each week for all high school students. Students are connecting learning and work at the higher education level as well, and increasingly they're earning a degree by combining coursework from multiple institutions. Across the U.S., 45% of students in four-year colleges started in a two-year program. In some parts of the U.S., these students constitute the majority. That’s a remarkable change over the past two decades, but there’s even more happening. The rise of dual enrollment programs, mastery-based approaches that measure proficiency instead of seat time, and exploding popularity of Massive Open On-line Courses (MOOCs) are all making a major impact.

For Hobsons, these trends present a challenge. In both our K-12 and our higher education businesses, we have a long history of successfully guiding students to higher education – especially traditional, four-year programs. In percentage terms, at least, that path is increasingly becoming the road less traveled.

Our goal is to ensure each student finds his or her own passion. For some, this may mean opting out of the traditional college path entirely, and that's okay – provided every student graduates with the knowledge and skills to be a contributing member of society and to pursue a fulfilling career. That's all part of living into our new mission that puts student success at the forefront in creating the world changers of tomorrow.