As developing nations industrialize and the United States moves toward an increasingly global economy, education must be the glue that holds American society together as the transition occurs to a post-industrial future.
This week's White House "College Opportunity" summit will focus on an overlooked area with enormous potential for student success: K-12 and higher education working together to improve college completion. It sounds so simple and obvious. In fact many assume it's already happening.
With the median age of a college student closer to 27 than 19, we need to provide options that enable students to capitalize and benefit from their experience. The advent of Prior Learning Assessment (PLA) is a definite step in the right direction.
One of the faculty who had worked with an elementary school where the teachers visited the homes of each parent shared how they start each meeting with a simple, yet profound question: "What are your hopes and dreams for your child?"
With the cost of a four year college education rapidly moving beyond the range of affordability for many families, this is an excellent time to take a close look as some well-paying occupations that don't require a degree. Fortunately, there are plenty of them.
While more women than men are attending college and earning degrees, pay equity between the genders remains elusive. However, according to new research, the gap in pay equity decreases when looking at the types of degrees individuals hold versus the institutions they attend.
We know the future economy needs more Americans with a high-quality education after high school. But that training comes in many forms. Several four-year colleges operate co-op programs coupled with a liberal education, for example, preparing their graduates to launch their careers.
Higher education is about more than getting a job. The investments that individual students -- and society overall -- make in higher education have important civic and academic benefits. But we can do a better job of making sure more students are achieving better career benefits as well.
The United States is moving in two directions. In one sense, it remains anti-intellectual in mindset and approach where the life of the mind plays second fiddle to the exploits of actors and athletes. At the same time, America has become a knowledge-based economy.
Today's traditional liberal arts colleges and universities are facing a dilemma: stick with the "learning for the sake of learning" model, or integrate career preparation elements into their curricula.
A generation of young people in, or heading towards, college are asking if it's worth it. These are Millennials, and they are trying to make sense of a post secondary education premise that is difficult to defend in the 21st century.
Granted, the different parties may have different approaches to increasing access to higher education and reducing the cost of a college degree. So if the issue isn't a political one, how do we categorize it?