Once or twice a week these days, as I scan various online and print publications, I come across an opinion essay skeptical of the need for a four-year college degree. Sometimes, the essay is written by a young adult struggling under the weight of student loans and losing hope of ever buying a home. Sometimes, the essay is written by parents with young children who know they won’t ever be able to save enough to pay college tuition. And sometimes the essay is written by an academic who has spent years teaching underprepared students who have wasted their time and money seeking a diploma they are unlikely to receive.
As a part-time lecturer at a public university, I’ve taught a few of those students myself. Let me join the chorus affirming, “College is not for everyone.”
But who said it was?
In recent years, as more and more young adults struggle with debt acquired paying college costs, critics have insisted that the idea of “college for all” was a huge blunder, a colossal misdirect that set up generations for economic disaster. Many of those critics attribute that blunder to former President Barack Obama.
That is inaccurate, and here’s why: Obama never declared “college for all” a goal. He did say, several times, that the United States should once again have the highest proportion of college graduates in the world. The U.S. did have one of the first systems of universal, compulsory public education in the world, and with generous benefits for veterans after World War II, this nation led in educational attainment for decades before China, India and nations in Western Europe made spectacular advances. Today, a well-designed campaign to increase our percentage of workers with four-year degrees seems like a reasonable goal.
So does Obama’s other proposal. Shortly after his inauguration, in his 2009 address to a joint session of Congress, he urged every American to pursue education beyond a high school diploma.
“Tonight, I ask every American to commit to at least one year or more of higher education or career training,” he said. “This can be community college or a four-year school, vocational training or an apprenticeship. But whatever the training may be, every American will need to get more than a high school diploma.”
That speech was delivered in the middle of the so-called Great Recession, when the housing market collapsed, the stock market tanked and unemployment lines were long. It was a depressing time, and the newly elected president was presenting a message that pointed to a brighter future.
In the intervening years, the economy has gone through other cycles, ups and downs, with the most disorienting period a COVID pandemic that shuttered businesses and, once again, fueled unemployment. The recovery, happily, has brought a low unemployment rate and, though soaring prices have eaten into savings, higher wages.
Through all the business cycles, one thing has not changed: Americans need more education in order to get the best jobs. With technology taking over many of the simplest tasks, workers will need more training for jobs that robots can’t do. Community colleges and vocational schools offer that training.
With many baby boomers retiring, there is a critical shortage of workers in skilled trades from the construction industry to manufacturing. Ironworkers, welders, plumbers and electricians are in demand. Those jobs require postsecondary training but not a four-year-college degree, and they pay a decent wage.
Medicine is also experiencing a critical staffing shortage, especially of nurses. That’s why so many hospitals now recruit outside the country, from the Philippines to Jamaica, even though a high school graduate in the U.S. can become a licensed practical nurse (LPN) within one to two years and a registered nurse (RN) within three.
Our political leaders could make educational attainment more palatable for families by making community colleges free, as Obama proposed. That would be a significant boost for students whose career aspirations don’t depend on a four-year college degree. It would also be a significant boost for the U.S. economy.
Cynthia Tucker won the Pulitzer Prize for commentary in 2007. She can be reached at cynthia@cynthiatucker.com.
