Attitudes toward four-year college degrees have changed rapidly over the past decade, yet schools that offer career-focused associates degrees are still struggling to recruit. Unfortunately for students well-suited for career and technical education (CTE), the stigma against foregoing college remains intense.
The recent failures of Pittsburgh Technical College and Triangle Tech, two schools that train young people (and older people) for careers as skilled workers, showcase the disruption in all types of higher education from economic and demographic shifts. It’s easy, in a world that has come to see four-year colleges as the only worthy post-secondary education, to consider these closures beneath notice.
But that’s not how businesses who are considering moving to Pittsburgh see it. Having a workforce with a high proportion of bachelors and masters degrees is good — but many businesses are looking for the kind of technical training only CTE programs can provide. Think of economic development victories like the $80 million Re:Build Manufacturing facility in New Kensington, which will depend on a skilled locally trained workforce for its success.
And because the required skills are specialized, and not many people have them, wages are high and careers a stable. So, how are we losing the schools that train people for success?
One reason, simple to describe and hard to change: Attitudes that lift up four-year colleges and demean career and technical training. Statistics from Gallup and Pew Research demonstrate the absurdity: 73% of parents of members of Gen Z want their children to pursue a college degree immediately after high school. Yet only a quarter of these same adults still believe a four-year college degree is necessary to find a high-paying job, and about half say it’s less important to receive a degree now than 20 years ago.
It’s also widely agreed that taking out massive student loans for college is no longer worth it. This belief is universal across education levels, from doctorate-holders to those without high school diplomas. Universities no longer have the physical monopoly on knowledge they once had, and Americans are catching on.
Meanwhile, many high schools report how many of their graduates are accepted to four-year colleges as their only or primary metric of success. They generally don’t track how many graduate from those schools. For many of those young people, a CTE program would better suit them — but promoting such education isn’t what parents want to see in their kids’ schools.
In other words, while the economic important of four-year degrees has dropped, the social status attached to them hasn’t caught up. Yet.
It won’t stay like that forever, though. As the economic benefits of being trained in skilled labor become clearer, the stigma will fade. The question is whether Western Pennsylvania will have the institutions — in high schools, in community colleges and in standalone CTE schools — to take advantage.
— Pittsburgh Post-Gazette via TNS
