Higher Ed GPS: How Will We Get Where We Are Going?

So why is a distinction between Mr. Guelzo’s “true vocationalism” and the humanities artificial? He makes this point himself when he says that higher education has been doing vocational education without realizing it, in turning out graduates who find work in humanistic fields.   But if there is no intrinsic difference between peeling a potato and popping a vein, then there certainly is no intrinsic difference between universities and colleges training people to be nurses or accountants, as opposed to literature and history professors.   Nurses and accountants need the same humanistic orientation as museum docents.   Why draw lines based on an education system that was designed to serve a culture that no longer exists? Again, he misses the point that higher education has evolved, of necessity, from a model where a liberal education was the sine qua non for becoming a useful member of society to one where students need a more complex and sophisticated set of knowledge...

A recent opinion piece in the WSJ by Allen Guelzo discusses the revival of vocational education in the U.S. and how this affects traditional liberal education.    His commentary falls prey to the common misconception that “vocational” education is somehow fundamentally different from (and opposed to) liberal arts education and values. This becomes clear in Mr. Guelzo’s opinion that “there’s no intrinsic difference between peeling a spud and popping a vein.”   This is ridiculous, of course.   Such a reductionist view of nursing (or perhaps all of healthcare?) has obviously not been informed by examining nursing curricula in America.   Just as wrong-headed is his basic contention that somehow college has become the “trade school for the elite.”    This view lacks the contemporary societal context for understanding what a “trade” or “vocation” is.   And for that matter, the statement reflects an outmoded and elitist attitude concerning the funct...

Higher education in America was originally designed to service an unpaved, one-lane road leading to a few select professional destinations appropriate to an agrarian economy.  No map was necessary; students simply followed the straight, simple path of liberal education to a basic set of predetermined roles in society. But America has evolved into a post-industrial, knowledge-based, and technologically sophisticated society. Higher education now needs to service a multi-lane super highway with many off ramps leading to a variety of professional destinations that demand more intricate knowledge and complex skills than the simple agrarian culture of previous centuries. Yet today traditional higher education continues to plod down a dusty, narrow track strewn with largely outdated four-year degree programs.  Meanwhile, students are increasingly finding the fast lane to success with alternative credentials and boot camps. From its rut, higher education can see th...

The “what” and the “where” of quality must converge in a synergistic relationship that is fully developed between education and employers. If employers and educators are to work to advance the current state of the American economy, or any economy, then higher education, the workplace, and most importantly students, must all see productive pathways to success.   Education thus becomes a reasonable investment for all.   This is the essence of quality.   A clear example of the failure to establish this kind of relationship can be seen in the education system of the United States. Large numbers of students entering our higher education system require remedial studies.   Higher education criticizes teachers in our primary and secondary systems for inadequate preparation of students for postsecondary work.   This situation begs the question “Where are our primary and secondary teachers being prepared?”   Oh, yes, that would be in those very same institutions...

The “what” of quality ultimately becomes an institutional issue.   First, quality needs to be defined by internal integrity in which key indicators tie academic outcomes to student success in a system of continuous improvement.   Second, quality needs to be viewed as a set of measures by which institutions can be compared in regard to student achievement. It is important to note that this all goes back to the business model.   Institutions need to have a value proposition for students, employers and the community, including market differentiation and return on investment.   This will entail being able to point to tangible results involving content and talent that set a given institution apart from others.   The where and the what must come together in a way that gives meaning to quality.   The key lies in the ability to align higher education and the workplace to provide student success. As an example, in the United States, millions of jobs go unfi...