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Last week, Georgetown, and the entire nation, was rattled by the education bribery scandal, which resulted in the indictment of many wealthy and famous individuals. I found myself wondering with others, “why would these parents not send their children to schools that would better fit their talents, instead of forcing them into a school where they had not truly earned a position?”
The answer lies in the fact that our society has become obsessed with degrees from elite institutions.
Now, traditionally the diploma should represent something deep, namely the fundamental mental maturity that one developed during the college process as students studied, worked, and gained from an intense education. However, many of these students involved in the scandal successfully skated through Georgetown, and some even found themselves in positions of prestigious internships.
How did these undeserving students get so far at “difficult” schools like Georgetown, Yale, and USC? I believe the answer is that our modern education systems have hollowed themselves, and today present little more than a shallow bestowing of credentials on the newly branded “elite” of the world.
So, why would somebody go to the extreme length of breaking the law, and bribing individuals just to get their kid into the school of choice? Frankly, with improved teaching models and access to information, the difference between elite and non-elite schools has shrunk. The gap that remains is in the network one acquires. A Georgetown degree is worth 300,000 dollars because of the value it offers in post-graduate connections. The worth can be found in the brand recognition when one mentions his or her Georgetown degree at the office. Each time one’s bio is read off in the future, the Georgetown education will be promptly highlighted.
The question deserves to be raised as to whether our modern Georgetown, Yale, USC, etc. education is truly deserving of this evaluation. Undoubtedly, Georgetown is a great school, but as a whole, our society has placed too much meaningless value in a higher education process that does little to truly earn its distinguished place.
Many college students have struggled to find jobs relevant to their fields, and yet there is an extremely high need for those with technical educations, such as electricians, plumbers, welders, and more. Furthermore, more college students are taking on tremendous debt in order to put themselves through their school of choice.
The fault for this lies in how our society has redefined success for the rising generation of individuals. It is advocated in film, literature, politics, and pop culture that happiness is found in success, and success is achieved through education, and the best possible one at that. The argument that our high schools and larger society failed to communicate was that some individuals should choose alternative paths. Technical careers have incredible value to society, and are well worth pursuing.
Further, often one can find just as strong of an education at a local school with a smaller price tag than an elite institution. So why take on crippling debt to go to an “elite” school? The fact is that not everybody has to go to college to find success, and not everybody has to go to an elite school beyond one’s present means to be happy, yet our society has told us otherwise. My generation has been captured by the hollow credentialism that is peddled by our modern colleges and universities. Furthermore, the schools have a complete monopoly on the process, and thus can charge whatever they want for tuition.
This issues doe not end at the undergraduate level. Today in America, a master’s degree is just as common as a college degree was in the 1960’s. Some students legitimately need to pursue a master’s degree, yet it seems that on an increasing level, more students are pursuing post-grad education simply for the sake of avoiding the harsh reality of entering the real world, for the ability to remain coddled within an education program, or because the pressures of society seem to demand a post-graduate degree in order to ever climb the ladder of one’s chosen career path. At the same time, median debt for graduate degree recipients has quickly increased.
The college admissions scandal crippled many individuals’ trust for aspects of the higher education system. However, what ought to be looked at more closely is the fundamental motivations that exist in our modern culture which would drive, otherwise successful, people to go to extreme lengths to achieve access to the ranks of “elite” credentialed institutions. The question deserves to be raised as to whether our nation’s schools are truly deserving of the extreme trust that is invested in them, and whether we have placed too great an important on the name associated with an acquired degree, rather than the skills and character of the individuals who should have been shaped by the program.
