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  3. In recent years, it is not uncommon that a college degree can not earn a coll

In recent years, it is not uncommon that a college degree can not earn a coll

游客2023-11-25  25
问题    In recent years, it is not uncommon that a college degree can not earn a college graduate a decent job while skilled workers from vocational schools are gaining in popularity with employers. The following is an article about this issue. Read it carefully and write an article of NO LESS THAN 300 words, in which you should:
   1. summarize the article briefly, and then
   2. express your opinion towards whether university education should be vocation-oriented.
   I saw an interview with Starbucks CEO Howard Schultz where he announced that the company would pay for most employees to get a degree online from Arizona State University. This seems like a benefit few of the company’s employees would need. Aren’t most of their baristas (咖啡师)already people with worthless degrees?
   The type I’ve described as Generation U (unemployed and underemployed). But it seems that Mr. Schultz is just echoing a sentiment that suggests that a college degree is required for most people to have a good career. This starts at the very top in America — the White House’s education imperative states that "Earning a post-secondary degree or credential is a prerequisite for 21st century jobs."
   But the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics(BLS)estimates that only 27 percent of jobs in the U.S. economy currently require a college degree. By comparison, the U.S. Census Bureau reports that 47 percent of workers today have an associate degree or higher. But the BLS projects that the proportion of jobs requiring a college degree will barely change — increasing to only 27.1 percent by 2022. Even the most optimistic projection — a study from Georgetown University, projects that at most 35 percent of jobs will require a college degree by 2020.
   While we’re pushing more people to get college degrees, we’re also facing a worsening shortage of skilled workers in many categories that don’t require a college degree. In manufacturing, as many as 600,000 U.S. manufacturing jobs remained vacant across the U.S. due to shortages of skilled workers, according to the Manufacturing Institute’s most recent "skills gap" report.
   This situation exists across all categories of trades. A study by Manpower Group shows that the hardest segment of the workforce for employers to staff with skilled talent are the skilled trades — the welders, electricians, etc. who are so prevalent in manufacturing and construction. The hourly pay for a manufacturing worker is almost $24, compared to about $9 for a barista at Starbucks. Given that spread, one would think more people would seek work in manufacturing than settle for a job making coffee. But we’ve managed to create a culture where a college degree is supposedly a magical ticket to the good life, while vocational education is something to be sneered at. Consequently we now have the average college grad carrying a debt of almost $30,000 upon graduation and outstanding student loans of over a trillion dollars.
   Even among those opting for college about a third pick majors that have very poor job prospects, including social sciences (11 percent), education (6 percent), psychology (7 percent), and visual and performing arts (6 percent). By contrast, only 2.4 percent pick computer science, 5 percent choose engineering, and 1.4 percent graduate with degrees in the physical sciences.
   Yet, we do everything possible to encourage people to go to college. The federal Pell Grant program in the U.S. intended to help low and moderate-income students finance college — costs over $35 billion annually, though almost 40 percent of Pell Grant recipients never graduate.
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答案    Vocation-oriented Education: Big No!
   In the article, through various statistics, the author is inclined to make vocation education surpass university education, which to some extent echoes many Chinese people’s sentiment that university education should be vocation-oriented. True, at present with the graduating population continuing to grow, it’s getting much harder for university graduates to locate a satisfactory job. However, in making university e-ducation vocation-oriented, people could be making a huge mistake.
   Universities play a more important role than vocation education. University education, along with primary and secondary school educations, should focus on the understanding about oneself. Human beings are not just born to learn how to feed themselves, but for other more important purposes. It is sad that in our world most people are so busy in sustaining a living that they can’t fully understand and enjoy this ephemeral life. Our time in college is a crucial moment because it’s a gateway into a world full of possibilities and challenges.
   Another fact about university education is that although it offers education on job-related skills in certain fields, the one who receives this education doesn’t necessarily get a job in the field. There is a very high percentage of people who change their careers in their lifetime, especially in younger years. At that time, their thoughts are immature, and they may have chosen a wrong major in college but they have the time to fix it later on. When university education is solely concerned with one’s future jobs, there would be fewer choices in life for the college students because their knowledge is limited in a specific area.
   One day there will come a time when human beings have so advanced technologies that they don’t have to work to survive. Imagine then what would university education be about? Definitely not about one’s future vocation, I’d say. That day may not be today, but the idea does give us a hint of what our university education should really focus on.
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