IHE article: Workforce and Education

[polly_mer]

https://www.insidehighered.com/views/2019/07/08/some-recommended-approaches-higher-education-and-workplace-development-opinion

Interesting:
"[T]wo basic abilities among employees that a business association leader recently touted to me: the ability to pass a drug test and the ability to use an alarm clock!"

More seriously is the stacking issue:

Students complete an associate degree at a technical college in a specific applied field and then move to a University of Wisconsin campus in their junior and senior years, with no loss of credit, to broaden out into their general education.

That turns the usual general-to-specific curriculum on its head. Students can enter these programs immediately out of high school, or after earning the two-year technical degree, while working and then deciding a baccalaureate is necessary for further career advancement. The programs are available online and in hybrid delivery formats.

I was reading something else recently that pointed out that many people will not continue for the full-out stacked credentials that are a bachelor's degree once they get a job that pays good enough money because life intervenes.  The long-term stacking mechanism is too much for those who already have complicated lives and aren't in the market for broad education at this point.

I also think about the research showing that many people finish a bachelor's degree, are unable to get a job they want that pays enough, and then go back for a certificate or credential that makes them more employable (https://www.theatlantic.com/education/archive/2017/04/when-a-college-degree-isnt-enough/524553/).  If people can skip to the employable part, then many will because they are not in college for a life of the mind experience.

The stackable idea is interesting, but ignores the realities of the trade-offs people are making based on more factors in their lives than just higher ed enrollment.