Is the pandemic higher ed's version of the oil shocks of the 1970s? IHE

[polly_mer]

In a sense, higher ed is adjusting to fit the economy again.  An economy with a big middle produced a higher ed system with a big middle.  A barbell-shaped economy is producing an education system in its image.  The pandemic, like the oil shocks, is an accelerant, speeding up trends that were already happening. 

To the extent that this diagnosis is correct, continuing to talk about higher ed as if it exists outside of the economy, or of politics, is self-defeating.  We academics, whether we think of it this way or not, have been in the business of producing a middle class for a country that no longer wants one.  That's not sustainable.

https://insidehighered.com/blogs/confessions-community-college-dean/imitating-economy

[spork]

In a similar vein, though from seven years ago:

https://activelearningps.com/2013/01/07/trouble-trouble-toil-and-bubble/.

[sprout]

In a sense, higher ed is adjusting to fit the economy again.  An economy with a big middle produced a higher ed system with a big middle.  A barbell-shaped economy is producing an education system in its image.  The pandemic, like the oil shocks, is an accelerant, speeding up trends that were already happening. 

To the extent that this diagnosis is correct, continuing to talk about higher ed as if it exists outside of the economy, or of politics, is self-defeating.  We academics, whether we think of it this way or not, have been in the business of producing a middle class for a country that no longer wants one.  That's not sustainable.

https://insidehighered.com/blogs/confessions-community-college-dean/imitating-economy

Interesting read, thanks. His discussion of what schools are most vulnerable seems accurate, and I hadn't thought of the loss of these schools as reflecting the economic polarization trend.  I have nothing substantive to add, but I do want to complain about IHE removing comments.  I'd love to read what some of CC dean's regular commenters would say in response to this piece.

[polly_mer]

Thread for regular IHE commenters started at https://www.reddit.com/r/DeanDad/comments/ho4lke/imitating_the_economy/ (no comments yet)

Or possibly a new thread will start at https://www.reddit.com/r/InsideHigherEd/new/ in the next day or two.

[kaysixteen]

Article had a lot of points, but the comparison between shoddy automakers from the 70s and low-tier colleges today is less than perfect.  No one wants to buy cars with Pinto-esque quality today, so automakers adjusted or died (RIP: AMC), or got swamped by imports.   But there remains a high demand for college education, probably more so, in toto, than in 1973, pandemic notwithstanding.   Parents, and to a lesser extent, 18yos, want college, employers want kids to have some college credentials, and this ain't likely to be changing anytime soon.  So something will have to be done to ensure that college continues to be available...

[polly_mer]

The assertion that people want college at the same rate or even numbers is not supported by the literature over the past few years.

In some parts of the country, the birth rates have been down long enough that the number of possible students is much lower than the number of seats available in college.  We're now into the known decline in number of 18 year olds.

People of modest means who want to live in small towns question the need for college with a lot of general education when most of the jobs in town are readily amenable to OJT or other specialized post-high-school education.

[kaysixteen]

What literature are you referring to?   In any case, it depends on the meaning of 'want'?  I contend that people, except for those planning on living in East Muleshoe where a college degree will not add to one's income or job prospects, really do want college, in the sense that they do want the advanced employability a college degree still does provide, and will continue to provide, throughout wide swaths of the country.   This is emphatically a different sort of 'wanting' than wanting the education for its own sake, its intrinsic value, etc.   One might well wonder whether the percentages of 18yos (or their parents) who 'want' this aspect of college is really any greater than it was 50 years ago.