It
is quite odd that instead of agreeing that there is a need to send
more students to college in Georgia, it seems that there is a sizable
contingent arguing that Georgia sends too many kids to college
already.
There
has been a steady drum beat for more vocational choices because ?not
all students are meant for higher education.?
However,
kids who graduate from college will take home,
on an average, over>
$1 million dollars more over the course of their working lives than
peers with just a high school education.
State
Rep. Fran Miller said, at a hearing on his Bridge bill, that while
Georgia parents agree that some kids are not college material and it
would be a waste for them to go there, they meant that those were the
other kids and not their own children. Theirs are always college
material.
State
Representative Miller?s Bridge
bill would have created an independent track for kids who are not
college material and train them to have skills for them to land
decent jobs.
That
comment from the state representative is to explain on his bill?s
lack of traction. Although, it spoke of something else and it?s
about the basic understanding of parents; whether their kids attend
college or not, the future belongs to the well educated.
Now,
let?s look at the current unemployment figures from the bureau of
Labor Statistics: The unemployment rate for those with less than a
high school diploma was 13.8 percent. The rate of 10.1 percent
belongs to those with a high school diploma but no college degree. A
rate of 8.3 percent goes to those with some college but no degree.
And for people with an undergraduate degree or beyond, rate of
unemployment is only at 4.5 percent.
A
new report was publicized by the Lumina Foundation recently and it
said 37.9 percent of Americans between the ages of 25 and 64 held a
two- or four-year college degree in 2008.
If the current rate of
increase remains, less than 47 percent of Americans will hold a two-
or four-year degree by 2025 ? a rate that economic experts say is
far below the level that can keep the nation competitive in the
global, knowledge-based economy,? the foundation warned in its
report, ?A Stronger Nation Through Higher Education.?
Among
its Georgia-specific data:
Almost
36 percent of adults in Georgia have at least a 2-year degree. This
is below the national average of 37.9 percent.
Murray
County has the smallest percent of adults with a 2- or 4-year degree
(9.6%), and Fayette County has the largest (54.2%)
To
satisfy the goal of 60 percent higher education attainment by 2025,
Georgia needs to add around 1,346,524 additional college degrees in
the next 15 years.
Laying
the findings of the Georgetown University Center on Education and the
Workforce, the Lumina report noted, ?According
to the center?s analysis of occupation data and workforce trends,
58 percent of Georgia?s jobs will require post-secondary education
by 2018. Between now and 2018, Georgia will need to fill about 1.4
million vacancies resulting from job creation, worker retirements and
other factors. Of these job vacancies, 820,000 will require
post-secondary credentials, while only 595,000 are expected to be
filled by high school graduates or dropouts.?
Southern
Regional Education Board also released a report and it echoes the
conclusions made by the Lumina Foundation.>
In its report, SREB maintains that to satisfy the goal of having 60
percent of the adult population hold a post-secondary certificate or
degree by 2025, its 16 member states will need to boost greatly the
numbers of associate?s and bachelor?s degrees they award each
year.
Alan
Richard, director of communications for SREB said, ?We need
much-improved career and technical education courses so that more
kids can attend some type of college?as you may know, many CT
programs now prepare kids for college, or at least specialized
technical training. I visited a CT school, formerly known as the
?vocational school? in my native Anderson county, south Carolina,
and found them making biofuels, studying nanotechnology, doing
high-quality broadcast journalism and advertising projects, and
more.?