College Graduation a No Go?

Did you graduate high school? Great job. Did you graduate college? The congratulations don't pour in as fast as they used to for you now. Why are people, even the college graduate themselves, frowning on higher education?

The college graduating class of 2024 may not have a chance to walk across the stage to receive their diploma this year. This will not be anything new to these graduates. During the Covid pandemic the World Health Organization (WHO) on March 11, 2020, declared the novel coronavirus (COVID-19) outbreak a global pandemic. High school seniors found their world on lockdown, robbing them of the opportunity to have a public graduation. I'm sure these graduates believed this would be a once in a lifetime occurrence. Boy were they WRONG!

Fast forward to 2024 and several colleges are considering canceling on campus graduation ceremonies due to student protests of the Israeli-Hamas war. Once again, a graduation milestone seems to be on the verge of being CANCELED. 

Receiving a diploma for finishing academic requirements has been a tradition in America. Even with people voicing a degree is of little value these days, we all look forward to graduation season. College graduates finish college with student loan debt and many of the degrees obtained are not adequate for today's job market. Graduation ceremonies may still hold importance, but higher EDUCATION is no longer the golden ticket it once was. 

Even though we have come so far in education, it seems we have to pivot in our once held security that higher education meant having financial security, economic stability, and career advancement. Did people of the past really have difficult lives if they did not have higher education? I decided to take a look to see if having a college degree has always been over or underrated. 

In the 18th and 19th century, an "academy" was what later became known as a high school. Higher education was largely oriented toward training men as ministers before 1800. Saving the soul was honorable but not lucrative. Doctors and lawyers were trained in local apprentice systems. Religious denominations established most early colleges in order to train ministers. New England had a long emphasis on literacy in order that individuals could read the Bible. The first American colleges offered a broad liberal arts curriculum designed to educate young Puritan ministers. These early institutions were established by religious groups to foster the faith.

Harvard College was founded by the colonial legislature in 1636 and named after an early benefactor. Most of the funding came from the colony, but the college began to build an endowment from its early years. Harvard at first focused on training young men for the ministry, but many alumni went into law, medicine, government, or business. The college was a leader in bringing Newtonian science to the colonies. Harvard also established the Harvard Indian College, "hoping to make it the Indian Oxford," but only four Native Americans ever enrolled at Harvard in that era, and only one graduated.

Becoming a doctor in modern times is no small endeavor. Hours of study, training, and most times, financial debt is required. In the Old West times a typical fee a doctor charged in some areas during the early 1800's was twenty-five to fifty cents a visit, perhaps a dollar if the doctor stayed all night. Payment was made in goods, services, or promises more often than in cash. Here and there the frontier produced a physician of extraordinary vision and skill. Higer education did not have a big payoff for doctors. 

In the 1800's, students attended school for fewer years than do modern students. However, a brief survey of schoolbooks from the period indicates that their reading books advanced through several modern grade levels in any given year. By the FIFTH year of school, students were reading material at a level which is today considered college level. Can you imagine being able to have a college level education in five years instead of sixteen?

By 1860 the day-to-day running of the schools was based more on the teacher's practices than the board's policies. The agricultural economy in both the North and the South dictated school schedules, and children were excused from school during the months when they were needed to work in the fields.

The Civil War “drove some of the most important educational reforms of the late nineteenth century." In particular, the conflict and its aftermath created a relationship between the government and higher education, introduced new curricula, and reshaped the nature of student populations, ultimately producing the modern American university and college systems with which we identify today. 

The shift toward secular, practical education was inevitable. Thomas Jefferson was an early advocate of expanded higher education opportunities. He argued that America’s growing democracy needed an educated citizenry and that the growing market economy needed a skilled workforce. The Morrill Land-Grant College Act of 1862 likewise helped establish universities that concentrated on agricultural and engineering learning. Schools became coeducational and biracial, and welcomed non-traditional students from broader socioeconomic groups.

Between 1870 and 1897, the number of higher education institutions reached 821, up from 23 in 1800. These schools were secular institutions built on a practical mandate–to promote agriculture, science, and technology. The traditional liberal arts curriculum grew to include social science, applied sciences such as engineering, and professional training. By the close of the nineteenth century, theology schools represented only 13% of higher education institutions. Making money replaced saving souls and advancing faith.

During the period between 1850 and 1870, most American states achieved the free school system supported by property taxes rather than tuition. This momentous transition from no or partial to full public funding for schools has been surprisingly underemphasized by economists. "Laborers' wages were a dollar an hour; skilled mechanics received from $12 to $20 per day. The carpenters struck work because they were getting only $12 a day and insisted on being paid $16." Source: Annals of San Francisco, published 1855. Having a SKILL paid off and being skilled did not necessarily mean you had obtained a degree in that particular field.

Below is the average salary in 1901 in Buffalo, NY. Most people worked six days per week for 9 hours a day. They had no retirement benefits which meant they worked until they had saved enough money to stop working, or they worked until they died. (The average life expectancy for men was 47 years, for women it was 50.) They paid no income tax. There was no health insurance. $70,000 a year, in 1900 would have meant you were super rich with a mansion, servants, the whole deal.

Occupation	Annual Salary	2000 $
1900 Census Average Salary	$449.80	$8,973
Unskilled Female	$120	$2,394
African-American male laborer	$150	$2,992
African-American Female laundress	$180	$3,591
Nurses after two years	$193	$3,850
Factory women (Boston)	$295.44	$5,885
Retail Women (Boston)	$303.84	$6,045
National average female teachers	$381.50	$7,601
Lynn, MA factory seamstresses	$384	$7,660
Male Stenographer	$400	$7,980
Eden, NY Union Free School female teacher	$400	$7,980
National average male teachers	$452	$9,017
Nurse Supervisors	$463	$9,237
Western U.S. female teachers	$505	$10,074
Buffalo Railway Company trolley conductors	$533	$10,663
NYC Female teachers	$600	$11,970
Buffalo teacher after 4 years	$600	$11,970
Western U.S. male teachers	$610	$12,169
Buffalo NY factory planers	$624	$12,449
Buffalo School "department principal"	$750	$14,902
NYC male teachers	$900	$17,955

During the first half of the twentieth century, the higher education landscape was heavily influenced by economic demands. In the sciences, the focus shifted to fields which directly impacted industrial production–chemistry and physics departments grew to answer the demand for trained scientists and applied research. A well-rounded education became increasingly important for advancement throughout the private sector, which relied on literate, skilled employees. Enter the college degree being highly valued.

The federal government passed the GI Bill, which paid for the college education of 8 million returning GIs. Signed into law by President Franklin D. Roosevelt on June 22, 1944, this act, also known as the G.I. Bill, provided World War II veterans with funds for college education, unemployment insurance, and housing.  A grateful recipient recalled: “[T]he government paid for all expenses; they paid for tuition; they paid for books, and they gave us a magnificent sum of $90 a month for food and housing.”

The GI Bill transformed the college student body by removing the major hurdle to higher education: the cost. Lower socioeconomic groups were finally represented on campus. The number of college students nearly doubled in the 1940s, from 1.5 million in 1940 to 2.7 million in 1950, as veterans swelled the ranks. The “magic carpet to the Middle Class,” as the GI Bill was called, permanently linked higher education and the American Dream. Education and degrees opened doors and people were going through those doors.

In the United States stagnation if not decline in education has been apparent at least since the 1970s. Even our high school graduation rates are lower today than they were a decade ago. This was called by some a Literacy Crisis. At the end of 1975, Newsweek magazine ran an alarming cover story on the perceived decline in American education, alerting the country to the possibility that American schools were graduating students who could not even write a comprehensible sentence in English.

Over most of the 20th century successive generations of U.S. children had higher enrollment rates and rising levels of completed education. This trend reversed with the baby boom cohorts who attended school in the 1970s, and only resumed in the mid-1980s. Even today, the college entry rate of male high school seniors is not much higher than it was in 1968. Young men’s high school completion rates drifted down over the 1970s, while their college entrance rates plummeted. Young women’s high school graduation and college entry rates were stagnant. As a consequence, men and women born in the 1960s had about the same high school graduation rates, and lower four-year college graduation rates, than men and women born a decade earlier.

Among the adult population in 1970 (persons 25 years old and over), 55%, were at least high school graduates as compared with 41%, in 1960. The proportion of adults who had completed one or more years of college was 21% in 1970 as compared with 16% in 1960. 1970 cost of living: New House: $23,450. Average Income: $9,400. New Car: $3,450. Minimum Wage: $2.10/hr. Movie Ticket: $1.55. Gasoline: 36 cents/gal. Postage Stamp: 6 cents. Sugar: 39 cents Ibs. Coffee: 1.90 lb. Did you really NEED a college degree?

There were several reasons why there was a decline in education during the 1970's. One reason was Baby Boomers DID seek higher education, earned great salaries, and gave their children every luxury. Their children did not seek higher education but relied on their parents' income longer into their lives. Baby Boomer children had spending power. They became the top consumer. Baby boomers are people born between 1946 and 1964. The term refers to the generation that came of age after World War II, when birth rates around the world increased. In 1946, over three million babies were born, more than ever before in U.S. history. This increase in births, along with technological changes and geopolitical factors, has dramatically reshaped the country politically, culturally, and economically. 

Also, schools had been integrated. Many did not agree that attending school/colleges with minorities as a good thing. Educational reforms in the 1970s emerged through curriculum changes, increased federal involvement, and a focus on equal opportunities. In the 1970s, there was a significant shift in the educational landscape, primarily driven by the need to address societal changes and improve the quality of education.

Over forty-years ago, Congress passed Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972 to ensure equal opportunity in education for all students, from kindergarten through postgraduate school, regardless of sex. Girls and women have made great strides in education since the passage of Title IX.

In 2000, the US population aged 25 and older reached an all-time high in education levels. 80% of this population had a high school diploma or more, and 24% had completed at least a bachelor's degree. 52% of the population had completed at least some college education, and 24% had a bachelor's degree or more. With more income came higher prices for living. It is all about supply and demand. With the ability to PURCHASE luxury items by a large number of people, prices increased driving up the cost of living.

The impact of online media on higher education cannot be overstated. The average age of college students has soared to 36. About 30% of college students participate in online education.  Many argue that students who learn online are more adept at conducting business in virtual space. They learn to “access, analyze, process, and communicate information; use information technology tools; work with people from different cultural backgrounds; and engage in continuous, self-directed learning,” according to one report. These are crucial skills for a workforce that routinely collaborates with people in remote locations via the Internet; for whom information technology is a job requirement; and who rely on continuous education to stay up to speed.

The average cost of living, at present, in the United States is estimated to be between $2,500 and $3,500 per month, depending on your location and lifestyle. This includes housing, food, transportation, health care, taxes, and other expenses. An individual needs $96,500, on average, to live comfortably in a major U.S. city. That figure is even higher for families, who need to earn an average combined income of about $235,000 to support two adults and two children. Single? This Is What You Have to Earn to Live Comfortably | Kiplinger

People are throwing up their hand in frustration at the price tag to live comfortably. For many, it has turned into a rat race. Just work and no pleasure. Many are rethinking if going to college is even worth it. What is your opinion? Hopefully those who have done the work and earned their degrees will be able to walk across the stage with family members beaming with pride at their accomplishments. They earned it even if they won't be able to EARN after they graduate. The American Dream is no longer promised through higher education.

Here are the top 10 highest-paying jobs that don't require a degree.

1. Airline and commercial pilot Median annual salary: $148,900, Number of jobs: 142,600. Estimated job growth (2022–2032): 4%. Educational requirements: Vocational training or associate’s degree. Work experience: None, but FAA certifications and flight hours are required.

2. Information security analyst Median annual salary: $112,000. Number of jobs: 168,900. Estimated job growth (2022–2032): 32%. Educational requirements: High school diploma or vocational training. Work experience: None, but relevant certifications are beneficial.

3. Elevator and escalator installer and repairer Median annual salary: $99,999. Number of jobs: 25,100. Estimated job growth (2022–2032): 1%. Educational requirements: High school diploma or GED Work experience: Apprenticeship.

4. Special effects artist and animator Median annual salary: $98,950. Number of jobs: 89,300. Estimated job growth (2022–2032): 8%. Educational requirements: High school diploma or vocational training. Work experience: Portfolio of work. Certifications can be beneficial.

5. Transportation, storage, and distribution manager Median annual salary: $98,560. Number of jobs: 14,600. Estimated job growth (2022–2032): 8%. Educational requirements: High school diploma or equivalent; certification programs beneficial. Work experience: Five years in a related field. 

6. First-line supervisors of police and detective Median annual salary: $96,290. Number of jobs: 4,300. Estimated job growth (2022–2032): 3%. Educational requirements: High school diploma, police academy training. Work experience: Several years in the police force.

7. Radiation therapist Median annual salary: $89,530. Number of jobs: 15,900. Estimated job growth (2022–2032): 2%. Educational requirements: Associate degree. Work experience: Clinical experience/certification.

8. Subway and streetcar operator Median annual salary: $88,260. Number of jobs: 300. Estimated job growth (2022–2032): 4%. Educational requirements: High school diploma. Work experience: On-the-job training.

9. Electrical power-line installer and repairer Median annual salary: $82,340 per year. Number of jobs: 122,400. Estimated job growth (2022–2032): 3%. Educational requirements: High school diploma. Technical training preferred. Work experience: Apprenticeship.

10. Dental hygienist. Median annual salary: $81,400. Number of jobs: 219,400. Estimated job growth (2022–2032): 7%. Educational requirements: Associate’s degree in dental hygiene. Work experience: Licensing (varies by state). Highest-Paying Jobs In 2024 You Can Get Without a Degree | Kiplinger.