Bachelor's degree

unit1

Bachelor's degree: Has it lost its edge and its value

Once the hallmark of an educated and readily employable adult, the bachelor's degree is losing

its

edge.

Quicker,

cheaper

programs

offer

attractive

career

route

alternatives

while

the

more

prestigious master's is trumping it, making it a mere steppingstone.

学士学位曾经是受 过良好教

育、随时可以就业的成年人的标志，

但现在它正在失去 优势。

更快、更便宜的课程提供了有

吸引力的职业路线选择，而 更有声望的硕士课程则胜过它，使之成为一个跳板。

Studies show that people with four-year college degrees earn more money than those without

over their lifetime, that they are more likely to find jobs and, once employed, are almost twice as

likely to be selected for on- the-job training.

研究表明，拥有四年大学学位的人比没有大学学位

的人一生赚的钱更多，

他们更有可能找到工作，

而且一旦找到工作，

被选中接受在职培训的

可能性几乎 是没有大学学位的人的两倍。

This has prompted a stampede through college and university gates.

这促使人们蜂拥着穿过 学院

和大学的大门。

But

studies

are

like

photographs:

They

record

the

past.

They

say

nothing

about

the

clear

and

present danger that the bachelor's degree is losing value.

但研究就像照片

:

它们记录了过去。他

们对学士学位正在贬值这一明显而现实的危险只字未提。

Serra Hagedorn, immediate past president of the Association for the Study of Higher Education

and associate dean and professor at Iowa State University in Iowa City.

“随着越来越多的人获得

学士学位，它变得越来越普遍，

”现任美国高等教育研究协会会长，现任 爱荷华州立大学副

院长兼教授琳达·塞拉·哈格多恩说

And,

she

adds,

all

bachelor's

are

equal.

In

many

communities

around

the

country,

the

bachelor's is not enough to make you stand out.

Professor Hagedorn says.

她还说，

“并不是所有的学士学位都是平等的。

”在美国的许多社区，

学士学位不足以让你脱颖而出。

“什么专 业的学士学位‘

?

’哈格多恩教授说

:

“这就是问题

所在。

”

American Association of Colleges and Universities.

美国学院和大学协会的

Caryn McTighe Musil

说

:

“学 士学位就是高中文凭过去的样子。

”

After

World

War

II

and

through

decades

of

postwar

economic

growth,

college

attendance

morphed

from

an

exception

into

the

desired

norm.

In

1950,

some

34

percent

of

adults

had

completed

high

school;

today,

more

than

30

percent

have

completed

a

bachelor's.

In

2009,

colleges

and

universities

handed

out

more

than

1.6

million

bachelor's

degrees,

a

number

the

National Center for Education Statistics (NCES) expects will grow to almost 2 million by 2020.

二战

后，经过几十年的战后 经济增长，大学入学率从一个例外变成了理想的标准。

1950

年，大

约

34%

的成年人完成了高中学 业

;

如今，超过

30%

的学生完成了学士学位。

2009

年，各学院

和大学颁发了

160

多万个学士学位。国家教育 统计中心

(NCES)

预计，到

202 0

年，这个数字

将增长到近

200

万个。

Spiraling degree inflation is what Richard Vedder, professor of economics at Ohio University and

adjunct scholar at the American Enterprise Institute, calls it. The danger he sees is that growing

numbers of Americans will be unnecessarily saddled with hefty student loans.

俄亥俄大学

(Ohio

University)

经济学教授、美国企业研究所

(Ame rican Enterprise Institute)

兼职学者理查德

维德

(Richard Vedder)

所称的螺旋式学位通胀。他看到的危险是，

越来越多的美国人将不必要 地背

负沉重的学生贷款。

says, and the notion that the earnings differential

suspect.

:“

事实是，你不一定能得到高薪 工作。

”

收入差距

“

< br>继续扩大和扩大

”

的说法多少有些令人怀疑。

Bachelor's

degree-holders

may

well

earn

66

percent

more

than

high

school

graduates

and

35

percent more than people with two-year degrees, he says. But for every bachelor's degree- holder

earning more than $$54,000 a year, he notes, there is a mail carrier, taxi driver, bartender, parking

attendant

or

other

worker

with

a

bachelor's

earning

less.

Indeed,

almost

16

percent

of

the

country's

bartenders

and

almost

14

percent

of

its

parking

lot

attendants

have

a

bachelor's

or

hig her.

他说，学士学位持有者的收入可能比高中毕业生高出

6 6%

，比两年制学位持有者高出

35%

。但他指出，每一个年薪超过

5.4

万美元的学士学位获得者， 就有一个邮递员、出租车

司机、酒保、停车场服务员或其他年薪低于学士的工作人员。事 实上，该国近

16%

的调酒师

和近

14%

的停车场服务员拥有本科或以上学历。

Vedder

predicts

more

and

more

college-educated

people

will

be

in

jobs

that

do

not

require

a

four-year degree.

韦德尔预测，越来越多受过大学教育的人将从事不需要四年学位的工作。

Michael Hughes and Amanda Kusler met in just such a job, working as servers in a restaurant in

Ann Arbor, Mich. It was 2007, and both had graduated from high school three years earlier.

迈克

尔休斯

(Michael Hughes)

和阿曼达库斯勒

(Amanda Kusler )

就是在这样一份工作中认识的，

在密

歇根州安娜堡的一家餐馆当服务员。那是

2007

年，两人都提 前三年从高中毕业。

Soon

after

they

started

dating,

Kusler

encouraged

Hughes

to

reenroll

and

pursue

a

degree.

—

doesn't matter what it's in.

在他们开始约会后不久，库斯勒鼓励休斯重新注册并攻读学位。

“尤其是在如今，

”她认为，

“拿到学士学位是一种常态——不管你拿的是什么学位。< /p>

”

That

was

certainly

the

case

for

decades,

says

Anthony

Carnevale,

director

of

the

Georgetown

University

Center

on

Education

and

the

Workforce,

but

not

anymore.< /p>

乔治敦大学

(Georgetown

U niversity)

教育与劳动力中心

(Center

on

Education

and

the

Workforce)

主任安 东尼?卡内瓦莱

(Anthony Carnevale)

表示 ，过去几十年的情况确实如此，但现在已经不同了。