Obama: College Degree Not Needed for a Good Career

[Swede Atlanta]

7. I couldn't agree more......

I graduated high school with a good solid "liberal" education. I could read and write, add/subtract/multiply and divide and had the basics of biology, earth sciences, physics, us and world history and civics under my belt. I could have chosen to go to college or pursue a skilled profession that required technical training, etc. But I had a solid base education from which to operate my life, career aside. I would say in general most of my classmates had the same although I graduated with honors and probably took my studies more seriously than others.

Several years after I had moved on and graduated from college and was working in a job that definitely did not require a college degree, I began to meet recent high school graduates or those with 2-year associate degrees.

What struck me was the lack of knowledge of the most basic things - reading, writing, science, history and social studies, etc. I came to the conclusion that we were failing to prepare our students for life by not ensuring they had at least basic understanding and knowledge of these "core" subjects before we issued high school diplomas.

That led me to believe that perhaps now a 4-year college degree was necessary to finish what K-12 didn't do - establish a baseline level of knowledge of these "life" subjects. But then I met students coming out with 4-year degrees that still lacked these basic skills and knowledge.

So I have given up. I still believe that a good base "liberal" education is essential. All of our students should have a base knowledge of the core subjects so they can interact with the world from an informed perspective and, hopefully, their education leads them to be life-long learners.

But I fear that in the world of smart phones, iPads, video games, etc. that perspective is no longer a focus for most people. And the most important thing is students acquiring skills they can sell on the labor market and hopefully skills that will be valued enough to bring in a good wage.

That can be a 2-year, 4-year or graduate degree or the appropriate technical or other professional training. It does not need to be a college degree.