Bacon's Rebellion

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Eroding Competitiveness: Virginians’ Higher Education

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James A. Bacon
in

A new publication, “Measuring Up 2006: The National Report Card on Higher Education,” provides ample grist for analyzing the adequacy of Virginia’s efforts to prepare its population to compete in a globally competitive knowledge economy. The good news: Virginia has improved its performance for the most part since 1992. The bad news. We’re losing ground internationally.

There is so much material that I can’t begin to digest it all. I’m hoping that readers can add insight in the discussion thread. To view the Virginia report card and its treasure trove of comparative data, click here.

Virginians can take some satisfaction in our scores: A- for preparing K-12 children for higher education, B for the participation rate in higher education, B+ in the completion rate and A in economic benefits flowing from the advanced level of education. But… no surprise here… we measure an F in affordability.

The chart at the top of this post represents the percentage of young adults (ages 18-24) enrolled in college in 2003. Virginia performs below the national U.S. average, and it lags such countries as Korea, Greece, Belgium and Ireland — and we’re on a par with Poland.

Well, those are small countries, you say, no big deal. To get the dynamic picture rather than a static one, click here (and scroll down one screen) to see charts comparing the educational attainment of older adults (35 to 64) vs. younger adults (25 to 30). America’s older adults are the second best educated in the world, training only Canada by a narrow margin, and exceeding No. 3 Finland by a wide margin. But the education level of young adults falls to No. 7.

Here’s what’s happening: The same percentage of young adults in America hold a college degree as older adults — no change. By contrast, the younger generations in other countries are zooming up the learning curve. Scary.

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5 responses to “Eroding Competitiveness: Virginians’ Higher Education”

  1. Larry Gross Avatar
    Larry Gross

    WOW! No comments so far .. on a vital subject.. especially when we’re talking about what folks who live in rural counties whose manufacturing industries have shut down.. what those folks are going to do to make a living in a world where simple assembly-type manufacturing jobs.. will go to the low bidders in 3rd world economies.

    The answer .. the way ahead.. is vital .. because if folks think that it only affects those with inadequate educations and so it is their problem.. think again… to the very basic reason why education exists as a public function.

    The rest of us will pay both welfare and penal costs for those who end up as adults and no jobs.

    And it’s not just rural folks. U.S. Colleges AND corporations have to teach prospective employees remedial math and language before they’re fit enough to perform some jobs.

    However, don’t mistake my concern with an ambition to give the schools more money – at least not yet.

    Schools are like VDOT. Neither is concerned about metrics, performance, needs-based, much less prioritizing whatever funds they have to fix the most important areas that will yield benefits.

    We have the first step… in place in SOLS.. and No Child Life Behind.. as well as other tests alluded to in the referenced articles.

    The issue is how to proceed… and the usual response is… more money… and the refrain ” we can’t do better unless you give us more money”…. Geesh.. I wish I had a nickel everytime I heard that retort….

    So.. I’d shoot right back… “tell me what I’m going to get – specifically – for more money”… Telling me that “we’ll do better in general” will not get my support.

  2. Joan Avatar
    Joan

    I think the government has a lot work to do with the public education. The truth is that the good education is reserved for the rich people while the poor and middle class gets in dept more and more.

    Government wants non thinking people so they can control US and the money easier.

    colleges

  3. Frank Avatar
    Frank

    During the early and mid-90s the governors and assembly did not want to pay for enrollment growth at the IHEs. They did not want to IHEs to do research…they wanted to fund corrections and healthcare, require the IHEs to focus on undergraduate education while freezing tuition and then putting a 20% rollback in place.

    The Measurin Up 2006 reports are based on data preceding 2005…we are simply reaping the harvest of the 90s.

    Please note that in Measuring Up, there is no real definition of affordability…only comparisons of tuition & fees, minus financial aid, as a percentage of family income as compared to the other states. Nobody knows what this percentage should be.

    While Measuring Up is useful, some of us in Va higher ed know what many of the problems are, the problem is getting to agreement and support and away from knee-jerk responses about money and funding (whether less or more).

    The SOLs measure performance on subject matter…SAT measures aptitude and knowledge…aCT measures subject matter knowledge more generally…publlic IHEs in Va are required to assess undergrads in six core competencies (such as written comm, oral com, quantitative reasoning, etc). …not exactly a direct connection is there? And do SOL scores in World History matter at all to employer or to a career education institution? (especially if the world history SOL is taken and passed as a freshman?)

    Look at the these lack of connections between K12 and higher ed. Keep in mind that 1 out of 4 ninth graders never graduate high school – that is 25-30,000 virginians PER YEAR…it is cumulative. Almost 2 out of 5 Virginians will not complete a BA/BS degree within six years entry…few of those will finish later.

    Some of this can be dealt with now. The rest requires changes in how we study and report what happens in education and more importantly, come to an understanding and agreement in what we value as outcomes. The first nine goals of the restructuring act are a great start for higher ed…but what of K12?

  4. Toomanytaxes Avatar
    Toomanytaxes

    What are the affects of immigration on education? I suspect that it cuts both ways. We are seeing highly educated people come from all parts of the globe. We see many immigrants place a much higher emphasis on education than many native born Americans do.

    But at the same time, in our quest for dirt cheap, unskilled labor, we are also attracting many people without basic schooling and who may not value education for themselves or their children.

    This is not intended to be a value judgment, but anyone who tries to analyze education (or health care, for that matter), is missing the mark. Just as we are importing the talent that could help keep our economy vibrant (I’m including both skilled and unskilled in the mix), we are also importing poverty and illiteracy. All of those factors must be surfaced and analyzed.

  5. Jim Bacon Avatar
    Jim Bacon

    TTM, That’s an interesting point. Most of the countries who are catching up with us aren’t exactly known as hotbeds of immigration –Korea, Greece and Finland. (Belgium has a large number of Muslim immigrants, though I’m not sure how many.)

    To what extent is U.S. average educational attainment affected by the influx of poor and poorly educated immigrants? A lot, I would expect.

    It would be interesting if someone could compare the educational performance of native-born Americans.

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