To the editor:
Neil Barry's June 4 letter to the editor ("Education can be a liability for some job-seekers") hits and misses with regards to the perception of education within our country.
The U.S. has a history of anti-intellectualism. There's some precedence for fearing the intellectual class; after all for most of history the "smartest" were also the "richest" and went hand in hand with the nobility and religious institutions; exploiting and manipulating the masses for millennia.
Fear of intellectuals is also something the Right strongly courts in many of its messages, particularly with leftist leaders (labeling John Kerry as "French" could be read as his being intellectual or non-masculine).
Equally relevant, we've switched in large part from a producing economy to a service and consumer economy. Consumers more and more want their purchases fast and "their way," while companies have acquiesced offering increasing means of purchasing with less direct interaction with salespeople via online shopping, ATMs, self-checkout aisles, etc.
We don't need experienced and learned people; companies continually water down jobs so that they entail a few clicks of a button — anyone can do it.
And yet, a bachelor's degree doesn't go nearly as far as it did 40 years ago. More students than even before are getting their bachelor's so supply-and-demand economics decrees that bachelor's degrees as a whole become less valuable. Master's degrees (particularly MBAs) will follow similar trends.
In this economy, a bachelor's degree opens very few doors. Getting a job that reflects the student's financial and temporal investment is as rare as the four-leaf clover.
Higher education itself is challenged as colleges battle to provide challenging and well-rounded curriculums that meet the expectations of the workforce while also competing in a "customer is always right" world, which academically plays out with students finding not necessarily the most engaging (and therefore productive) program, but the easiest or cheapest.
Lance Eaton
Peabody
No Limits for Disabled Hunters at Mich. Base
Victim Identified in Fla. Face-chewing Attack
Radioactive Bluefin Tuna Crossed the Pacific
90 Guns Seized, Dozens Arrested in Oakland
Raw Video: Hail Storm Batters Oklahoma City
6-Year-Old Going to National Spelling Bee
California's Foie Gras Ban About to Begin
Video Essay: Funky Winkerbean Comic Turns 40
Hurricane Andrew Remembered, 20 Years Later
Judge's Ruling Halts Tenn. Mosque Construction
Romney in Las Vegas on Texas Primary Day
Sister Says She Reported Brother in Patz Killing
Even Fla. Police Shocked by Face-Mauling Attack
Angry Birds Spreading Their Wings
Witness Describes Fla. Face-chewing Attack
