We are prisoners of a myth we have created, one that cannot help but drive our young people away from Cape May County. College is not the only path to success, but we attach to it a vision of elite status in our society, creating mental barriers to other career pathways that might benefit individual young people more than formal higher education.
The choices facing our young people are not binary. It is not a case of a high school diploma or a college degree. The continuum of options is much more varied with opportunities that can best fit a student’s interests and abilities.
We have created an environment where those who elect to pursue higher education in a traditional college are almost certainly going to take on debt, and for some of them significant debt, while pursuing a degree that may or may not offer them the kind of job opportunities and earnings that they associated with taking the college route.
We can no longer afford to see the world in terms of a college education or no education beyond a high school degree. The options available are many and varied. It pays for students and their families to consider those options.
To say that postsecondary education is important is not to say everyone should go to college. It is also not the same as to say that a college education justifies the level of debt some students take on with no guarantee of a degree at the other end of the effort.
The National Center for Education Statistics released a report in April that showed only 60% of students who enrolled in college earned a degree or a credential within eight years of graduating high school. That means 40% of students who started on a college pathway never completed it, leaving many of them with debt.
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We say that we want our schools to make students college- and career-ready, but all too often the resources go toward college-ready rather than career-ready.
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There is no attempt here to say that students should not pursue a college education. For many it is a road to a successful life. What the data shows, however, is that it is not a guaranteed road. It has a high casualty rate, with 40% of those who start not completing a degree. In many of those cases the student pursued a pathway society identified for him or her, rather than one that best fit their interests and abilities.
We have created a pathway to college that too many, parents and students, see as a road they must travel.
In Cape May County we should be offering our young people the opportunity of success that best fits both their needs and those of the community in which they grew up. Our county economy needs individuals with a variety of skill sets, and it rewards those who have those skill sets.
There is no argument that we should hold our young captive to the county and its opportunities. There is an argument that we should create opportunities for our young that allow them to succeed here if that is the pathway they elect.
A 2024 study showed 52% of bachelor’s degree graduates end up underemployed a year after graduating. But what was surprising was that 45% of those graduates were still underemployed 10 years after graduation. The study looked at 10 million people who graduated between 2012 and 2021, finding significant levels of underemployment.
College is an important career step for those ready and eager to take it. But other options must be there. They must have equal emphasis and not be seen as a home for those who could not make it in a college preparatory program.
We say that we want our schools to make students college- and career-ready, but all too often the resources go toward college-ready rather than career-ready.
Four of our five public high schools, according to state-produced reports, have 0% of their students who leave school with what is called an industry-valued credential. Do you really think that is because there is no interest on the part of students in gaining career skills? Or is it more likely that administrators, school boards and curriculum developers are too attached to the concept that college is the answer and failure is the other option?
Momentarily move away from considerations of high school and take a look at the reality of the community college experience. More than 80% of those who start at a community college say they intend to transfer to a four-year school. Only about one-third of those students do so. Of that one-third, fewer than half earn a bachelor’s degree in six years. That is reality. Those are the statistics from the Community College Research Center.
As long as we continue to think that a college education is the only pathway to a successful life we will continue to funnel our young people into pathways where failure awaits many of them. We will also continue to underinvest in options for career readiness that are valuable not just to the student but also to the community in which he or she lives.
We cannot attack the problems we have in education without taking on the task of creating equally valued and equally resourced options for students for whom the traditional four-year college experience is not aligned with their aspirations or abilities.
Career and technical education pathways are important. We must stop undervaluing them. Those of our young people who wish to stay, prosper and raise families in our county should be able to do so because the education pathways open them prepared them for that future with career skill sets that fit the county economy.
Quotes from the Bible
Plans fail for lack of counsel, but with many advisers they succeed. Proverbs 15:22
