What are they teaching in college?

[Anonymous]

This is a sad indictment of our colleges. I think this is why so many companies put job experience (even if not in your field) as a higher priority than what school you went to. This is not applicable to all professions, but I think most college degrees should focus more on real-world experience rather than theory. I think for some kids learning a trade that can pay well is better than going to college.

"There are plenty of requirements for the average professorship, but job experience generally isn’t high up on the list – in fact, a 2006 study of college professors in STEM fields showed that a whopping 59.8 percent hadn’t had any job experience in their industry. That means that a large portion of the professors tasked with teaching college grads how to become marketers, managers and salespeople have never marketed anything, managed anyone or sold anything at all. Our professors teach what they know, and after years spent steeping in theory, it’s no wonder that they put such an emphasis on conceptual learning."


http://www.washingtonpost.com/posteverything/wp/2014/08/27/i-studied-engineering-not-english-i-still-cant-find-a-job/

I haven't done the research, but how many top tier profs. have actual job experience? I know that in my State univ., the majority of my Business professors had a job related to what they were teaching (Accounting prof had had an accounting practice, etc..).

[Anonymous]

The process of getting an academic job rarely includes having industry experience in most fields--at least that would be an atypical route. Business is a little different than most fields. But if you are in, say, chemistry or even in many fields of engineering, you could very easily get a PhD straight out of undergrad, do 2-4 years of a postdoctoral fellowship, and then get hired for a tenure track faculty position without ever leaving academia.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:This is a sad indictment of our colleges. I think this is why so many companies put job experience (even if not in your field) as a higher priority than what school you went to. This is not applicable to all professions, but I think most college degrees should focus more on real-world experience rather than theory. I think for some kids learning a trade that can pay well is better than going to college.

"There are plenty of requirements for the average professorship, but job experience generally isn’t high up on the list – in fact, a 2006 study of college professors in STEM fields showed that a whopping 59.8 percent hadn’t had any job experience in their industry. That means that a large portion of the professors tasked with teaching college grads how to become marketers, managers and salespeople have never marketed anything, managed anyone or sold anything at all. Our professors teach what they know, and after years spent steeping in theory, it’s no wonder that they put such an emphasis on conceptual learning."


http://www.washingtonpost.com/posteverything/wp/2014/08/27/i-studied-engineering-not-english-i-still-cant-find-a-job/

I haven't done the research, but how many top tier profs. have actual job experience? I know that in my State univ., the majority of my Business professors had a job related to what they were teaching (Accounting prof had had an accounting practice, etc..).

Which is why these things should not be college majors!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This is a sad indictment of our colleges. I think this is why so many companies put job experience (even if not in your field) as a higher priority than what school you went to. This is not applicable to all professions, but I think most college degrees should focus more on real-world experience rather than theory. I think for some kids learning a trade that can pay well is better than going to college.

"There are plenty of requirements for the average professorship, but job experience generally isn’t high up on the list – in fact, a 2006 study of college professors in STEM fields showed that a whopping 59.8 percent hadn’t had any job experience in their industry. That means that a large portion of the professors tasked with teaching college grads how to become marketers, managers and salespeople have never marketed anything, managed anyone or sold anything at all. Our professors teach what they know, and after years spent steeping in theory, it’s no wonder that they put such an emphasis on conceptual learning."


http://www.washingtonpost.com/posteverything/wp/2014/08/27/i-studied-engineering-not-english-i-still-cant-find-a-job/

I haven't done the research, but how many top tier profs. have actual job experience? I know that in my State univ., the majority of my Business professors had a job related to what they were teaching (Accounting prof had had an accounting practice, etc..).

Which is why these things should not be college majors!

+1

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This is a sad indictment of our colleges. I think this is why so many companies put job experience (even if not in your field) as a higher priority than what school you went to. This is not applicable to all professions, but I think most college degrees should focus more on real-world experience rather than theory. I think for some kids learning a trade that can pay well is better than going to college.

"There are plenty of requirements for the average professorship, but job experience generally isn’t high up on the list – in fact, a 2006 study of college professors in STEM fields showed that a whopping 59.8 percent hadn’t had any job experience in their industry. That means that a large portion of the professors tasked with teaching college grads how to become marketers, managers and salespeople have never marketed anything, managed anyone or sold anything at all. Our professors teach what they know, and after years spent steeping in theory, it’s no wonder that they put such an emphasis on conceptual learning."


http://www.washingtonpost.com/posteverything/wp/2014/08/27/i-studied-engineering-not-english-i-still-cant-find-a-job/

I haven't done the research, but how many top tier profs. have actual job experience? I know that in my State univ., the majority of my Business professors had a job related to what they were teaching (Accounting prof had had an accounting practice, etc..).

Which is why these things should not be college majors!

+1

+ another

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:This is a sad indictment of our colleges. I think this is why so many companies put job experience (even if not in your field) as a higher priority than what school you went to. This is not applicable to all professions, but I think most college degrees should focus more on real-world experience rather than theory. I think for some kids learning a trade that can pay well is better than going to college.

"There are plenty of requirements for the average professorship, but job experience generally isn’t high up on the list – in fact, a 2006 study of college professors in STEM fields showed that a whopping 59.8 percent hadn’t had any job experience in their industry. That means that a large portion of the professors tasked with teaching college grads how to become marketers, managers and salespeople have never marketed anything, managed anyone or sold anything at all. Our professors teach what they know, and after years spent steeping in theory, it’s no wonder that they put such an emphasis on conceptual learning."


http://www.washingtonpost.com/posteverything/wp/2014/08/27/i-studied-engineering-not-english-i-still-cant-find-a-job/

I haven't done the research, but how many top tier profs. have actual job experience? I know that in my State univ., the majority of my Business professors had a job related to what they were teaching (Accounting prof had had an accounting practice, etc..).

I'd add education to this list--many education professors have no or very little experience in an elementary or secondary classroom. Which is just one of the reasons why I won't allow my child to major in education, though she wants to be a teacher.

Your opinion on this issue likely depends on what you expect from college. If your child is studying humanities, social sciences, science, or math, the profs' "job" experience might not matter much to you (or to your child). If you view college as an avenue for learning a trade, you probably want profs to have, you know, actually practiced the trade.

I don't take the latter view generally, so I want college instructors to be good teachers--to have deep knowledge of and love for their subject, be able to convey that knowledge and generate excitement, and be interested in mentoring/guiding young people. Research experience is more or less important, depending on the field.

[Anonymous]

I hope I'm not paying for my kid's college education so he can learn to be a marketer or salesman.

[Anonymous]

After you pay for college tuition, your DC will still have to get a job competing with F1 visa holders from China and India.

Every wonder why unemployment for college graduates is at historical highs??

Another major, yet often overlooked, provision in the pending legislation would grant automatic green cards to any foreign student who earns a graduate degree in a STEM field, based on assertions that foreign graduates of U.S. universities are routinely being forced to leave. Such claims are incompatible with the evidence that such graduates have many paths to stay and work, and indeed the "stay rates" for visiting international students are very high and have shown no sign of decline. The most recent study finds that 92% of Chinese Ph.D. students stay in the U.S. to work after graduation.

There are hundreds of thousands of F1 visas issued and growing rapidly and now your government wants to take jobs from your children and give them to the children of India and China

http://www.brookings.edu/research/interactives/2014/geography-of-foreign-students#/M10420

The number of foreign students on F-1 visas in U.S. colleges and universities grew dramatically from 110,000 in 2001 to 524,000 in 2012. The sharpest increases occurred among students from emerging economies such as China and Saudi Arabia. Foreigners studying for bachelor’s and master’s degrees and English language training accounted for most of the overall growth.

[Anonymous]

Yes, the competition is global now. Our kids all know that. The same applies for college admission at many schools.