Happily Educated?

Joe Iuliano, Assistant Head of Academic Affairs
Recently, my wife gave me a copy of Fareed Zakaria’s latest book, Ten Lessons for a Post Pandemic World. She knows I enjoy his Sunday morning news show that focuses on current national and international issues. In general, I find his educated opinion to be reasoned and insightful and his global perspective to be befitting of the world today. Most recently I had read his In Defense of a Liberal Education, and in this work, to me anyway, he was preaching to the choir. I believe that our children need to have a broad base of knowledge and a habits-of-mind skill set derived from studies in the arts and sciences. Mr. Zakaria himself is a very well-educated, intelligent, and humane man who believes in the power and benefit of education for both individuals and society. Both his past and present writings resonate with this belief. Invariably, in each of his books, even across a diverse swath of topics, Zakaria invokes the value and rewards of education for both individuals and society.
 
Last August, Cory Steig a reporter for CNBC’s online news site weighed in with some insight on the general impact of education on people’s lives: “In a survey that utilized data from the U.S. General Social Surveys, 94% of people with a bachelor’s degree or more reported feeling happy or very happy with their lives overall, while 89% of high school grads said the same…Having a college degree is correlated with other sources of happiness: People who go to college also tend to have better health outcomes, more stable marriages, and longer lives than those who didn’t graduate from high school.” (from https://www.cnbc.com/2020/08/17/does-getting-a-college-degree-make-you-happier.html) These survey results suggest palpable individual and social rewards for individuals who seek a post-secondary education (without an specific reference to the area of studies the degree is earned in.)
 
Yet, a view across the current educational landscape reveals a shrinking student population heading into higher education as a result of two salient factors: 1) economics, and 2) population dynamics. Essentially, the forces at work here have to do with graphs heading in two different directions: increasing costs and decreasing students. These are trends to take a closer look at considering the impact education has on the quality of life.
 
The economic factors in play include both the cost of attending college (both the upfront sticker price and the potential amount of associated student debt carried after graduation) and the ability, desire, or need to earn an income after graduating from high school. More and more, the possibility of earning a sustaining income can be gained through alternative training versus a college degree. Young adults, especially young men, are weighing the expenditure of tens or even hundreds of thousands of dollars against a comparable income over the same amount of time and determining they can postpone college studies, choose certificate programs at more affordable two-year colleges and institutes, or forego a college education altogether (and the drag of student loan debt) and immediately enter the workforce. Note, however, that over time workers holding undergraduate degrees still have greater income potential throughout their lifetimes, earning on average at least 50% more than the non-degreed worker.
 
One can always defend the value of a liberal education for the benefit of individuals and society—an educated population is a public good—but it is getting increasingly difficult to do this in the face of economic pressures. The pandemic has not helped in this regard as colleges have not been able to operate as usual, with many closing their campuses and providing remote learning or severely constraining or curtailing campus activity for their students. Those anticipating college attendance want “a real college experience,” but both students and parents are considering their options when weighing the decision to pay for a year or more of college in an uncertain health environment. They are asking themselves, “Is it worth it to pay full tuition for a remote learning experience?” The answer for many this year has been to take a “wait-’til-next-year” approach. The result has been a short term drop in college attendance.
 
In terms of the population of students in college, the next ten years presents a diminished number overall. A recent article in USNews and World Report points to a declining birthrate that will shrink the pool of students available to colleges, as well: “Nathan Grawe, an economist at Carleton College in Minnesota, predicts that the college-going population will drop by 15 percent between 2025 and 2029 and continue to decline by another percentage point or two thereafter.” (from https://www.usnews.com/news/education-news/articles/2018-09-10/colleges-set-to-fight-for-fewer-students) Colleges will be competing for a smaller pool of students but this may give students more leverage in the process and greater opportunity to attend their “dream school.” Will that encourage more students to attend? Will more financial support be available? Will the correlation between happiness and education maintain its standing or will young people entering the workforce without a bachelor’s degree find earnings and happiness that swings the balance? As always, predicting the future is a guessing game; following trends, as Zakaria does in his book, however, provides an educated perspective on what may be just ahead of us. I am happy to promote the paths education provides that lead toward the future and hope to see these to be well trod by our present and future students. 
As an inclusive private school community, Brimmer welcomes students who will increase the diversity of our school. We do not discriminate on the basis of race, religion, sex, gender, gender identity and expression, disability, sexual orientation, national origin, ancestry, or any other characteristic protected from discrimination under state or federal law, in the administration of our educational policies, admissions practices, financial aid decisions, and athletic and other school-administered programs.