Massive gender gap skewed toward women, rising costs, $1.7 Trillion in student debt, leftist professors. What is going on with our universities? We delve into the numbers to bring you the facts.
is the University system broken in
America I think it is I think we need a
complete overhaul of the system that we
have created here in the United States
I'm going to dive into some real data
that shows a disturbing Trend in one of
the largest American institutions that
affects all of our families this episode
is brought to you by the Isaiah
Institute and their virtual conference
restoring the Covenant the keynote
speaker is Abraham gilotti and I've been
invited to be the special guest speaker
I will be speaking on the Covenant of
the land remembering the Everlasting
decree upon America something I love
about the Isaiah Institute is that they
are completely focused on the book of
Isaiah we're told by Jesus himself that
we are supposed to be studying Isaiah
and the Isaiah Institute delves into
this deeply restoring the Covenant
virtual conference will have six
different speakers it is held on October
19th and I'm going to put the link for
the conference in the description box I
really hope you'll attend now is the
American University system broken well
if we look at the current landscape it
does seem to be struggling under the
weight of its own contradictions for
Generations four-year colleges were
venerated as the sacred temples of
wisdom and prosperity attending one was
seen as a golden ticket to a brighter
future we can see this in the media in
movies it's been a belief so pervasive
that even Willie Wonka would have felt
outdone and with 40% of high school
graduates now attending college we
should pull back the wool and take a
closer look at this large somewhat
corrupted American
institution now Mike Row the TV
personality and others have joined the
chorus of critics questioning The
Prestige of Institutions like Harvard
University once a Bastion of academic
Excellence Harvard has lately found
itself embroiled in controversies
ranging from allegations of
anti-Semitism to plagiarism which led to
the resignation of its former president
Claudine gay in a recent interview Ro
lamented what is happening donations are
drying up graduates are taking their
degrees off the wall because they no
longer resonate with pride they're
shameful his words might sound dramatic
but they capture a growing
disillusionment that's been bubbling up
for years if we take a step back and
look at the bigger picture here the
numbers tell a troubl a troubling story
undergraduate enrollment has fallen by a
staggering 3 million students since 2011
it's in the last 13 years according to
the Wall Street Journal and in 2020 2 3
last year a Gallop poll revealed that
only 36% of Americans expressed high
confidence in higher education down from
a more optimistic
57% just back in
2015 clearly the traditional image of
the four-year degree as the ultimate lad
to success the portal to a wonderful
life in the American dream is starting
to wobble and the job market is leaving
college graduates with high balances of
student debt or parents who have
mortgaged their homes to send their kids
to college with a current Marketplace
that has fewer well-paying jobs
available in fact many new college
graduates are having to work lower
paying entry level jobs according to the
US Bureau of Labor Statistics the
National Labor Force participation rate
took a rather dramatic nose dive in
April of 2020 dropping to 60.1%
the lowest it had been in two decades
and while we've since managed to climb
back a bit reaching
62.7% we're still a far cry from the
prepandemic level of
63.3% it's like trying to get back to
your pre holiday weight progress is
being made but those last few percentage
points are proving stubborn as vital
Industries continue to struggle with a
shortage of workers it seems we might
need to to rethink our Collective
approach to the workforce and maybe dust
off our old Notions of a good honest
day's work it's time for a fresh look at
what it means to roll up your sleeves
and get to it because let's face it the
current situation isn't doing anyone any
favors so what's a bright-eyed knowledge
hungry Young American to do in this
educational Maelstrom the answer might
not lie in the hollowed Halls of a
university at all it may lie in an
alternative path skilled trades in fact
with education as a whole skewing more
and more to the benefit of women with
undergraduate degrees now being given at
a clip of 60% to women and 40% to men
right 1.5
to1 and skewing even further toward
women with graduate degrees skilled
trades becomes much more appealing to
men after all why mortgage your future
for a degree when you could be earning a
solid income as an electrician or a
welder without the crushing student debt
the average cost of a four-year college
degree in the US including books
supplies and living expenses is now a
whopping $
36,43 per year according to the
Education data initiative that's more
than double what it was at the start of
the century and what do students get in
return sometimes it seems a very
expensive piece of paper and a heap of
debt is this really the right approach
for the future of America during the
pandemic some universities continue to
raise tuition despite offering classes
over Zoom New York University NYU raised
its tuition during Zoom classes now at
some point you've got to take a look at
the people that are actually paying the
bills how far do we let this go now in
contrast skilled trades which might not
have the ivy league Allure but they're
undeniably crucial welders steam Fitters
Pipe Fitters heating air conditioning
electric our country is built on these
things and while these jobs may not be
the stuff of a glamorous cocktail party
chatter they offer a shorter path to six
figure incomes than many
realize in fact wage data backs this up
the National Association of colleges and
employers reported an average starting
salary of
61,7 for the college class of
2022 meanwhile zip recruiter notes that
Journeymen electricians who typically
complete a paid apprenticeship of four
to 5 years earn an average of $
65,8 180 per year without the massive
debt
for steam Fitters the average pay is
even higher
$78,900 and a boy at Stanford
good for them is that really for
everyone I think this is a collective
delusion that that surrounds a a 4-year
degree but I think that it's starting to
tip the other way now let's talk about
the less flattering statistics that
don't make it into the college
brochures student debt in the US stands
at a staggering
$1.7
trillion yeah trillion that's with a t
and while the universities tout the
benefits of a degree they're less
forthcoming about the fact that 41% of
students who start a four-year degree
program drop out before they finish 41%
a good portion of those are men of those
who do graduate a significant number
find themselves working outside their
chosen field while clutching a diploma
that feels more like a lottery ticket
that didn't pay out and then there's the
issue of grade inflation in
1995 this
is you know we don't want to trigger
anybody so in 1995 the average GPA at
Harvard was
2.5
2.5 just a wild guess at what it is
today at Harvard what is the average GPA
at Harvard you know the hard
School the average G GPA at Harvard is
3.8 what a joke this suggests either a
dramatic increase in the students
Brilliance of today or that grades much
like some degrees have become a little
inflated critics like an Emily pek argue
that the wage gap between college
graduates and those with only a high
school diploma is proof positive that
every one needs a degree but comparing
these two groups alone is like comparing
Apples to Apples that is apples that
didn't go to trade school there's a
whole Orchard of Alternatives that
include trade schools apprenticeships
and entrepreneurial paths that PEC
conveniently
overlooks and it's those paths that
often lead to well-paying careers
without the burden of student loans now
my critique
of the American University system here
extends beyond the cost and return on
investment I believe Society needs to
rethink the entire concept of education
and work during the covid-19 lockdowns
when students were stuck at home paying
full price for a less than full
experience the facade of the Invincible
4-year degree began to
crumble everybody gets a trophy and an a
even prestigious universities are not
immune to great inflation in the sense
that everyone's a winner regardless of
effort for employers this creates a
dilemma how do you know if a Harvard
grad is a hardworking go-getter or
simply the latest recipient of a legacy
admission in
2023 Gallup reported that only 177% of
Americans had a great deal of confidence
in universities with 22%
expressing very little
confidence clearly higher education is
in the midst of a PR crisis and with 7.2
million able-bodied men in their Prime
working years not participating in the
workforce it's clear that something is
indeed a foot in the wide world of
work another topic of do do we call it
debate there there's really no debate on
this but another Topic in Academia is
the continuing shift of universities
farther to the farle now before you
start worrying about your child's
liberal arts Professor turning them into
a philosopher activist
hybrid the real concern is the potential
lack of balance and oversight on
campus why because while the humanities
social sciences and liberal arts faculty
are heavily and dated with left-wing
activists it's the university
administrations that take the cake as
the torch carriers of the far left it's
not just that some professors lean left
it's that the more radical voices may be
teaching with less
accountability let's take a look at the
numbers here faculty in the humanities
Fine Arts and social sciences have all
seen a 3.66 percentage Point increase
in their overall share of Academia H
meanwhile the stem disciplines where you
would think there would be an increase
right in our universities despite all
the buzz about the growing tech industry
have lost
2.65 percentage points from their early
2000s faculty share what is going
on and while stem professors also tend
to lean left they're generally not as
politically enthusiastic IC as their
colleagues in the sociology
department just going back to that point
again why are universities packing in
more faculty and classes in the
humanities in place of job producing
disciplines like
stem it's a very good question you need
to think about who the administrators
are and what they're trying to do with
the universities so what does this mean
for the universities it seems we're
seeing a shift in the academic makeup
where stem faculty are becoming the
intellectual equivalent of an endangered
species while the humanities and social
sciences are thriving like wild
flowers and it's in these flourishing
fields that we find some of the most
left-leaning faculty members when I say
flourishing Fields I mean flourishing
Fields within the universities not in
real life of course a
of course A diversity of perspectives is
crucial for a vibrant academic
environment we talk about diversity
Equity inclusion what about the
diversity of world viw what about the
diversity of
thought that's what campuses in the
United States were really built on to
debate not to exclude to hash out ideas
not to censor not to cancel but as as
universities continue to prioritize
certain disciplines over others it's
worth keeping an eye on how this affects
the overall intellectual
ecosystem lest we end up with a campus
full of radicals and not enough
Engineers to keep the Wi-Fi running now
back to Harvard the icon of the American
Ivory Tower
coasts in a post published by the
Harvard Crimson on July 13
22 a survey revealed that Harvard's
faculty is leaning a bit more left than
say a well balanced
seesaw according to the annual survey
conducted in April over 80% of Faculty
respondents identified their political
views as liberal or very liberal
far-left and if you think that's a lot
consider this 37% of respondents went so
far as to declare themselves very
liberal mark an almost 8% increase from
the previous year that is the trajectory
of the faculty at Harvard it appears
that the leftward Tilt is not just
steady it's gaining momentum meanwhile
conservative representation on campus
seems to be about as common as a unicorn
sighting only 1% of the respondents
identified as conservative let me back
up and repeat that
again 1% of the respondents on the
survey identified as
conservative and precisely
0% admitted to being very
conservative this could make for some
rather one-sided political debates in
the faculty lnge in the survey when it
came to hiring practices the idea of
increasing ideological diversity by
bringing on more conservative professors
wasn't exactly met with enthusiasm only
about a quarter of the respondents
supported the
idea who wants
diversity while 31% were opposed and 44%
decided to remain on the ideological
fence neither supporting nor opposing
the notion interestingly when it came to
the idea of additional scrutiny for
former Trump Administration officials
seeking faculty positions at Harvard
over half of the respondents favored
extra vetting
however a plurality of Faculty members
stopped short of advocating for a
complete ban on hiring them in numbers
56% supported greater screening while
19% opposed it and about a quarter
decided to keep their cards close to
their chests neither supporting nor
opposing the idea the spiral of
silence all in all it seems that the
political leanings of Harvard's faculty
are as solidly left as ever but there's
still obvious hesitancy when it comes to
what to do about it for now the
ideological diversity debate on campus
remains not an open book but more of a
lockstep propaganda
pamphlet in our American culture we need
to broaden our understanding of what
constitutes a good job and confront the
stereotypes that keep people from
pursuing careers in the trades we should
be elevating the Dignity of skilled work
which is essential for the functioning
of our society but often
overlooked we can also look at the
church as a reflection of this how many
general authorities do you see that come
in through the
trades they're all through the
universities we have a managerial class
I'm not criticizing it I'm just being
aware of what is maybe that's the way
it's supposed to be but we certainly
reflect
the
dignity and the cache that we put on the
University
system the American University system
once a revered institution is now facing
a complex set of challenges the gender
gap between women and
men the difficulty in finding a good job
student debt Rising costs questionable
Returns on investment for the students
and their families and a widening skills
Gap are all contributing to a sense of
disillusionment it is
time to rethink the notion that a 4-year
degree is the only path to success we
have got to turn this on its head after
all when the ladder of opportunity has
sturdy rungs all the way up more people
will be able to climb it without
worrying about how much they'll owe when
they get to the top I'm all for
education but the system is broken we're
taking our kids and grandkids at 18
years old their first experience out in
the home as adults and sending them into
these universities or they're now still
being brought up to a certain degree by
professors and other 18 19 20 year olds
how how healthy is that is this
University system this sending 40% of
all of our kids off to Universities at
18 years old is this contributing to
many of the problems that we're facing
in our culture with marriage and single
mothers
anxiety I don't know but I think we need
to delve into it a lot more be aware of
what's actually happening and ask
ourselves are we just following a path
of
habit and systems that have been in
place that have over time been corrupted
and as the economy changes and Tech
changes is it really the best thing to
do for everybody I think we need to
rethink it thanks for listening
