Comments on: The University Myth http://www.jarche.com/2009/12/the-university-myth/ Life in Perpetual Beta Thu, 09 Feb 2012 01:59:38 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.3.1 By: Harold Jarche » Changing times http://www.jarche.com/2009/12/the-university-myth/comment-page-1/#comment-205654 Harold Jarche » Changing times Fri, 06 Aug 2010 13:48:24 +0000 http://www.jarche.com/?p=3152#comment-205654 [...] HBR: Higher education is overrated; skills aren’t [as I wrote in the university myth] Foolish New York Times stories notwithstanding, education is a misleading-to-malignant proxy for [...] [...] HBR: Higher education is overrated; skills aren’t [as I wrote in the university myth] Foolish New York Times stories notwithstanding, education is a misleading-to-malignant proxy for [...]

]]> By: Harold Jarche http://www.jarche.com/2009/12/the-university-myth/comment-page-1/#comment-192686 Harold Jarche Wed, 30 Dec 2009 00:17:09 +0000 http://www.jarche.com/?p=3152#comment-192686 Great to see you here again, Gilbert. I've always appreciated your comments and it's good to know you're still dropping by. All the best for new year, and let's see what interesting things it brings! Great to see you here again, Gilbert. I’ve always appreciated your comments and it’s good to know you’re still dropping by. All the best for new year, and let’s see what interesting things it brings!

]]> By: Gilbert http://www.jarche.com/2009/12/the-university-myth/comment-page-1/#comment-192685 Gilbert Wed, 30 Dec 2009 00:10:12 +0000 http://www.jarche.com/?p=3152#comment-192685 "The key is accreditation. As long as the credentials (degrees) are recognized by employers, then university will have market value. " University degrees will lose their semi-monopolistic value as means of accrediting knowledge appear, and they will appear, in a knowledge economy. One day, in a near future, employer's will have access to powerful assessment tools and services that will let the employer comprehensively assess potential employee knowledge at a very low cost. I doubt that the university degrees will have the same value when that happens. Accreditation is a gold mine for entrepreneurs. Gilbert “The key is accreditation. As long as the credentials (degrees) are recognized by employers, then university will have market value. ”

University degrees will lose their semi-monopolistic value as means of accrediting knowledge appear, and they will appear, in a knowledge economy.

One day, in a near future, employer’s will have access to powerful assessment tools and services that will let the employer comprehensively assess potential employee knowledge at a very low cost. I doubt that the university degrees will have the same value when that happens.

Accreditation is a gold mine for entrepreneurs.

Gilbert

]]> By: Jon Husband http://www.jarche.com/2009/12/the-university-myth/comment-page-1/#comment-192444 Jon Husband Tue, 22 Dec 2009 17:28:26 +0000 http://www.jarche.com/?p=3152#comment-192444 <i>Because jobs as we’ve come to understand them are disappearing, the university can help us develop a life of the mind. And I increasing believe that the life of the mind is a more interesting investment than skills. Apprenticeships can also be a wonderful thing, but if we’re just going after it for economic gain, it’s unlikely to be the answer we seek. It’s going to take a lot of creativity to get through the mess we are in. Creativity is rarely valued in the corporate world – I know because I worked there for many years. Look at what measuring everything by economic measures has gotten us. Oh, the folly….</i> Bingo ! Because jobs as we’ve come to understand them are disappearing, the university can help us develop a life of the mind. And I increasing believe that the life of the mind is a more interesting investment than skills. Apprenticeships can also be a wonderful thing, but if we’re just going after it for economic gain, it’s unlikely to be the answer we seek.
It’s going to take a lot of creativity to get through the mess we are in. Creativity is rarely valued in the corporate world – I know because I worked there for many years. Look at what measuring everything by economic measures has gotten us. Oh, the folly….

Bingo !

]]> By: Joe http://www.jarche.com/2009/12/the-university-myth/comment-page-1/#comment-192306 Joe Thu, 17 Dec 2009 13:36:19 +0000 http://www.jarche.com/?p=3152#comment-192306 I would have to say that Harold's post is true in that a university education in most areas of study is unlikely to prepare you for a job - at least as far as developing the skills that a corporate employer seeks. However, I resist measuring everything through an economic lens. While many changes need to be made to the world of academia (and I can say that cause I work in it, and am working on a PhD), most businesses are not that different. It matters less and less what you can do - but matters more and more who you know. And I don't mean who you are connected with on FB or LinkedIn. It's who you know that can get your foot in the door. It's who your parents know from the club. It's who your uncle plays golf with on Saturdays. It's a protectionist system of class preference (sometimes based on race, sex, religion, or sexual orientation as well). Because jobs as we've come to understand them are disappearing, the university can help us develop a life of the mind. And I increasing believe that the life of the mind is a more interesting investment than skills. Apprenticeships can also be a wonderful thing, but if we're just going after it for economic gain, it's unlikely to be the answer we seek. It's going to take a lot of creativity to get through the mess we are in. Creativity is rarely valued in the corporate world - I know because I worked there for many years. Look at what measuring everything by economic measures has gotten us. Oh, the folly.... I would have to say that Harold’s post is true in that a university education in most areas of study is unlikely to prepare you for a job – at least as far as developing the skills that a corporate employer seeks. However, I resist measuring everything through an economic lens. While many changes need to be made to the world of academia (and I can say that cause I work in it, and am working on a PhD), most businesses are not that different. It matters less and less what you can do – but matters more and more who you know. And I don’t mean who you are connected with on FB or LinkedIn. It’s who you know that can get your foot in the door. It’s who your parents know from the club. It’s who your uncle plays golf with on Saturdays. It’s a protectionist system of class preference (sometimes based on race, sex, religion, or sexual orientation as well).

Because jobs as we’ve come to understand them are disappearing, the university can help us develop a life of the mind. And I increasing believe that the life of the mind is a more interesting investment than skills. Apprenticeships can also be a wonderful thing, but if we’re just going after it for economic gain, it’s unlikely to be the answer we seek.

It’s going to take a lot of creativity to get through the mess we are in. Creativity is rarely valued in the corporate world – I know because I worked there for many years. Look at what measuring everything by economic measures has gotten us. Oh, the folly….

]]> By: Jon Husband http://www.jarche.com/2009/12/the-university-myth/comment-page-1/#comment-192288 Jon Husband Wed, 16 Dec 2009 19:22:21 +0000 http://www.jarche.com/?p=3152#comment-192288 <i>Stay in school, get a degree, get a job, etc. However much there may have been a correlation between having a university degree and getting a good job, this is not a causal relationship. It was a social and cultural norm, </i> It goes even deeper. The various levels of education (non-HS degree, HS degree, Vocational college, university, post-graduate ...) are still the central pegs for the knowledge-level factors embedded in every job evaluation scheme, and therefore deeply informs the organizational structure of almost every organization over the size of say 100 people. The assumptions about knowledge and how they are applied to the definition, measurement and assessment of work are very very deeply embedded in our organizational structures and beliefs about how things function. Stay in school, get a degree, get a job, etc. However much there may have been a correlation between having a university degree and getting a good job, this is not a causal relationship. It was a social and cultural norm,

It goes even deeper. The various levels of education (non-HS degree, HS degree, Vocational college, university, post-graduate …) are still the central pegs for the knowledge-level factors embedded in every job evaluation scheme, and therefore deeply informs the organizational structure of almost every organization over the size of say 100 people.

The assumptions about knowledge and how they are applied to the definition, measurement and assessment of work are very very deeply embedded in our organizational structures and beliefs about how things function.

]]> By: Harold Jarche http://www.jarche.com/2009/12/the-university-myth/comment-page-1/#comment-192264 Harold Jarche Tue, 15 Dec 2009 19:18:29 +0000 http://www.jarche.com/?p=3152#comment-192264 The key is accreditation. As long as the credentials (degrees) are recognized by employers, then university will have market value. If this changes, the entire academic economic structure will be affected. http://www.jarche.com/2008/10/academic-upstarts/ The key is accreditation. As long as the credentials (degrees) are recognized by employers, then university will have market value. If this changes, the entire academic economic structure will be affected.

http://www.jarche.com/2008/10/academic-upstarts/

]]> By: Howard Johnson http://www.jarche.com/2009/12/the-university-myth/comment-page-1/#comment-192261 Howard Johnson Tue, 15 Dec 2009 18:39:36 +0000 http://www.jarche.com/?p=3152#comment-192261 I agree Harold; As long as degrees correlate with income, Universities will be safe, regardless of the rationale, but if people stopped believing this they would dry up fast than . . .. Intellectual development is definitely still important, but things are changing so fast. The ability to learn and the network to facilitate it may become more important than a degree, but it will only matter if businesses find a way to recognize this as a foundation for personal and team performance. I agree Harold;
As long as degrees correlate with income, Universities will be safe, regardless of the rationale, but if people stopped believing this they would dry up fast than . . .. Intellectual development is definitely still important, but things are changing so fast. The ability to learn and the network to facilitate it may become more important than a degree, but it will only matter if businesses find a way to recognize this as a foundation for personal and team performance.

]]> By: Samuel Dragon http://www.jarche.com/2009/12/the-university-myth/comment-page-1/#comment-192249 Samuel Dragon Tue, 15 Dec 2009 14:26:54 +0000 http://www.jarche.com/?p=3152#comment-192249 Well built reflexion, it is good to witness the opposite reflexion taking place in Quebec as the real value of CEGEP is periodically being questionned. Among other things, it is sometimes considered a hinderance to University level education and it is often criticized that it does not properly prepare for the employment market. Meanwhile, we can also acknowledge a tendency of some professional orders to require ever higher level of education to perform different tasks. The best example of this would be with the different health workers professional orders; in the past ten years, Psychologist have had their requirements raised to Doctorate level, Physiotherapist require a master degree, etc. It is quite the paradox that, while in HR classes they're teaching a philosophy very close to the one you're advocating (leaving behind the whole "silo" thinking), some field would to the contrary turn to "over-academisation". Truth is, we define our specialities and tools trough the work we execute and there is a limit to the knowledge and preparation a school can provide an individual. Well built reflexion,

it is good to witness the opposite reflexion taking place in Quebec as the real value of CEGEP is periodically being questionned. Among other things, it is sometimes considered a hinderance to University level education and it is often criticized that it does not properly prepare for the employment market.

Meanwhile, we can also acknowledge a tendency of some professional orders to require ever higher level of education to perform different tasks. The best example of this would be with the different health workers professional orders; in the past ten years, Psychologist have had their requirements raised to Doctorate level, Physiotherapist require a master degree, etc.

It is quite the paradox that, while in HR classes they’re teaching a philosophy very close to the one you’re advocating (leaving behind the whole “silo” thinking), some field would to the contrary turn to “over-academisation”.

Truth is, we define our specialities and tools trough the work we execute and there is a limit to the knowledge and preparation a school can provide an individual.

]]> By: Harold Jarche http://www.jarche.com/2009/12/the-university-myth/comment-page-1/#comment-192247 Harold Jarche Tue, 15 Dec 2009 13:47:19 +0000 http://www.jarche.com/?p=3152#comment-192247 That's an excellent idea, Simon; I think that the market for apprenticeships will increase as people reconsider the ROI of university education. That’s an excellent idea, Simon; I think that the market for apprenticeships will increase as people reconsider the ROI of university education.

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