Literary Review #2

Selingo, Jeffrey J. "Why College?" College (un)bound: The Future of Higher Education and What It Means for Students. New York: Houghton Mifflin, NY. 160-66. Print.

         This book is about the current state of the education system from administration to how to get the most of an education. The author, Jeffrey Selingo, is widely recognized for his writings on the higher education system including being top editor for the Chronicle.  The chapter "Why College?" is specifically about an individuals choice to attend a degree program or to chose another respectable program, namely vocational schools.  He analyses the economic and personal benefits certificate programs can have on people.  He advocates that degrees are not the only option saying, "We need an expanded notion of what constitutes an education after high school.  That definition should include on-the-job training and apprenticeships, coupled with learning across a range of subjects, as well as experiences before college that improve the often difficult transition from highly structured high schools to freewheeling college campuses" (Selingo p.162).  He also returns to this idea of 'on-the-job training' many times.  To him on-the-job training is a specific hands on training coupled with valued job experience for employment.  He laments the lack of this by saying, "On-the-job training has virtually disappeared in the United States as companies have left it to colleges and universities to supply an educated workforce.  For the twelve million manufacturing jobs now in the United States, there are only 18,000 apprentices" (Selingo p.164).  He also expands on the idea of middle jobs which he explains very well in this chapter.  "In extending our definition of higher education, more attention needs to be given to what Tony Carnival, the Georgetown economist calls “middle jobs.”  These are positions that do not require a bachelor’s degree, but pay middle-class wages.  Nearly half of the jobs in the United States today that put people in the middle class are these middle jobs.  Corporate executives worry more about filling these positions than they do about finding employment for high-end careers in engineering, design, and technology.  ‘We can secure all the grads we need from elite schools,’ Thomas Bowler, senior vice president at United Technologies, says.  ‘That’s not a challenge.  It’s the other half of the workforce that I worry about” (Selingo p.163).  this resource is extremely useful because it compares directly higher education and other forms of post-secondary education and job training.  It also chronicles the changes in the education system from a time of greater skilled labor to now in a clear and concise way.  The cover of the book is also included as the visual component.