Bachelor's degree: Has it lost its edge and its value?

Undervalued and overpriced, the beleaguered bachelor's degree is losing its edge as the hallmark of an educated, readily employable American.

Doubts about the value of a bachelor's degree creates new routes to careers. This is part of the cover story project in the June 18, 2012 issue of The Christian Science Monitor Weekly magazine.

AP/File/Illustration by John Kehe/Staff

The children of white middle-class, college-educated parents, Hugh Green and Turner Jenkins are just the kind of kids everyone would expect to be stepping out into the world one sunny June day,bachelor's degrees in hand. But they both veered from the traditional American educational route.

One decided that a bachelor's was never going to be enough, while the other concluded it was unnecessary.

Mr. Green enrolled in an accelerated program that will keep him at Emory University in Atlanta for a fifth year and earn him a master's degree. Mr. Jenkins is immersed in a culinary training program inGaithersburg, Md., that he hopes will launch his career as a chef.

Once the hallmark of an educated and readily employable adult, the bachelor's degree is losing its edge. Quicker, cheaper programs offer attractive career route alternatives while the more prestigious master's is trumping it, making it a mere steppingstone.

Studies show that people with four-year college degrees earn more money than those without over their lifetime, that they are more likely to find jobs and, once employed, are almost twice as likely to be selected for on-the-job training.

This has prompted a stampede through college and university gates.

But studies are like photographs: They record the past. They say nothing about the clear and present danger that the bachelor's degree is losing value.

"As more and more people get a bachelor's degree, it becomes more commonplace," says Linda Serra Hagedorn, immediate past president of the Association for the Study of Higher Education and associate dean and professor at Iowa State University in Ames, Iowa.

And, she adds, "not all bachelor's are equal." In many communities around the country, the bachelor's is not enough to make you stand out. " 'A bachelor's in what?' that's the question," Professor Hagedorn says.

"Further blurring the line of what a bachelor's degree is and what it really means," she notes, are new attitudes and options in postsecondary education, such as the explosion of online and for-profit institutions, the proliferation of graduate degrees, and a much publicized malaise over the quality and value of undergraduate education.

Bartenders with bachelor's degrees

"A bachelor's is what a high school diploma used to be," suggests Caryn McTighe Musil of the American Association of Colleges and Universities.

Bullied bus monitor Karen Klein: Donations mount to $400k-plus

Bullied bus monitor Karen Klein, who was nastily bullied by middle schoolers earlier this week, has received more that $443,000 in donations from around the world. Three of the students have issued written apologies as of Thursday night.

A video of four seventh-grade boys mercilessly taunting a 68-year-old bus monitor in New Yorkstate that went viral has turned the victim into an international fundraising juggernaut and opened her tormentors to an onslaught of threats and abuse.

Karen Klein Bullies Apologize: Boys Express Their Regret On A360 (VIDEO)

The Villains Win: Miami Heat Defeats Oklahoma City Thunder in NBA Finals

A week ago, they were leading the NBA Finals. And now, the Oklahoma City Thunder are heading home for the summer to ruminate over lessons doled out by the Miami Heat.

Favorites coming into the series, the Thunder fell in Game 5 of the finals Thursday night, as Miami finished off its run to a championship by beating the Thunder 121-106. Oklahoma City’s 11-point win in Game 1 is long forgotten and irrelevant now, considering that for the first time in more than three years, the Thunder have lost four straight games.

CONGRATULATIONS!

Perhaps a 'Slap on the Wrist' For These Students?

Police And School Officials React to Bus Monitor Bullying

At a press conference Thursday, Greece Police said school bus monitor Karen Klein does not want to file criminal charges against the four students accused of bullying her on the school bus Monday.

A 10 minute-long video recorded by a student Monday includes vulgar and often vicious remarks aimed at 68-year-old Klein.

In the press conference Thursday, Greece Police said the four students involved are all seventh graders at Greece Athena Middle School.

Greece Police Captain Steve Chatterton said in New York State in order to charge someone under the age of 13, the action must rise to the level of a crime and they are still trying to determine if a crime occurred.

Police spoke with Klein at her home on Thursday about her options and she decided not to file charges at this time. Police say she is happy with the Greece Central School District's response to the situation and will let the school handle the disciplinary action against the students.

Police said the students and their families have been cooperative, no one has denied accountability, and they are taking responsibility for their actions. Chatterton also added that the students' families have been threatened.

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McDonald's Ranks Last in Customer Satisfaction Index

Guess many McDonald's customers aren't lovin' it. McDonald's finished last in a ranking of its restaurant peers in a report released Tuesday by the American Consumer Satisfaction Index(ACSI). Fast food restaurants Papa John's, Subway and Taco Bell all scored better than the burger giant. Among restaurants specializing in burgers, Wendy's led the pack, followed by Burger King. 

IB Program Adds Career-Pathway Certificate

Initiative geared toward diverse student population

The International Baccalaureate organization, best known in the United States for its prestigious two-year diploma program for juniors and seniors, will enter new terrain this fall as it formally rolls out an initiative centered on a variety of career pathways that includes engineering, culinary arts, and automotive technology.

The move comes as the IB presence in U.S. public schools rapidly grows and as the organization has made a concerted push to expand access to a more diverse student population.

Billed as blending academic and practical skills, the IB Career-related Certificate has been piloted at eight U.S. schools. They include Binghamton High School, in New York state, which this month is graduating its fifth group of students to complete the program.

Principal Albert Penna said he believes the new offering may eventually eclipse the flagship IB diploma program in popularity.

"Every public high school in the United States has large cohorts of students who could be potential IBCC candidates," he said. "It prepares kids very well for the world beyond their school and community, very well for the 21st-century world of work, and gives them opportunities to advance to postsecondary education."

Binghamton High offers two career pathways for its pilot program, business and engineering.