Against college for all: the AFT president

Should everyone go to college?

Back in 2022 I posted on what seemed like a major cultural shift about higher education. For decades much of America grew increasingly committed to the idea of “college for everyone.” Readers can think of many ways they experienced this concept: high school guidance counselors’ advice, United States presidents calling for more enrollment, K-12 emphasizing academics as college prep, and more. That seemed to be a cross-cultural, bipartisan consensus.

Yet the idea started fraying in the 2010s. Enrollment numbers peaked, then declined.  Public opinion soured, notably with concerns over student debt. Donald Trump led the Republican party to oppose academia.  There have been calls for a return to shop class as soulcraft, for people to specialize in the trades.  (Check that post for more, or read this 2023 followup.) A bipartisan movement among business, state, and city leaders asks us to “tear up the paper ceiling,” opening up jobs to people without postsecondary degrees.  I devote a chapter in my forthcoming book to this shattered consensus.

Today there’s one more piece of evidence for this shift.  It takes the form of a New York Times editorial not by a reactionary anti-academic, but by Randi Weingarten, president of the American Federation of Teachers.  The title is clear: “Not All Students Go to College. We Need to Make That OK.”

Since the piece is paywalled, I’ll summarize it here, then add some reflections.

Weingarten begins by evoking college for all, then pronouncing it badly flawed in practice, if not an outright failure.  She cites statistics showing its limits: a substantial number of high school graduates not enrolling in post-secondary education, how many college students fail to get a degree on time. She then sketches the challenges facing K-12 education. Weingarten cites Republican educational efforts (school vouchers, defunding the Department of Education) to criticize them as poor solutions to the problem.

In response, she proposes a K-12 dual track, academic work towards university life and vocational training:

aligning high school to both college prep and in-demand vocational career pathways. Just as students who plan to go to college can get a head start through Advanced Placement programs, high schools, colleges and employers should work together to provide the relevant coursework to engage students in promising career opportunities.

Weingarten then gives examples of what she sees as good vocational schools and programs: RioTECH (New Mexico), the Brooklyn STEAM Center (New York) (“creates a diverse, skilled talent pipeline for the technology and manufacturing industries”), and a multi-state project driven by technology firm Micron.* She concludes by sharing statistics showing students in such projects graduating at high rates, and calling for both political parties to support such an educational transformation.

This is not the first time president Weingarten has issued this call.  A few months ago she told the Chronicle of Higher Education that:

Democrats “made a mistake” by putting all the emphasis on going to college, because high-school students need more than one pathway to success. More recently, she said, “We’ve been saying that high school should be a way to prepare you for career and life, not just college prep.”

“The fact that 60 percent of students don’t go to college right away,” she added, “should have been a wake-up call.”

How much of an influence will these statements have?  Randi Weingarten is the head of an enormous teachers’ union and has ready access to the national media (hence the New York Times piece).  She might also be pushing on an open door, if I’m right about the college for all consensus being in mid-shatter.

Yet transforming K-12 at a national level is a famously daunting task in general. There may also be anxieties about resurrecting shop class (which Weingarten addresses with some quick ambivalence).  The AI revolution casts doubt on all kinds of workforce and education planning.

Colleges and universities might be divided on this.  On the one hand the post-secondary world might object, arguing for the universal benefits of its offerings. On another level academic may also protest what looks like a shrinking of college student numbers.  Yet community colleges already play a role in technical education for the workforce.

I am curious if Weingarten’s call wins bipartisan traction.  So far I’ve seen similar statements from left and right, but the past few months has seen Trump go to war against education, which might block cross-aisle agreement.

Let’s see who follows this proposal.

(photo from Wikipedia)

*There’s a big Micron plan a couple of miles from my house.  I passed it this morning, biking to the gym.