Higher Education is outdated for the millennial generation

I thank Capitalistslave for accepting my challenge. I will now proceed with the debate by stating my arguments. Also happy new year and sorry abt the confusion earlier.Technology & globalisation has made knowledge taught at higher education increasingly redundant P1) Technology has created access and opportunity. It allows humans to communicate and collaborate with each other. Teachers are in many ways no longer the primary sources of information. It has become increasingly flexible to reach out to information and consume it, allowing us to be eager participants in lifelong learning. [1] [2] When we have the internet, college degrees are increasingly redundant as the content we learn can easily be learnt online.P2) University curriculums rarely change. [3] Colleges are too slow to reinvent themselves [6]. An example of this is accounting where graduates struggle in practical situations that are not visited in their classes. Technology has revolutionised accounting so much that much of the content that taught in accounting are also automated and do not need to be learnt. [4] Essentially it becomes clear that most students are attending university for the degree, and not education.P3) Jobs and knowledge are transforming too rapidly in today’s world to validate the worth of a single/double rigid university major. We are constantly multitasking, we are time poor and we are predicted to have 7 career changes in our lifetime. [5] What is the point of studying for a job with a curriculum that was written decades ago when said job did not exist?University education is no longer worth itP1) Unlike previously thought, a four-year college degree has no guarantee for decent wage growth due to wage stagnation [6] Figure 5. Hence the argument that college is an investment as it helps you become a high-income earner is not true. Hourly wages for young college graduates were lower than they were in the 1990s [6] Figure 5. This further reinforces my point that higher education is not a worthy investment.P2) Higher education is a money consuming machine - in 2014 college tuition has effectively risen to 1125% of 1978 figures. Compared to the 279% increase of the consumer price index, this is massive. In an increasingly tougher labour market, to have a huge sum of tuition fees to repay is an additional burden. [7] The costs that are incurred in higher education are uncorrelated to market trends, making it difficult for students to support themselves after. University education today fosters a grade-oriented, disengaged, depressed culture that fails to prepare students for real life. P1) Evidence suggests that mental health issues are increasing amongst students in higher education. In 2005 alone, 10% of undergraduates seriously considered attempting suicide. In 2007, 13.8% of undergraduates and 15.6% of postgraduates were screen tested positive for depression. Students facing financial struggles because of university and those who spend more hours working face a higher risk of mental health problems. [8] University students are four times more likely to be depressed/anxious than others their age. [9]‘Most lifetime mental disorders have first onset during or shortly before the typical college age (Kessler, Berglund, Demler, Merikangas, & Walters, 2005), and these problems may be precipitated or exacerbated by the variety of stressors in college life, including irregular sleep patterns, flux in personal relationships, and academic pressures.’ [8] If long term mental disorders are mostly developed during or just before higher education – we must seriously consider the benefits to cost ratio of putting oneself in a high stress situation, and the costs may be permanent & long lasting.Students nowadays go to university for the degree (appearance), and not the education (depth).P1) There is a lack of intellectual curiosity and creativity in universities. An indifferent culture is a dangerous culture that has its youth disengaged and complacent. If this is the culture in uni today, there is not much reason to go.Now I’m not claiming that it is specifically the fault of universities, but still the rigid structure of university courses perpetuates ancient dogma (that is no longer relevant) about what you can get out of university. (e.g. a job, a successful life etc.)Under the guidance of ‘helicopter parents’, students were less open to new ideas/actions and instead was stressed, anxious and self-conscious. Today they are pushed for academic achievement, ‘completely uninterested in the items in their resumes’ etc. Many college students think that they must study a specific area and their paths have already been set out for them. (like engineering, law, accounting etc.) [10] A combination of old beliefs about having a straightforward path to success with the inflexibility of university courses results in students being prevented from fully discovering their interests etc. This creates a generation that is disillusioned, trapped and dissatisfied. Additionally, when acknowledging world famous institutions such as Oxford and Cambridge, a former student is not surprised when increasingly seeing unaccomplished graduates from these places. This is because a ‘sense of entitlement, elitism and false idea that one is somehow better for having attended Oxbridge can prepare a person for a frankly unimpressive life. One characterised by complacency and security rather than by the ability to make genuine contributions to society.’ This is where graduates aim for a privileged life instead of a meaningful one. [11] This is yet another example where passion is no longer present in higher education, and how many turn to it to create illusions of success and accomplishment in correlation with our increasingly superficial world. Concluding remarksI’d like to add once again that I’m not against university. But I do believe in terms of the material/content that is taught much reform is needed for university to truly be worthwhile.Sources:[1] http://online.purdue.edu...[2] http://www.sanfordbrown.edu...[3] https://www.ft.com...[4]https://books.google.com.au...[5] http://www.wsj.com...[6] http://www.epi.org...[7] https://www.bloomberg.com...[8]https://www.researchgate.net...[9] http://www.smh.com.au... [10]http://www.slate.com...[11] http://www.telegraph.co.uk...