Sociology Now, Census Update

The Sociology of Higher Education

In 1949, there were 2,400,000 college students in the United States. Fifty years later,

there were 16,000,000. The population of the country had doubled during that period,

but the proportion of the population going to college increased by 800 percent. About

one in four Americans now has a college degree. And it is not merely a matter of intel-

lectual interest: Today people need bachelor’s degrees, and sometimes master’s degrees,

to get jobs that would have required a high school diploma or less 50 years ago. What

happened?

In 1949, college degrees were simply unnecessary. A high school diploma quali-

fied you for almost every job, and if you needed additional training, you could apply

directly to a law or medical school. The wealthy went to college to “become edu-

cated,” learn the social skills, and build the social networks necessary for an upper-

class life (Altbach, 1998; Lucas, 1996; Rudolph, 1990).

After World War II, GI loans brought many of the returning soldiers to college

for the first time. Most were the first in their families to attend college, and they

weren’t quite sure what to expect. Some studied “liberal arts” such as English, his-

tory, and philosophy, but most wanted courses directly related to the jobs they would

get afterward. Colleges filled the need with job-oriented majors and courses. Employ-

ers, faced with a glut of applicants more qualified than usual, began to require more

advanced degrees for entry-level jobs: Why hire someone with just a high school

diploma for the typist job, when there were a dozen applicants with college degrees?

Majors and career paths became more specialized: Why hire someone with an En-

glish degree for the advertising job, when there were a dozen applicants who majored

in advertising? Today most students still major in one of the liberal arts, but job-

oriented majors are very popular.

576 CHAPTER 17EDUCATION

Confidence in Education

How much confidence do you have in our educational system? There are those who think that

the U.S. educational system is in a state of crisis. These individuals worry that our students will

not be able to compete with those of other countries in the global economy. Other individuals

and agencies are more optimistic, and are working hard to develop strategies to improve the sys-

tem. So, what do you think?

17.2

What

do

you

think

❍A great deal

❍Only some

❍Hardly any

As far as the people running the education system are concerned, would you say you have a great deal

of confidence, only some confidence, or hardly any confidence at all in them?

?