Second thoughts about college? Why certificate-first schools like Ensign College and Davis Technical College are getting a second look
Jacob Hess
May 31, 2024
Amidst widening concern over the cost and value of higher education, smaller institutions focused exclusively on hands-on, career-oriented education that is achievable in a reasonable timeframe and budget are getting more attention from prospective students.
Writing for The Atlantic several years back, George Mason economics professor Bryan Caplan remarked on his 40 years of education before asking about the practical value of the “thousands of hours” American students spend with subjects he calls “irrelevant to the modern labor market.”
Noting that “human beings have trouble retaining knowledge they rarely use,” Caplan argues that the proverbial class clown snarking “what does this have to do with real life” may, in fact, be “onto something.”
More people today are reaching a similar epiphany, reflected in the worrisome continued decline in public trust in traditional higher education, with a Gallup poll last year showing “sharply lower” numbers of respondents expressing confidence (37%).
