Generations of Americans grew up with the four-year college degree as the norm, but why is four years ideal? People are increasingly questioning that.
In today’s Martin Center article, Professor Jason Fertig looks at the development of three-year degrees and find it to be a good start.
He writes:
Hence, the biggest question regarding a shortened bachelor’s degree is whether the aim of reform ought really to be a more accelerated way to obtain an expensive employability credential. Shouldn’t we instead try to spur deeper courses of study at the college level, however many credits that requires? In exploring the programs that are on board with the College-in-3 movement, one finds the former aim being enacted at the moment. Yet trimming a dozen credits from a 120-hour degree should spur additional brainstorming about what a 21st-century college degree should actually look like. Proposing a three-year bachelor’s degree feels a bit like designing a better six-disc CD changer for a market that is embracing streaming.
Let the experimentation continue, but keep government out of it.