As in recent months, I plan to publish posts about career paths that don't necessarily require college. As Jeffrey Selingo wrote in an article in the Wall Street Journal of April 27-28, 2013, "With unemployment among college graduates at historic highs and outstanding student loan debt at $1 TRILLION (emphasis added), the question families should be asking is whether it's worth borrowing tens of thousands of dollars for a degree from Podunk U. if it's just a ticket to a barista's job at Starbucks.". In an article in the AMAC Advantage magazine (Vol. 7, Issue 2), Jedediah Bila says that part of the problem is that the typical high school curriculum doesn't allow for much self-exploration. Programs didn't reflect "...the importance of encouraging kids to discover who they were and what they loved.".
Sadly, Robby Soave reports in the Daily Caller post of 7/03/13, "As college costs increase, alternatives arise", that, "Most recent college graduates are either unemployed or underemployed in jobs that don't require a degree.". The post is worth taking a look at because, as the title implies, it delves into some interesting alternatives. Soave writes about Praxis, "an education and job training program for students who are turned off by the idea of traditional schooling". The program was created by Isaac Morehouse. It is comprised of online courses in various fields, including technology and economics. What makes this program unconventional is that it places the student in a paid internship which should keep the net cost of the program under $4, 000 for most participants". Sounds like an online Cooperative Education program. (See my posts of November 9 and November 23, 2011) There are quite a few groups in addition to Praxis that espouse viable alternatives to a four year college program like UnCollege and the Thiel Fellowship Program. For more information on them, see my post of March 13, 2012 - "Just Say 'No'?"
In the education section of the Wall Street Journal of Wednesday, October 9, 2013, there are some really good articles on MOOCs, massive open online courses. Experts disagree as to whether the expansion of online offerings will bring down the high cost of a college education. In the October 7, 2013 edition of Time, L. Rafael Reif, President of MIT, believes it will. ('Online learning will make college cheaper. It will also make it better.")
I recently came across a book in the library entitled, 300 Best Jobs Without a Four Year Degree by Michael Farr and Laurence Shatkin and published by JIST Publishing in 2013. (www.jist.com) They group jobs based on certain criteria such as clusters, fastest growing and those with the highest percentage of workers age 16-24. The layout is similar to that of the Occupational Outlook Handbook. (See my post of September 15, 2010) Short descriptions of each job are given which include information on skills and education required, salary, growth expectations and suitable personality traits.
In this post I've made a lot of references to articles and programs that you will need to find out more about on your own. I hope, as with all my posts, that you use these suggestions as signposts to help you in your exploration of possible career paths.
