December 14th, 2022
This week, nearly all US colleges mislead their students on pricing, young people prefer connection over credentials, and the ‘word of the year’ is revealed.
In the News
Mass Deception in Higher Ed: A government watchdog group warns that 91% of US colleges (The Hill) use deceptive pricing descriptions that understate or ignore the true cost burden.
According to the Government Report: (Government Accountability Office – GAO)
- 50% understate the net price and 41% do not bother to estimate the net price.
- There is no Federal law requiring colleges to standardize this information.
- The GAO recommends legislation from Congress to end this misleading practice.
Community College Enrollment Dips: Enrollment in 4 year Bachelor’s programs are famously on the decline (Forbes). In California, enrollment in community college (LA Times) recently reached a 30 year low.
Workplace Incivility Increases: An increase in workplace incivility has been identified by Christine Porath, a leading expert on the topic. In an analysis, Porath found that 76% of Frontline workers (Harvard Business Review) experience incivility at work once per month. Possible reasons for this include high levels of stress, weakened social ties, technological advancement, and a lack of self-awareness.
- A separate analysis, from the Journal of Occupational Health Psychology also shows an increase in this sort of behavior (APA PsychNet), which was experienced most among younger workers.
Other News:
Fewer Job Switchers: Now that hiring in the US economy has cooled slightly (Wall Street Journal), workers are quitting at a rate of 2.6% in October. This is a decrease from 3.0% from December 2021. The older number was the highest ever recorded.
Jobs and Mental Sickness: A shocking 84% of survey respondents (Mind Share Partners) indicate that their mental health is worsened by their job.
A Deeper Dive
Youth Trends: When young people choose career coaches, they seem to care more about their connection with the person or movement (BBC) than the coach’s level of expertise.
Young people also prefer to get their information from video, (Wize Noze) rather than text. To a generation that is more aware of personal identity group affiliation and spends an unprecedented amount of time online, neither trend is surprising.
In the Fall of 2022, we did see an entire social movement emerge from a random TikTok user (Daily Dot). The movement was known as “quiet quitting” (Deep Dive Careers).
What does each trend mean for the future of learning?
Quote to Consider:
“Educating the mind without educating the heart is no education at all.” – Aristotle
What I’m Reading
The Death of Expertise: The Campaign Against Established Knowledge and Why it Matters – Tom Nichols
A quick story from this book describes its significance.
Nichols describes a Dartmouth Professor, Astrophysicist, and strong supporter of the Reagan-Era space-based missile-defense systems, named Robert Jastrow. A student expressed disagreement in a classroom lecture. As the back and forth dialogue subsided, the student said something seemingly innocuous, but upon further reflection, may seem quite remarkable.
“Well, your guess is as good as mine.” The student said.
Here is why this book matters. As information and expression of viewpoints have become democratized within modern informational channels such as social media, respect for expertise on topics has lost much of its meaning.
The professor correctly retorted, “No, no, no. My guesses are much, much better than yours.”
Articles of the Week
- If you want to influence people, try asking for what you want (Goins Writer Blog).
- If you ask an audience to raise their hands if they think they are above average (Decision Wise), what do you think will happen?
- Here is what your brain looks like under the influence of complaining (Woopah Blog).
Deep Dive Careers Article of the Week: Power Dynamics, Part 1 & Part 2
A 2 part series explores nuance within the game of power:
- Part 1: Covers 3 different types of “power seekers.”
- Part 2: References some of the best laws in Robert Greene’s classic book, The 48 Laws of Power and explores how they can be used to advance our interests in the quest to serve others.
Remember to use all this power to affect POSITIVE change in the world.
*This is no endorsement of psychopathic behavior.
Other Fun Stuff
Renewable Energy Rising: The International Energy Agency (IEA) upgraded a previous estimate and now projects that within 5 years, renewable energy will grow (The Verge) by an amount equivalent to the entire power capacity of China.
Moment of Global Darkness: On December 6th, 2022, at the specific time of 19:56 UTC, 9 in 10 people on planet Earth (EarthSky.org) experienced dark skies.
The ‘F’ Word: Use of the word “F*&#” in movies has increased over the years (Reddit), but not as much as you might think.
- The movie, ‘Wolf of Wall Street’ led the pack (by a lot), using the word 595 times.
Thanks for reading. I’ll catch you next week.
Be well,
Ryan
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