Higher Education’s Identity Crisis – The Atlantic
Subscribe here: Apple Podcasts | Spotify | YouTube | Overcast | Pocket Casts America’s colleges have had a rough go of it in recent years. After the Great Recession sent students flooding back to campus, schools have faced one evolving crisis after another: COVID, government interference, protests, and the chaos of AI tools in the classroom. Despite some positive enrollment trends, schools are also staring down a very near future where there will simply be fewer 18-year-olds to fill their seats. Students have not had it much easier. This spring, graduates are leaving their respective alma maters and entering a job market that is beleaguered with uncertainty. AI has promised to upend entire industries; it’s already changing how employers are thinking about entry-level jobs. There used to be a sequence of events—or at least students and families perceived a sequence of events—that went something like this: You go to college; you graduate with a degree; you get a good job. It was that simple. But that story was never quite right. Finding work after graduation …
