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Ok, I agree with a lot of what I think you are saying. What you call nostalgia I call life in the real world after leaving high school. I had counsel and encouragement from A&M graduates from the 20's, 30's, 40's, 50's, and 60's.
My concept of the "value" of a degree from a university is determined by the cost of the degree as well as the opportunities (social and economic) the degree affords the recipient. I think some have posted a concern that the value of their degree is diminished if A&M increases enrollment and affords more students the opportunity to obtain a degree in the same field as they. Maybe it will be cause for concern...that is life, this is Texas, USA, and there is not a better place on earth for them to deal with such a problem than right here.....they are indeed fortunate.
I can most certainly assure you the concern you express regarding graduates leaving A&M with lots of debt and no job prospects is not the result of the mentality of folk like myself. I acquired enuff maths in high school to figure what four years at A&M would cost, what I could earn with a bs in civil engineering, and what I could earn working without the degree. I determined the degree had VALUE. I determined other degrees had no value to me as I could go to work and earn more. Somewhere between then and now the student loan program easy money enabled stupidity to flourish. I suspect some schools were as stupid as some students. I always heard that A&M had the lowest student loan default numbers in the nation. That may have been nostalgia, however, as I did not have internet access back then to verify the accuracy of the statement.
I did not know just any college degree would help get a job for an applicant over another without it. I know in times past a 21 yr old with a few years work experience and modest ability supervised guys who had their masters and doctorate degrees. These were not pleasant times, and as I write this I've wondered if any had doubts as to the value of their degree. Thing is, it wasn't that the degree was insignificant, it just wasn't relevant at the time and the task at hand. But times change.
Lastly, consider this if you will please. What would be the response or reaction if the universities, or state legislatures, determined which degrees were valuable? For example, to achieve the 25 x 25 initiative with the engineering college or STEM curriculum, say resources were redistributed at the A&M main campus to achieve the goal. You know, do away with those programs or departments which are determined to add no real value to what Texas really needs today and in the future. Yeah, that's the ticket.....I dare say the resulting ****storm would turn my nostalgia to wisdom in a heartbeat.
I'm not entirely sure what you're saying in this post. But my primary point was that there was a time when having a college degree was a much less common thing, and having it let people know that you were smart enough, hard working enough, and dedicated enough to having a successful career. That definitely helped raise college graduates above the crowd.
Today, there are colleges and universities all over the place, cranking out graduates like Henry Ford's production lines, and it really doesn't take much effort to get a college degree at most of them. Having a degree from Southwest Temple State isn't going to raise any eyebrows. It isn't going to impress anyone that you went to a school where pretty much anyone who applies gets in.
The reality is that intelligence, hard work, and dedication will eventually get you ahead regardless of whether you have a degree, or where it's from. But if you work hard in high school, and go to a more prestigious college, with competitive admissions standards and a rigorous curriculum, that's a big flashing sign that you're probably a better hire than your production line educated competition, and that's what will help get you in the door for that good first job opportunity to kick start your career.
Today Texas has UT & A&M to educate the best and brightest students who can't afford elite private schools, but want some of those same advantages. It's obvious that Texas has grown, and that more kids need access to high quality education in the state, but if A&M tries to do that on their own, they are just going to reduce the competitiveness of admissions, and have to water down and standardize the curriculum in order to be able to implement it for an unmanageable large student body. And all that is going to do is make A&M more on par with the less impressive schools, which will only worsen Texas' higher education issues, by leaving UT as the only in-state option that will afford those advantages, unless and until Tech or UH steps up. And that's an everybody loses outcome for the state.
The best way A&M can serve the state in today's world is to maintain high standards, competitive admissions, and high educational quality. If there are more high level applicants than can be educated at UT and A&M today, then the state needs to raise up another school to join their ranks, not throw open the doors of one of the two existing flagships thereby jeopardizing its status as a top tier university altogether.