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Is Education A Robbery?

One of our expectations about education is that itwill pay off1 in terms of upward mobility. Historically,the correlation between education and income hasbeen strong. But in the early 1970 s a contradictiondeveloped between education and the economy. Ourvalue of education and our average educationalattainment outstripped the capacity of the economyto absorb the graduates. Since the 1970s, high-school graduates have experienced astriking decrease in earnings, making them the first generation since World WarⅡ to face alower standard of living than their parents had.

Experts have argued that this contradiction is at the heart of the problem of public educationtoday. It is not, as business leaders claim, that the schools are failing to properly educatestudents, that they are turning out2 young people who are inadequately prepared to functionin the workplace. The real problem is a dearth of economic opportunities for students who arenot continuing on to college.

College graduates also are having difficulty finding jobs. Even when they do, the jobs may notbe commensurate with3 their training and expectations. Part of the problem is that too manyyoung Americans aspire to have professional jobs, making disappointment and frustrationinevitable for some. Many students assumed that what was true of an individu-al — that thehigher the education, the better the job opportunities —would also be true for an entiresociety4. But when the numbers of better-educated young people became too great, theeconomy could no longer absorb them

Another part of the problem is the assumption that greater educational attainment guaranteescareer advancement. In fact, employers do not routinely reward educational attainment; rather,they reward it only when they believe it will contribute to the employee's productivity.

We should not overlook the fact that there is still a strong correlation between education,occupation, and income. College graduates have a strong advantage over those with lesseducation. But the payoff is neither as large nor as certain as it once was.

Unfortunately, Americans have focused so strongly on the economic payoff that many considertheir college education useless if it does not yield a desirable, well-paying job. Only in thissense can we speak of an "oversupply" of college graduates. 5 We could argue that all or atleast the majority of Americans would profit by some degree because higher education canenable the individual to think more deeply, explore more widely, and enjoy a greater range ofexperiences.

阅读自测

Ⅰ. Choose the be st answer to fill in the blanks :

1. In the eyes of the public , higher education can_______ in terms of obtaining a decent job.

A. pay back B. pay off C. pay out D. pay up

2. Things_______ to be exactly as the professor had foreseen.

A. turned up B. turned on C. turned out D. turned over

3. He was satisfied with the salary that was_________ with his abilities.

A. familiar B. proportional C. content D. commensurate

Ⅱ. Write these sentences in inverted order beginning ea ch one with the words in italics :

1. I realized what was happening only then. 2. There were piles of books, magazines andnewspapers on the floor.

3. I have never heard such nonsense in all my life .

参考答案:

Ⅰ. 1. B 2. C 3 . D

Ⅱ.

1. Only then didI realize what was happening.

2. On the floor were piles of books, magazines and newspapers.

3. Never in all my life have I heard such nonsense.

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