Harvard says everyone doesn't need a college degree

And my thought is: it took this long for Harvard to figure it out? (ht)  Even I have been blogging about it for years!  The report is clear:

Our current system places far too much emphasis on a single pathway to success: attending and graduating from a four-year college after completing an academic program of study in high school.

Yes.  An overemphasis, which has resulted in higher education becoming one huge ponzi scheme. 

Our fundamental problem is that our system has not evolved to serve young adults in this radically different world. Behaving as though four-year college is the only acceptable route to success clearly still works well for many young adults, especially students fortunate enough to attend highly selective colleges and universities. It also works well for affluent students, who can often draw on family and social connections to find their way in the adult world. But it clearly does not work well for many, especially young men. In recent years, a yawning gender gap has opened up in American higher education. Men now account for just 43 percent of enrollment in our nation’s colleges, and earn only 43 percent of bachelor’s degrees. Not surprisingly, women also account for 60 percent of the nation’s graduate students.23 Similarly, among the low-income and young people of color who will make up an increasing portion of the workforce of the future, this single route does not work well either. Many of these students are frustrated by an education they often find irrelevant and removed from the world of work. And given the barriers—including weak or nonexistent career counseling, rising college costs, inadequate financial aid, and the frequent need to balance their courses with jobs that are often totally disconnected from their programs of study—it is a minor miracle that so many still manage to complete a degree

So?

We also need to elevate the critical importance of relevant work experience in a successful transition from adolescence to adulthood. The workplace is clearly the place to “try on” or test out a career choice. It’s also by far the best venue in which to learn the “21st century skills” so critical to success in today’s economy. And work-linked learning can be extraordinarily powerful in engaging students who are bored or turned off by conventional classroom instruction. Yet in comparison to many other advanced countries, America has largely neglected this highly effective learning method. We need to revolutionize our approach.

Ok. This is all more of the obvious--obvious to people like me who have been trying to get people's attention all these years.  The report engages only in wishful thinking.  But, a useful first step--after all, when Harvard says there is a problem, then things happen.