As a freshman in college, I babysat for a grad student couple who had a plaque in their home, perhaps a reminder if their goal in grad school: “Thermometers are not the only dumb things graduated with degrees.”
In reporting on career & technical education and reading work of other journalists in the Institute for Citizens & Scholars Higher Education Media Fellowship program over the past few years, I've increased my understanding (and, I hope, helped increase others') of the type of credential that in many cases bridges the gap you describe: the plethora of short-term credentials and certificates that can be earned and put to immediate career use in such areas as information systems, industrial maintenance, medical technician, welding, etc. These are not elitist credentials, but the opposite: certificates of specialized knowledge that qualify one for work in a field. They signal "professionalization" but without the suggestion of class distinction. It's education oriented toward getting work done, and it can be pursued, if one wishes, alongside more esoteric academic pursuits like my own impractical yet continually meaningful 4-year degree in poetry writing (with minors in theater and French!).
I work in higher ed and am constantly trying to remind myself and my colleagues of the important distinctions between these terms (and to synchronize them as much as possible), so that a credential signifies real education. And sometimes it does. But credential inflation is real, and we are all too eager to supply an ever-increasing demand.
As a freshman in college, I babysat for a grad student couple who had a plaque in their home, perhaps a reminder if their goal in grad school: “Thermometers are not the only dumb things graduated with degrees.”
In reporting on career & technical education and reading work of other journalists in the Institute for Citizens & Scholars Higher Education Media Fellowship program over the past few years, I've increased my understanding (and, I hope, helped increase others') of the type of credential that in many cases bridges the gap you describe: the plethora of short-term credentials and certificates that can be earned and put to immediate career use in such areas as information systems, industrial maintenance, medical technician, welding, etc. These are not elitist credentials, but the opposite: certificates of specialized knowledge that qualify one for work in a field. They signal "professionalization" but without the suggestion of class distinction. It's education oriented toward getting work done, and it can be pursued, if one wishes, alongside more esoteric academic pursuits like my own impractical yet continually meaningful 4-year degree in poetry writing (with minors in theater and French!).
I work in higher ed and am constantly trying to remind myself and my colleagues of the important distinctions between these terms (and to synchronize them as much as possible), so that a credential signifies real education. And sometimes it does. But credential inflation is real, and we are all too eager to supply an ever-increasing demand.