Student Union
Amid COVID-19 Chaos, Fewer US Students Pursue University
A recent survey of American high school students shows less enthusiasm for college as the only path to a good job.
The decline in interest was attributed to a year of school closures because of the COVID-19 pandemic, contentious political contests, racial incidents that highlighted divisions in American society, and the high price tag of higher education.
Just one-fourth of the 3,202 high school students polled over the past year by the ECMC Group, in partnership with VICE Media, saw college or university as the only road to a good job.
Teens said they wanted their high schools to provide more information about a variety of postsecondary options. While the majority of those polled said they wanted to forge their own path, they were not sure where those routes started and where they might lead.
Half the students surveyed said they thought they could achieve professional success with three years or less of education.
“High school students and their families have faced a great deal of change in their lives over the past year, which is translating into uncertainty as they look to their career paths,” Jeremy Wheaton, president and CEO of ECMC Group, a Minneapolis-based nonprofit focused on higher education, stated in a press release.
“While this shift in mindset isn’t surprising, it is up to us as leaders and mentors to educate learners about their future opportunities, which includes raising awareness about the variety of postsecondary learning options that are available.”
Teens cited the cost of college and university as their No. 1 complaint about higher education. No. 2 was the uncertain road after high school to a future career. No. 3 was not feeling prepared for work after school.
Other findings showed that teens wanted the government and private companies to provide education, funding for education, and debt forgiveness.
More than half of the respondents said COVID-19 created anxiety about their future, and they did not feel prepared for the next level. The financial impact of the pandemic made it less likely they would attend a four-year college and less likely to pursue education beyond high school.
The first survey of 1,177 high school students was conducted February 25-March 2, 2020; the second survey of 1,025 high school students was conducted May 14-20, 2020; the third survey of 1,001 high school students was conducted January 4-19, 2021.
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Arrests were made on charges of assault on a police officer and unlawful entry, the District of Columbia's Metropolitan Police Department said.
A congressional committee canceled a hearing on the university encampment Wednesday. D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser and Washington Police Chief Pamela Smith had been scheduled to testify about the city’s handling of the protest before the House Committee on Oversight and Accountability.
University parents and faculty members gathered Wednesday afternoon for a press conference to condemn the handling of the protests by police and school leaders.
“The university clearly does not value the students at all and has endangered the safety of our children by unleashing officers dressed in full riot gear to assault and spray our children in their eyes with pepper spray,” said Hala Amer, whose son participated in the campus protests.
Police said they dispersed demonstrators because "there has been a gradual escalation in the volatility of the protest."
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Police started to shut down the tent encampment after dozens of protesters marched to GW President Ellen Granberg's on-campus home on Tuesday night. Police were called, but no arrests were made.
Speakers at the conference called for Granberg’s resignation because, they alleged, she refused to meet and negotiate with student protesters.
“You keep inciting violence and ignoring the students,” Amer said about Granberg in an interview with VOA after the conference. “It will just lead to more violence. You need to talk to your students.”
GW officials warned students that they could be suspended for engaging in protests at the school’s University Yard, an outdoor spot on the campus.
"While the university is committed to protecting students' rights to free expression, the encampment had evolved into an unlawful activity, with participants in direct violation of multiple university policies and city regulations," a GW statement said.
More than 2,600 people have been arrested at universities across the country in pro-Palestinian protests, according to The Associated Press.
Students are calling on their university administrations to divest investments from Israel or companies with ties to Israel. Demonstrators have gathered in at least 50 campuses since April 17, carrying signs that read "Free Palestine" and "Hands off Rafah."
Rafah is Gaza’s southernmost city, where most of the territory’s population has clustered. The area is also a corridor for bringing humanitarian aid into the Palestinian territory.
Israel seized the Gaza side of the Rafah crossing on Tuesday, while shutting off the nearby Kerem Shalom crossing, drawing criticism from humanitarian groups. Israel said Wednesday that it had reopened Kerem Shalom.
The nationwide campus protests started in response to Israel's offensive in Gaza that began after Hamas launched a terror attack on Israel on October 7, killing about 1,200 people and taking roughly 250 hostages.
More than 34,000 Palestinians have been killed in Israel's offensive, according to the Gaza Health Ministry. Israel warned it could "deepen" its operation in Rafah if talks failed to secure the release of the hostages.
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