Americans Losing Faith in Higher Education

A college education, once seen as a goal akin to marriage or home ownership, is not what it used to be. At least not for most Americans, as higher education continues to take a beating in the court of public opinion. A new Gallup survey finds just 36% of American adults are confident in a college education. That number is down from 57% in 2015, and cuts across gender, age, and political affiliation. The survey also finds 67% believe college is headed in the wrong direction, versus 31% who say it is headed in the right direction.

These results are in line with another recent survey that shows a steady decline in college enrollment over the past several years. Taken together, this is cause for concern among education experts and advocates. “Going all the way back to our forefathers, an educated populace is the foundation of a working democracy,” says Jim Keyes, former CEO of Blockbuster and 7-Eleven, and author of Education is Freedom: The Future is in Your Hands. “And we’re going the wrong way right now, for a whole host of reasons.”

The biggest reasons people gave for their lack of faith in college were high costs and failure to properly educate students. Keyes tells KTRH that while there are a lot of problems with higher education, the answer is not to just throw it out. “I think we have to reinvent the way we think about education, the way we teach, the way we learn, and the way we talk about education,” he says. “That’s very, very important for the future of the country.”