ASKING THE RIGHT QUESTIONS: CHAPTER 7&8 HANDOUT Identify the reasoning structure and type of evidence in each of the following exercises. How good do you think the evidence is? 1. Bill: Did you know that our university has one of the most outstanding teaching faculties in the country? Sandy: Wow! I'm impressed. How do you know that? Bill: The president of the university said so in his opening day speech. 2. At some point in most young peoples' lives, the idea of being a lawyer comes to mind. And of those people, most of them go to college with this idea in mind. Presently, the country is shoulder-deep in future lawyers, many of whom cannot find work. I have a cousin who graduated from law school two years ago, and she still hasn't been able to find a position in a law office. Time Magazine reports there are three times as many law students as there are lawyers in the country and that nearly 60 percent of law students will not find jobs within their major. Many people seek a law career because of its possible financial benefits. The truth of the matter, however, is that most lawyers do not make much money at all. Myron Nicole, a lawyer of 15 years who is a friend of our family, says, "I have never made more than $45,000 a year. This notion of being a high-powered lawyer in New York is totally glamorized in TV and the movies." 3. Students should be allowed to look at their textbooks during examinations. After all, surgeons have X-rays to guide them during an operation, lawyers have briefs to guide them during a trial, and carpenters have blueprints to guide them when they are building a house. Why, then, shouldn’t students be allowed to look at their texts? 4. Do People Need Higher Education to Succeed? By Josh Bersin, Principal and Founder, Bersin by Deloitte, Oakland, California Éducation: University of California, Berkeley - Walter A. Haas School of Business Over the last year we've seen a lot of evidence that the education to employment link is broken. Today more than half of US college graduates are looking for work, college cost has risen by 40% over the last ten years, and college graduates now have more than a trillion dollars of debt. Many jobs are in great demand (computer science, chemical engineering, statistics, health professions), but many are not. And according to Richard Arum, a sociologist at New York University, 36% of students show no improvement in critical thinking over four years of college. It does beg the big question: do young people really need a higher education degree to succeed? Bill Gates dropped out of college and it certainly didn't hold him back. I just finished reading a very interesting book entitled "Hacking your Education," written by Dale Stephens, a Thiel Fellow, young entrepreneur, and self-educated man. Dale's argument is that education is expensive, often wastes time, and not necessary for success. He professes that you should get up at 6am every day and use every opportunity you have to develop yourself. Take an internship. Find a mentor. Start a business. And read, study, and learn. Much of what he recommends is what we identify as traits of a "self-learner" in business. People who know how to learn (and are motivated to learn) consistently outperform their peers. The technical term for it is "learning agility," and some people are just born with it. While the value of higher education will never go away, in today's economy we should honor and promote people who educate themselves. When you look at a new candidate, rather than look at his or her college degree, maybe you should take more time to look at his experience, ability to learn, drive, and problem solving skills. Much of our corporate learning research shows that high performing business people often don't have fancy degrees, because in most jobs you must learn the business when you get there. Maybe you, as an employer, should look at people who are "self-taught" in a new light? Of course higher education plays many roles in peoples' lives. It gives us perspective, reading and writing skills, and in many cases a start on a profession. And the four years in a focused environment teach discipline and hard work for many. And the Bureau of Labor Statistics data does show that people with college degrees have half the unemployment rate of those without. But in today's job market, college may not be perfect for everyone. And right now, given the high cost of education, we as employers need to expand our horizons about what a "great candidate" really looks like. Some of the most successful people in the world didn't finish college. Let's keep our minds open.
