Bachelor’s Degree Equivalency

On a prior thread here, as well as in recent discussions at Perverse Egalitarianism and Hyper Tiling, it’s been observed that higher education is too often regarded as a consumer good, bought by students and sold by colleges and universities. For undergrads the most valuable educational commodity is the bachelor’s degree, required as an eligibility requirement by many employers and by graduate schools. The degree is bought in installments as it were: once you accumulate the required number of credit hours you get the sheepskin. Colleges charge a lot of money per credit hour, and the bill has to be paid by somebody — the government, the student, rich patrons of private colleges — if those credit hours are going to be credited to the student’s account. Even if a student takes on the formidable task of self-study, amassing as much knowledge as does a traditional college degree recipient, there is no badge of achievement to be bestowed on the autodidact. Only formally-accredited colleges and universities can award the bachelor’s degree, and they award degrees only to students who enroll in and pass the required number of courses.

But why couldn’t there be an equivalent to the bachelor’s degree?

There’s an equivalent to the high school diploma, at least in the US and Canada. Students who pass the standardized GED tests receive a high school equivalency certificate, accepted by most employers and by 95% of US colleges. That’s fairly remarkable, since the GED certificate-holder tends to carry a public stigma: it’s widely assumed that the GED betokens academic failure in high school, behavior problems that got the kid expelled, perhaps teen motherhood for girls. I’ve not looked into research about how well the GED kids perform at the next level; I do know that my cousin, who dropped out of high school and who eventually got her GED, later earned bachelor’s and master’s degrees.

On the other side of the spectrum, bright and industrious students can earn college credits while still in high school. High scores on standardized Advanced Placement and International Baccalaureate exams and essays can be worth up to two years of college credit hours. The student pays a fee for AP and IB evaluations, but the price is minuscule compared to college tuition. Of course these courses aren’t free: they’re taught by high school teachers as part of their salaried job. But that’s interesting in its own right: these are successful teachers of college-level courses who typically have at most a bachelor’s degree in the subjects they’re teaching.

It’s even possible to earn an associate degree — the terminal degree awarded by community colleges — simultaneously with a high school diploma. Unlike IB and AP courses, these dual-enrollment programs don’t target the highest-aptitude students; rather, they’re intended for kids who, often for financial reasons, don’t expect to continue their educations after high school. Apparently the added challenge and incentive of the dual-enrollment option also tends to keep more kids in high school who otherwise would be at high risk of dropping out.

It’s not like a bachelor’s degree is some sort of standardized product. Requirements differ quite widely by school and by majors. Even within a particular school, two profs might teach the same course very differently, using widely disparate teaching materials, imposing very different expectations on their students. The high school AP and IB courses present far more uniformity than do the “real” college courses for which they serve as equivalents. “Real” college professors might deem this level of standardization a bad development, turning education into a production line that minimizes the importance of individuality among professors and students alike. Maybe so, but isn’t there always the danger of mystification and fetishization in claiming that the essence of one’s product cannot be reduced to formulaic specification and quantification, even when the very high price charged for that product is very precisely specified and quantified indeed?  Still, standardization can be done, and it is being done successfully in the case of AP and IB.

Why not take educational standardization even farther: not just two years’ of college credit, but four; not just an associate degree, but a bachelor’s degree? Let some panel of professors agree upon what should constitute adequate preparation generally and in specific subject areas to qualify for the undergraduate degree. Broadly specify the course curriculum and readings; organize discussion sessions either in person or on line; conduct standardized exams; have the experts evaluate the exams, essays, and theses. Students who qualify could earn a bachelor’s degree without ever setting foot in a traditional college lecture hall or, more importantly, without paying the exorbitant and always-increasing tuition expense. I’m sure the brick-and-mortar universities will want protect their product. Fine: call it a B.A. or B.S. equivalent then. If it’s done right, I think the word would eventually spread among employers and grad schools that the equivalent really is equivalent.