Thread regarding Pearson PLC layoffs

Enjoy your echo chamber. A simple
Google search will tell you tons of the best companies in the world do not require degrees. Let’s start with Tesla and Google and Costco.

Great article today in Chronicle of Higher Ed about a tenure track PhD who makes ends meet by walking dogs. Check it out.

Does higher Ed work for the elite which you clearly consider yourself to be? Sure. Does it work for the masses who get sucked in by empty promises. No.

The 2 trillion dollar student loan debt says hello.

"Does anyone even bother to check facts before posting something totally incorrect? According to educationdata.org, "the past 10 years have seen a significant decline in college attendance."

Speaking of fact-checking, you are presenting two unrelated infobits and pretending that there is a correlation between them.

The fact that fewer people are attending college does not mean that fewer employers are using a college degree as a base-line requirement to apply for a job.

In fact, the opposite is true. A simple glance through job postings reveals this to be the case.

"but with more people going to college, it's easy to require them."

Does anyone even bother to check facts before posting something totally incorrect? According to educationdata.org, "the past 10 years have seen a significant decline in college attendance."

Enrollment peaked in 2010 and has fallen off a cliff, especially at the community college level, since COVID.

Now back to those "temporary headwinds" according to MH and crew.

Agree with the 4 year degree having become the baseline for reasonable employability. I see it being either required or strongly preferred for jobs that are a hair above the most basic entry level. If you don't have a college degree, you are going to spend time trying to compensate. I don't believe college degrees should carry as much weight as they currently do but with more people going to college, it's easy to require them.
With limited exceptions for profit colleges lack quality and substance. Certain instructors are quality but those are also the ones who see for profit for what it is. Not saying non profits are perfect and they should be forced to relax their rules on accepting credits from for profits to give the students a chance at attending a range of schools.

Sorry, @5lpj+1eHHeEi5 - the evidence does not support your suggestions. You lost me at "rigged" anyway . . .

This is not to suggest that there are not exceptions to the rule, there always are. But a quick look at the job listings wherever you live is going to reveal the truth. A four-year degree is essential for a well-paying, career-oriented job as a young person.

And I guarantee you that everyone on this chain who is in sales has lined up at the trough to sell products into those sleazy for-profits. I was at the front of the line. Pearson sold tens of millions of dollars to such stellar names as Corinthian, ITT, Devry, Kaplan, Virginia College, Baker College....the list goes on and on.

And at the end, who gets screwed? The taxpayer.

@5lpj+1eHHeEi5 You actually made my point for me! The system is so rigged that you must have a college degree, you claim.

Funny I lost count at a dozen of young people (under the age of 30) I know who don't have college degrees, who are making $60-$80K in solid careers with tons of promotional upside...in one case $100K without one.

Engineers, Doctors, Finance, Accountants need degrees. The rest don't.

I know a multi-billion dollar company that is seriously thinking of scrapping hiring management trainees out of colleges because they are so poorly prepared and instead just hiring and training on their own. Because student loan debt is ki----g their current trainees.

There are 7 million "middle-skill" jobs open right now." This means you need more than high school but less than a college degree.

But sure. Keep telling yourself that a degree is so important. In most cases its an albatross around your neck if you have student loans.

Disagree with the college degree as a necessity in weeding out candidates. Networking is still the best way to get a job and it comes down to who you know. In todays connected world networking is more accessible than ever.

@5lpj+1eHHeEi5 You’re absolutely right— however for most, the reality is the piece of paper itself is the value add for a student. Unless you are in a highly focused field, the quality/rigor of the education that the diploma represents is far less important than what you do once your professional career begins. The for-profits (or non-profits who are operating as for-profits) are still perceived as a “degree factory” but plenty are thriving because of high employability numbers and timely student and career placement services.

Institutions, their stakeholders, and their vendors who still solely focus on content quality and rigor (either due to ignorance, fear, pride, or all of the above) need to re-evaluate what the learner in 2022 looks like and should be looking to update their products and services accordingly, or risk a swift dive into irrelevance.

I agree that the

"HED is an echo chamber that is completely out of step with the rest of the country."

Shockingly inaccurate, coming from one who has supposedly worked in the HED space.

Here is the REAL truth: an undergrad, four-year degree is the new high school diploma.

Doubt me? Have a look at the job openings in your city or community. Wanna make $50k+ in a non-hourly position of most any sort? You had better have that piece of paper. If you don't you are looking at a low level supervisory position in food service or retail or customer service - at best. Even someone with decades' worth of experience is locked out of even passing through that starting gate, because the automated resume sifters toss you onto the "declined" pile if you are not displaying the proper degree level on that document.

Do not confuse "the rest of the country" with reality, here. Yes, even your grandma can get a job these days - but it is going to be running warehouse miles at Amazon until your hip gives out or restocking shelves at Walmart in the dead of night.

To have ANY kind of decent life in this country right now, ya gotta have that piece of paper. THAT is the true reality.

@2fks+1eHHeEi5. Yeah, because not for profit community colleges, many who are just as expensive as for-profit schools do such a good job:)

In addition, many "non-profits" are for-profits masquerading as non-profits. I've met a lot of millionaires who are in the non-profit business.

The higher educational system in this country is corrupt, poisoned, and has mostly outlived its usefulness. Look at demographics and at public opinion. Pre-COVID in 2019, according to Forbes, only 50% of Americans viewed higher education as "very important," which was down from 70% in 2013.

Read the Chronicle of Higher Education or Ed Surge. HED is an echo chamber that is completely out of step with the rest of the country.

ALL of the below. Emphasis on hiring people with zero experience in the field to (mis) manage employees. Employees who they don't fundamentally respect and definitely don't value.

More emphasis on the enchantment with pretending that an education at a for profit school is commendable. I guess for profit Pearson has to support but for profit programs are considered a joke educationally at best and predatory at worst. If you haven't fallen victim to the predatory practices and chose a for profit willingly? Tells me you didn't have too many options.

I've read a lot of comments here how mgmt/executives have demolished this company. It all results from hiring individuals with no background in this industry and them lasting about 2 years.
SDB and KW gone after 2 years. Both with no experience, KW was an insurance customer service manager before being hired. He was responsible for quarterly emails, big money well spent.
Look at the VP of Pols. He has a Ph.d in Chemistry and going on 2 years. Yes Chemistry, he worked at one profit school prior to POLS. A chemist running this business is like me opening up a bakery and hiring an engineer to run daily operations. Keep in mind, Chemists are not known for having outgoing personalities or effective interpersonal skills. Anyone recall him not being able to look into the camera when announcing layoffs before the holidays. To put an employee through this during the holidays is just absurd.The past CEO, Ofailure ,added no value and was pushed out by investors. Now a Disney executive was hired with no experience. The current CEO was phased out from Disney back in 2018 before being hired late in 2020.Minority investors didnt approve of his salary or paid apartment in the east coast. Shocker. And when you add a lack of care or appreciation for employees by these non-experienced managers, you get the current state of this organization. Since POLS represents non profit Universities, why cant a candidate ever be hired from this industry instead of profit school slop? If an organization never values its employees, death of the organization will occur. Wait, there was a deal signed with the Spice Girls manager for a class to be implemented and the SEC, in August, fined Pearson 1 mil for failure to disclose a breach to their investors. If you're going to mislead your investors, how will you treat your employees?

Is there an announcement going out next week or have people had meetings scheduled? I hadn't seen anything yet in terms of big company meetings.

Time will tell. Next week will be a watershed moment.