From Academia Mental Health and Well-Being
Friedman, H. H. (2025) “The education irony: when college degrees lead to unemployment, mindless thinking, debt, and despair,” Academia Mental Health and Well-Being. Academia.edu Journals, 2(2). doi: 10.20935/MHealthWellB7661.
The education irony: when college degrees lead to unemployment, mindless thinking, debt, and despair
The_education_irony_when_college_degrees
Abstract
Education’s role extends beyond job preparation; it should equally nurture students’ moral character, compassion, and civic duty. This essay argues that many higher education institutions fall short of their educational responsibilities. Instead of producing well-rounded individuals with strong ethical principles, critical thinking abilities, and job-ready skills, some schools may inadvertently stifle creativity and discourage open debate. The author suggests that a limited focus on particular ideological views and an overemphasis on identity politics can restrict students’ exposure to diverse perspectives. Rather than becoming adept at logical reasoning, students have become proficient in harmful binary thinking and pathological dualism—a mindset that is likely to lead to misery.
Friedman’s points of argument are my own:
The current generation of students is grappling with a significant mental health crisis, with implications that extend beyond campus boundaries to affect society as a whole.
Binary-irrational thinking, known as dualistic or black-and-white thinking, involves categorizing people or events into two opposing and mutually exclusive groups, such as good or bad, right or wrong, and us or them.
Puritanism fallacy—the notion that an organization’s or individual’s sincerity should be questioned if they act inconsistently.
While binary thinking reduces complexity into two opposing extremes, mindless thinking is characterized by a lack of reflection, careful thought, and engagement.
While many higher education institutions may lack a chief ethics officer, they often have diversity officers who take pride in their initiatives on DEI (diversity, equity, and inclusion) [speaking in the US context]. However, a significant issue has arisen as numerous states have begun challenging and restricting DEI efforts in colleges and universities.
Having negotiation and conflict resolution skills is highly beneficial in a work environment. These abilities are crucial for promoting healthy relationships, improving team communication, building colleague trust, reducing stress, and nurturing a positive organizational culture.
Intellectual humility contrasts with arrogance and the belief in one’s intellectual superiority. It involves recognizing the limits of one’s knowledge and the possibility of being wrong in one’s views.
In the era of digitization and AI, where information is growing exponentially, and required skills are rapidly evolving, employees who cannot quickly acquire new knowledge and adapt may struggle to remain valuable. For an organization to thrive today, it must be agile and frequently reinvent itself. To survive, it may have to reinvent itself. Organizational agility is impossible without employee creativity and adaptability; moreover, management must actively encourage and support change.
Friedman and Friedman cite research indicating that higher education, especially business schools, has been ineffective in teaching students ethical behavior. They argue that even ethics professors do not exhibit higher moral standards than other academics.
As Roth observes, college students have played a significant role in American politics by being concerned citizens (e.g., ending the Vietnam War and fighting for civil rights). Beyond preparing students for the workforce, education should also cultivate their personal integrity, empathy, and civic responsibility. Character and career should be equally emphasized in education. Education should instill tolerance, respect, an acknowledgment of others’ right to disagree, and humility. This would involve expanding the role of education beyond mere economic gain. As several college presidents observe, higher education should equip students with the intellectual, moral, and spiritual capacities to become impactful members of society, leading fulfilling and successful lives.
Although no university has perfectly implemented the full spectrum of modern reform ideas proposed in this paper, many are making some progress in specific areas. For example, the Foundation for Critical Thinking (criticalthinking.org) lists institutions that use their approach to critical thinking. Successful change hinges on integrated wellness programs that blend mental health with academic skills; learning models that embed professional skills within academic subjects; teaching methods that encourage intellectual diversity and adaptability; and inclusive frameworks that address various forms of marginalization. Effective initiatives are characterized by collaborative teams, strong feedback systems, and partnerships with industry and the community. Universities must balance innovation with tradition, using technologies like AI-powered assessments and accommodations for diverse learners, to create personalized learning paths. Ultimately, the goal is to shift from a degree-focused model to one that encourages and promotes lifelong learning, preparing students for the complexities of the 21st century.
BUCH’S REFERENCES
Buch, Neville (2021), Finding Peace from the Culture-History War: A Historiographical Message for the Times. Academia Letters, Article 1916. https://doi.org/10.20935/AL1916.
Buch, Neville (2022), Regarding Our Education Systems Needing Thinking in Contemporaneous Compatibilist Epistemology, Dr Neville Buch ABN: 86703686642, 20 December 2022.
Buch, Neville (2024), The “Either-Or” Back-Fires: Australian Higher Education Can Not Do Creative Thinking…Yet, Dr Neville Buch ABN: 86703686642, March 12, 2024.
Buch, Neville (2024), THE’s Post-92 contract ‘at risk’ in wave of university cost-cutting: And in Australia and locally? Dr Neville Buch ABN: 86703686642, March 26, 2024.
Buch, Neville (2024), Presentism and Parallelism: Why Political Decisions-Makers Need to fund, contract, or employ professional historians, Dr Neville Buch ABN: 86703686642, April 27, 2024.
Buch, Neville (2024), Thinking in Both General and Particular Details: Memories as Public Insights, Dr Neville Buch ABN: 86703686642, May 3, 2024.
Buch, Neville (2024), Universities and Employability: Why am I not employed (contracted)? Dr Neville Buch ABN: 86703686642, May 24, 2024.
Buch, Neville (2024), Jack Grove, Academics despair as ChatGPT-written essays swamp marking season, The Times Higher Education Supplement, Dr Neville Buch ABN: 86703686642, June 17, 2024
Buch, Neville (2024), How out-of-touch Queensland educational authorities are with the global thinking on assessing learning? Dr Neville Buch ABN: 86703686642, July 9, 2024.
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Buch, Neville (2025). Applying Critical Thinking of Techné to the Organisational Mindset, Dr Neville Buch ABN: 86703686642, April 15, 2025.
Neville Buch
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