The butterfly effect, an underlying principle of chaos, describes how a small change in one state of a deterministic nonlinear system can result in large differences in a later state (meaning that there is sensitive dependence on initial conditions). A metaphor for this behavior is that a butterfly flapping its wings in Texas can cause a hurricane in China.
Chaos Theory
Higher Education has been subject to the same Elliott Wave Pattern as other pursuits. It has been the case for years that the increasing cost in time and money of Higher Ed was out stripping the Value Equation. You know, that promise college grads will make a magic million more in a life time than high school grads. The icepack supporting Higher Ed has grown more and more thin. With the Covid driving college students off campus, suddenly the façade of what Higher Ed has become was stripped away. Forget the fancy dorms and climbing walls, never mind the athletic program. Now magically the same product (just as good they say!) is delivered on your laptop screen.
Colleges have their blindfolds firmly in place to ignore the change around them.
Community Colleges (CC) are offering dual high school enrollment and ever cheaper tuition.
Employers are working with CC to create specific, speedy programs tailored to their needs.
Google is offering Information Technology Certificates with a short six month training class. Ditto for Amazon as well.
Near every profession is adopting ‘certification’ in a specialty obtained outside Higher Ed. I noticed the parts man at my Toyota Dealership was a Toyota Certified Master Parts Professional.
Graduate degrees are being fast displaced by certificates. In my field a Certified Management Account CMA or Certified Internal Auditor CIA trumps a Masters in Accounting.
Checkout https://grow.google. Six month certificates (no prior training necessary) are offered in Data Analyst, Project Manager, User Experience UX Design, and IT Support Specialist. Median salaries are in the $56-84K range.
Amazon is offering similar programs, check them out at https://cloudacademy.com
Prior to 1976, one needed some college accounting courses to become a CPA, but not a college degree. What we are seeing from Google and Amazon is a Back to the Future version which strips away all things not necessary for the task, good bye Humanities 301.
Most vocational certificates, plumber, electrician, mechanic, hair stylist have always operated in this fashion. The Covid isolation has many asking if it is good for electricians why not for the rest of us?
Change is in the Higher Ed Atmosphere, College Presidents are you listening?
Trading for the year in stocks and energy is pretty well done. Crude oil prices hit resistance at $50, stocks bracket DJIA 30,000. Again, metrics such as put call ratios register near previous extremes which resulted in sell-offs.
