New AAC&U Study on Employer Views

Last Friday, the Pope Center released this article wherein I took a critical look at the latest study from the AAC&U, a survey of employer views regarding college graduates and their workforce needs. What I took issue with were the vaguely worded questions that could be interpreted as support for the "We need more college graduates line." Even though many employers respond that they expect workers to have "higher skills" than in the past, that should not be interpreted to mean, "No one who hasn't graduated from college could be capable of doing the work we have here." On the other hand, the survey does reinforce a point that can't be stressed often enough, namely that many employers believe that college graduates are weak in very basic skills such as writing.