Oznaki regresji wyższego wykształcenia

Abstrakt

The author analyzes the economic and educational situation in the United States and in the socialist countries and demonstrates a slow but steady devaluation of higher education. In the European socialist countries the first signs of regression made themselves felt already in the mid-sixties. The author believes that the process will intensify. Also in the United States decrease of the economic value of higher education became a fact in the 1960s. It is not a transitory trend but one that will intensify in time. The effect will be either a marked decrease in the number of people with higher education or profound structural changes in the entire educational system. In either case major social and economic changes will follow. The prestige of academic degrees will decrease, while specific skills tested in one’s job will achieve a higher standing. The exclusivism of intellectual circles will diminish and the determinants of social condition will change. Distribution of goods will therefore be more and more equal, which will reduce associated social tensions.

The author believes that the observed ^processes of regression of higher education are thus significant not only for education itself but also for the spheres of production and economy, morals, upbringing, social relations and culture as whole.