Is College the New High School?

By Vauhini Vara. On Friday, President Obama travelled to Tennessee to outline a plan to provide free community college for all. Mere hours had passed since the federal government’s announcement of the latest employment figures, which were encouraging. In December, the unemployment rate stood at 5.6 per cent, the lowest rate since the end of the recession. Beneath those promising numbers, though, clear gaps were evident. For high-school graduates without an advanced degree, the unemployment rate was 5.3 per cent, but for those with a bachelor’s degree, the rate was more than two percentage points lower—2.9 per cent. More...