The Credential Inflation Age 1048307 章含芳 第三次作业

The Credential Inflation Age

In 21st century, even a 10-year-old child has heard a term—monetary inflation. Gradually and quietly, a similar word, namely credential inflation, is coming to our life. Now, we human beings are in the credential inflation age.
Monetary inflation refers to the devaluation of currency. Likewise, credential inflation describes the declining value of earned certificates and degrees in the job market. Although complicated causes behind this phenomenon are remain to be found, a predictable clear result of credential inflation is a glut of the credential markets. And the present freewheeling and laissez-faire attitude to this problem will unfold a sad future before our eyes.
Why people need the credentials so badly? What push them to this crazy certificate battle? Disappointingly, the causes of credential inflation are not well understood. It may be the product of ever-expanding access to higher education, the proliferation of formal degree requirements for gainful employment, and an increasing need for obtaining a competitive edge in the labor market. They, together with other unknown factors, are functioning together to create an expansionary inflation spiral. In particular, the process of credential inflation is largely self-driven, in other words, it feeds on itself. A given level of education at one time gave access to elite jobs. As educational attainment has expanded, the social distinctiveness of that degree and its value on the occupational marketplace have declined, which in turn has expanded demand for still higher levels of education. Then credential inflation emerges.
As I have mentioned before, credential inflation has given birth to an unintended consequence, namely, credential markets. That is to say, a large and increasing proportion of jobs are now open only to people who have college credentials. As a result, many good career paths that were formerly open to people who haven't gone to college are now foreclosed to them. That has the strongest impact on the poor. Because they have the most difficulty in affording the cost (both money and time) of college, let alone their struggle with academic work. Another problem has also been unveiled. Most problems of contemporary universities are connected to the process of credential inflation. For instance, the climbing college tuition and fees, the mounting burdens of student debt, more wasted years in graduate school, increasing shallow and credential-driven college students and so forth. Simply speaking, the credential inflation has shaped the internal structure of universities and the conditions of academic work.
Negative effects as credential inflation has, governors seem unwillingly to do something practically and effectively to prevent the situation from deteriorating. In their thinking, with the help of credential inflation, the educational system comes to play an important role in dealing with the displaced part of the labor force. Because warehousing and keeping them temporarily off the job market can keep down the unemployment rate.
With the freewheeling and laissez-faire attitude, credential inflation processes will continue, indeed at even higher pressure. Luckily, some measures can help. Developments in online education, independent certification of competencies, e-portfolios, and the like may redress this severe socioeconomic problem. It is my sincere wish that in the so-called credential age, people will be evaluated on the basis of their actual knowledge and skills and not on their paper credentials.



学号：1048307 姓名：章含芳

1."even a 10-year-old child",既然要夸张，那不如3or5。 整段用这个开头引入话题不错
2."unfold a sad future before our eyes" 算是中式英语，有点奇怪。 这段用类比的方法，将主题解释一番，让人很容易弄清并抓住主题，并无语法错误
3."are functioning together to create an expansionary inflation spiral",spiral 有螺旋式上升也有下降的意思，所以不如直接写成 to increase the expansionary inflation.这段叙述了造成文凭膨胀现象的原因，很好
4."many good career paths that were formerly open to people who haven't gone to college are now foreclosed to them",前后时态不一致，应该用过去时。
"That has the strongest impact on the poor."不能轻易用最高级，太主观了 最好改成比较级。
" Because they have the most difficulty in affording the cost (both money and time) of college, let alone their struggle with academic work" 不能支付的只是在于金钱方面，学习时间还是有的 这个例子有点牵强，说服力不够。
这段写出了，有文凭膨胀造成的后果，除了例证不太好，整体还不错
5、6两段，感觉有点烂尾。前面叙述文凭膨胀是什么，为什么出现以及造成的后果，最后应该至少较详细的写出1-2个解决方法，但是只是一句带过，有点太草率了
整体来说，思路较为清晰，在用词上，有些很专业很高级，但是有时又很土鳖，好像一天一地的搭配，还不如用比较中级的词汇呐。。（个人奇怪看法，随便听听吧）

In 21st century, even a five-year-old child has heard a term—monetary inflation. Gradually and quietly, a similar word, namely credential inflation, is coming to our life. Now, we human beings are in the credential inflation age.

Monetary inflation refers to the devaluation of currency. Likewise, credential inflation describes the declining value of earned certificates and degrees in the job market. Although complicated causes behind this phenomenon are remain to be found, a predictable clear result of credential inflation is a glut of the credential markets. And thanks to the present freewheeling and laissez-faire attitude, a sad future will shine before our eyes.

Why people need the credentials so badly? What push them to this crazy certificate battle? Disappointingly, the causes of credential inflation are not well understood. It may be the product of ever-expanding access to higher education, the proliferation of formal degree requirements for gainful employment, and an increasing need for obtaining a competitive edge in the labor market. They, together with other unknown factors, are functioning together to create an expansionary inflation. In particular, the process of credential inflation is largely self-driven, in other words, it feeds on itself. A given level of education at one time gave access to elite jobs. As educational attainment has expanded, the social distinctiveness of that degree and its value on the occupational marketplace have declined, which in turn has expanded demand for still higher levels of education. Then credential inflation emerges.

As I have mentioned before, credential inflation has given birth to an unintended consequence, namely, credential markets. That is to say, a large and increasing proportion of jobs are now open only to people who have college credentials. As a result, many good career paths that were formerly open to people who hadn't gone to college are now foreclosed to them. That has the stronger impact on the poor. Because they have the most difficulty in affording the cost of college, let alone their struggle with academic work. Another problem has also been unveiled. Most problems of contemporary universities are connected to the process of credential inflation. For instance, the climbing college tuition and fees, the mounting burdens of student debt, more wasted years in graduate school, increasing shallow and credential-driven college students and so forth. Simply speaking, the credential inflation has shaped the internal structure of universities and the conditions of academic work.

Negative effects as credential inflation has, governors seem unwillingly to do something practically and effectively to prevent the situation from deteriorating. In their thinking, with the help of credential inflation, the educational system comes to play an important role in dealing with the displaced part of the labor force. Because warehousing and keeping them temporarily off the job market can keep down the unemployment rate.

With the freewheeling and laissez-faire attitude, credential inflation processes will continue, indeed at even higher pressure. Luckily, some measures can help. Developments in online education, independent certification of competencies, e-portfolios, and the like may redress this severe socioeconomic problem. It is my sincere wish that in the so-called credential age, people will be evaluated on the basis of their actual knowledge and skills and not on their paper credentials.

we human beings 这个帽子有点大了吧，非常喜欢你选择的这个角度，个人觉得其实可以从主客观两个大方面来谈，最后再总结一下，最后的解决办法似乎也可以更加具体些。