I sometimes recall those good old days in high school when after the beginning of classes, there was a two-week period where the teacher introduced the class topics and then reviewed material from the year prior. The most they might have had us do was an icebreaker.
Not here at Duke. FDOC came and we were already running. That same night, I had four assignments on my to-do list. How is it that I’m already behind?
Yesterday, I was doing schoolwork all day. For one of my classes, I read a scientific paper by Damon Clark and Paco Martorell on “The Signaling Value of a High School Diploma.”
The authors found that for Texas high school students who take the exit exam, passing the test and actually earning a diploma has no significant signaling value in the labor market. This finding is significant because it contradicts Spence’s signaling theory that individuals with private information (such as their willingness to work) can send signals to employers to make their “true value” known (such as earning a prestigious diploma) to overcome information asymmetry.
In conducting this study, Clark and Martorell wanted to address the question that has upset some human capital proponents for the past fifty years: Does the added value of education come from receiving a diploma in the end? After all, the authors argue, “a diploma is essentially a piece of paper and, hence, by itself cannot affect productivity.”
Confronted by this question, I started thinking. Am I here at Duke just for the piece of paper I’ll get at the end? What is the value of a Duke education?
If President Price offered me a chance to be done with all of this and get my diploma tomorrow, would I take it?
A Duke bachelor's degree costs the average student $198,427, which the college advisory website College Factual doesn’t think is great value for money. But does our “big name” make it worth it? Is our experience sufficiently unique?
The average Duke student takes advantage of their undergraduate experience. We have the opportunity to go abroad through Duke-In programs, participate in DukeEngage and tent for the Duke-UNC basketball game. And a lot of us do all three.
When talking with older adults, we are often told to enjoy these years, for they are among the best in our lives. Duke Physics majors would beg to differ. Spending every night cooped up in office hours or the research lab gets old fast.
Even after zooming out further to include the whole semester, spotted with a few games and the occasional care-free weekend, is the toil worth the diploma?
Yet, a lot of Duke experiences have little to do with receiving a diploma in the end. From hosting dorm parties, to climbing the Duke Chapel, to paying a visit to the Duke Lemur Center, these are the experiences that we’ll end up remembering throughout our lives.
The human brain may be wired so that we have an easier time recalling “the good parts” of an experience. The worse parts, we tend to remember more vaguely and think about less. And this quirk is not reserved for women in labor. Even after living in the U.K. for more than six years, I still remember more sunny days than rainy ones. Trust me — the odds would not fall in that favor. It was cloudy nearly 90% of the time.
This would imply that even if each semester feels overwhelming in the moment, we’ll think back on it fondly.
But we could even brush friendships and cool memories aside. As future earners, what we really care about is whether ploughing through four years at Duke promises us a higher paycheck.
So, forget the social, emotional and intrinsic value of a Duke education. What is a degree from Duke worth in monetary terms? And does this worth come from our increased productivity, or from a “piece of paper” certifying that we have made it through?
I think the answer to that question varies from student to student. As our teachers sometimes like to remind us, each one of us was chosen to be here. Whether for our grades, extracurriculars or stellar personal essays, the admissions office looked at each one of our resumes and thought us worthwhile.
That is to say, each of us has the potential to get something out of these four dreary years. Whether that looks like challenging ourselves with taking six classes every semester, joining the executive board of a sports club or making a new friend every day, we might each do something that we wouldn’t have dared do a couple of years ago.
The returns on this exercise could be extraordinary. Our college career could then improve not only our productivity but also our social skills, fluency, independence and leadership — none of which we can develop through merely attending a few lecture-style classes.
But there’s also a different route. We could suppress our ambition and take the easier path.
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We could declare a less demanding major and glide along with four classes each semester. We could be rolling around in our free time like kids in a ball pit.
That’s the normal college route, one which would more closely resemble President Price’s approaching you with a neat diploma, handing it to you and saying, “Here’s your diploma. You may go now, if you’d like.”
One way or the other, these four years will blow by us quickly. Whether as a gentle breeze or as a snowstorm, we’re free to pick ourselves. But choose wisely. The right path might not be the easy one.
Picture yourself ten years from now, in your big-shot corner office. You have a view of the city and a comfortable spinny chair. You glance at your shiny Duke diploma, framed in mahogany, hanging behind your desk. You smile, conscious of the fact that if your paycheck is bigger because of it — you have certainly earned it.
Anna Garziera is a Trinity sophomore. Her pieces typically run on alternate Sundays.