U.S. Higher Education Lurking behind the gleaming promise of every wide-eyed freshman is a

U.S. Higher Education

Lurking behind the gleaming promise of every wide-eyed freshman is a dark fact of U. S. higher education: Half of those who enroll at four-year colleges and universities will never graduate. That means about 600,000 students each year will not complete their bachelor's degree, concludes a new U. S. Department of Education study. And it asks:"Is there too much emphasis on getting a four-year college degree？" It is almost a heretical question. A college degree has never been more coveted or sought after. A record 14.9 million students enrolled this year. More than 96 percent of high school seniors say college is important -- and two-thirds expect to earn a bachelor's degree.

It's a significant change from the early 1980s, when just 52 percent of seniors expected to enroll in any college. Now, "College for all" is the new mentality -- urged by parents, guidance counselors, and political leaders of all stripes. College has become a default decision. Tons of unprepared high school graduates are shoveled into four-year colleges. But they just don't know why they're there.

So something is not quite fight with this picture. The bachelor's degree is being oversold to many high schoolers who do not truly want the experience or have only a slim chance of attaining a four-year degree. As a result, many students end up on campus without a clear sense of what they expect to gain from a college education. And that can affect everything from choosing the right school at the outset to picking a major or setting a career path or even dropping out, as growing numbers are doing.

Perhaps as significant a factor in boosting the "college for all" view has been a shift in college counseling. In the 1960s, high school counselors viewed themselves as gatekeepers. Criticized for elitism, they changed. One study shows counselors recommending college to 66 percent of high school seniors in 1992, double the rate of a decade earlier.

Higher education has been very accommodating of this shift. Open-admissions policies expanded to roughly three-quarters of all higher-education institutions, with remedial education available at the vast majority. About 40 percent of those chasing a four-year degree are only marginally academically qualified.

Critics say the trend is a result of a "one-way-to-win" mentality. Too many families cling to the mythology that their child can be a success only if he or she has a college degree. And the assumption poorly serves candidates who might benefit from either delaying the experience, taking a few career-related courses, attending a vocational-training school, or learning about the myriad other ways to enter the work force.

A dark fact of U. S. higher education is______

A．only 12,000,000 students are enrolled to college every year

B．too many high school graduates are shoveled into college

C．only half of the college students succeeded in graduation

D．only two thirds of the students expect a bachelor degree