Between college campuses gone woke and tuition gone through the roof, it’s no wonder a new survey reveals doubts among Coloradans about the ability of high schools and higher ed to launch the state’s youths toward careers of choice.

Respected Colorado polling firm Magellan Strategies sampled 1,550 of the state’s voters on wide-ranging education issues in September and uncovered some troubling if familiar themes, like an overall lack of confidence in schools. A plurality of voters in the state’s two largest metro areas, for example, expressed nearly the same degree of concern – 46% in metro Denver; 47% in metro Colorado Springs – that their schools are “on the wrong track.” Only 31% and 32% in the two metro areas, respectively, felt schools were on the right track.

One area that really stood out in the Magellan survey’s findings was a seeming disconnect perceived by Coloradans between education and career readiness. And there appeared to be a desire among survey respondents for high schools to better prepare youths for the work world – so they can sidestep college.

The survey found fully 61% of Coloradans think it is more important for high schools to focus on career and technical education than to prepare high schoolers for college. When asked the question, “Which of the following do you think should have greater importance for high school students in your school district? Learning and obtaining industry training and certifications through Career and Technical Education (CTE) programs or preparing for college to attain a four-year degree?” another 20% of survey respondents expressed no opinion. A mere 19% picked college prep.

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Even subgroups of respondents showing a somewhat higher preference for college preparation by high schools – 32% of registered Democrats and 28% of households with incomes of $150,000 per year or more – nevertheless posted higher percentages that prioritized CTE over college prep.

Magellan dug deeper for survey respondents’ reasoning behind their positions. The pollster found, “Many respondents expressed concerns about the high cost of college education, leading students to incur significant debt. They emphasized that not all well-paying jobs require a college degree, and Career and Technical Education programs offer students opportunities to earn a stable income without accumulating crippling debt.”

Indeed, 73% of the survey’s respondents believed a four-year degree at an institution “like the University of Colorado or Colorado State University” is somewhat or very unaffordable.

Magellan also found, “Respondents frequently highlighted that CTE programs offer hands-on, practical skills that prepare students directly for the workforce. They mentioned that many students graduating from college find it hard to secure jobs related to their degrees, whereas CTE programs can provide direct pathways to stable, high-demand careers.”

Some respondents also cited the same concern they had mentioned when they told the pollster their schools were on the wrong track – that colleges have become dens of political indoctrination.

Permit us to draw some conclusions from the data. Coloradans – especially students and their parents – are alarmed at skyrocketing college tuition, backbreaking student loans and university bureaucracies bloated by six-figure-a-year staff salaries. Throw in a hyperpoliticized contemporary college culture hectored by the woke police and suffocated by group think, replete with “safe spaces” where students are buffered from offensive ideas.

Can Coloradans be faulted for thinking there has to be a better way to pursue a career?

Some of Colorado’s institutions of higher learning are getting it right, of course. Consider Colorado Mesa University in Grand Junction, where the “Where We Become Mavericks” initiative is providing local high schoolers with college credit as well as a springboard to a highly paid technical career. It’s a joint program CMU forged with its counterpart, CMU Tech and the local Grand Junction school district.

CMU gets it – and is rethinking how to deliver higher ed.

The Magellan poll findings serve as a wake-up call to other Colorado colleges and universities. They must reinvent themselves or risk becoming obsolete.

Denver Gazette Editorial Board