Way off the mark

I think I have talked to this before, but the same cycle can be seen in other industries as well. It IS in our country's best interest to have a more educated population, undoubtedly. In addition to competing with the cold war players, there was a huge push to get kids through college, hence the funding sources with Pell, FAFSA, Fannie, Freddie, etc.

This push to get kids to go to college has been hammered on for the last 30 years. I'm 27 and my parents pushed me like hell to go to college. In fact, all of my friends parents did, too. Many kids just wanted to get a mfg job or technical trades job and college was NOT the right route for them.

Tuition increases will be the next huge problem in this country, been saying it for years. Students will come to the point where they will decide not to go to college and our population will suffer as a result.

I don't think it's fair to come on here and say "why did you major in Women's Studies" or "Asian studies". Everyone is free to pursue their own interests and to criticize is dead wrong. IMO, a couple things are wrong with the college picture. I think there needs to be better counseling at the high school level to help kids decide if college really is the right route for them. Stop pushing college to everyone. I also think the government needs to get out of the business of guaranteeing these loans. The banks providing these loans get to shift the risk to uncle sam, which allows the banks to give loans to inferior students, which creates even larger problems. The inferior students cannot typically be accepted into "good" schools, hence the reason you see these weird-ass schools popping up everywhere handing out degrees. Another problem is that these schools hand out the same piece of paper the "good" schools do. There needs to be better standards as to what a 4 year degree looks like. Notice I put "good" in quotation. There are a lot of expensive schools providing shitty education and vice versa, hence the reason sports are a huge asset to colleges.

 

I'm a bit confused. In one line you say the country will suffer b/c fewer people will go to college, but in the next paragraph you are advocating people to stop pushing people to go to college.

Also, I dont think anyone is knocking people for choosing a particular major. We're knocking the fact that people picking those majors are completing school and then complaining they can't find jobs, when they did what they were suppose to. HS->college->job

When I read resumes, I know the difference between Devry, Georgia Tech, MIT and Cal Tech, so I have to disagree that the pieces of paper are the same.

 

I think "college" and "education" should not be used interchangeably in this argument. The country does need an educated population for its own good, but that does not necessarily mean college for everyone.

 

Aberk,
I should be more clear there. Thanks for pointing that out. I was trying to say that people who are extremely intelligent and need further education (college) to get their dream job, will simply choose not to. IMO, I don't want the kids that should and want to go to college, not be given the opportunity. The kids that were told they should go to college, but don't really want to, they can go a different route. Problem is.....everyone thinks they need to go to college.

 

EDIT:// got pulled away by some Famous Dave's ... what Mongo said.

 

That is the reason some occupations require a degree; Because they believe it somehow shows the person has some level of responsibility.

IMO, for the most part a college degree means you had the money the buy a nice piece of paper to hang on your wall.

 

I was reading recently that some more expensive colleges can actually be more affordable than state schools for some students, due to the availability of scholarships and grants that they can provide.

 

What do you consider a crap school though? I got into a couple REAL good schools, but I was young and stupied and partied my way out, then I worked for a bit and started taking night classes at Salem State College. I worked 40 hours and took a full load of school, and got my degree, and trust me, I learned a LOT more and became FAR more responsible at my "crap school" than I ever would have at the good schools I went to.

 

Here is where we have to be careful, Mongo. It's not only those folks who are Occupying or marching around. There are plenty of well-educated, mild-mannered folks that are part of the movement as well. They are pissed off. Don't get me wrong, occupy is a jumbled, incoherent movement, but we have to be careful not to group them as entitled idiots. Our country's founding is buried in the same roots. That's another topic though.

Your first statement is spot on though. Those kids need to be steered away from college.

 

Right you are.

 

I think their reasoning was well-founded, but they lacked leadership. Imagine if they had strong leadership, someone like MLK or the like. It could be potentially ground-shattering. You should step up and become the new Occupy leader, Mongo. We will support you.

 

I came through college when gas was still under $1. I spent a few hours looking for college money at the tuition office postings... but after some frustration I stubbornly figured Id rather pay my own way before filling out pages of forms and intimate life details.
Turns out financially...that was the best move for me since I was able to afford a home within a few months of graduation and no student loans to repay and was promoted to a livable salary at my job.
A better move would have been taking my entire savings and plunking it down on microsoft or yahoo or apple stocks at the time and waited a few years to attend.

Now potential students can click away... http://www.scholarshipexperts.com/
to find cash. The more underpriviledged the better!

 

get a technical degree, no matter what you're truly interested in. Then branch out to your "desire". I know a current Doctor (ie physician) who majored in Nuclear Engineering with me. He did it to prove that he could master the math and science. He was pretty smart, though I wouldn't call him genius material (then neither am I ). Anyways, he got accepted to Johns Hopkins and is doing pretty well, last I heard. Bottom line, if the doctor shindig didn't pan out, he had a fall back plan. What's the fall back plan for a _______studies major?

 

In the words of the artist formerly known as Prince, I stand corrected!

 

Degrees are already worthless. It's skills that are valuable.

And for those folks whining about not being able to find a job in their chosen field, didn't you do any research before you headed down that path? How about getting a degree in a growing field where there is expected to be a high demand for your talents?

 

If they're so worthless, then why does every company require you to have one?