Degree holders earn more than high school diploma counterparts
- CF: Should everyone go to college?
The Bureau of Labor Statistics reports that only about one-third of all jobs require education beyond high school. That statistic — coupled with the growing mountain of student loan debt now totaling a whopping $1.2 trillion — has prompted the cost and need of a college education to become a major issue in American politics.
Bernie Sanders proposed “free” college for everyone and Hillary Clinton supports increased subsidies for more people. Donald Trumpespouses “love” for the “the poorly educated.”
His campaign co-chair and policy director, Sam Clovis, told Inside Higher Ed that schools should have “skin in the game” and that borrowing should be discouraged for certain majors and concentrations.
“If you are going to study 16th-century French art, more power to you. I support the arts. But you are not going to get a job… If you get into the esoteric aspects of a particular art field, you have to know that those are the circumstances.” More
A degreed education assures your (potential) employer that you are willing to eat a certain amount of shit for a certain (guaranteed) amount of money.
There is nothing – NOTHING – you can learn in college that you cannot learn out of college. Admittedly, you DO have access both to some structure and to some superior intellects in college, who may (or may not) be equipped to give you proper direction – but whatever you learn – YOU MUST TEACH YOURSELF.
“There is no Royal Road.” As Aristotle so succinctly related to Alexander III of Macedon.
izlamo delenda est …
Employers want to hire smart people, and there aren’t enough to fill available jobs. Going to school does not make you smart.
I finished high school living in a 1958 Triumph TR3 in order to get a diploma that I have never needed.
I realize that more jobs require finishing high school now and learning a trade is looked down upon these days, but from what I can see, the vast majority of those attending college wasted their money time and what they could have made if out working instead.
From the linked article: “noting four million degrees are given out every year”
Yet the POSOTUS and his propaganda department (the MSM) celebrate how wonderful the economy has been since it’s been adding about 250,000 new jobs per quarter (or about 1 million per year). (And never mind that so few of the new jobs created require a college degree.)
I guess very few of those degrees are in Math.
“7 years of college down the drain.”-Bluto Blutarski. Animal House.
Not saying that all people with college backgrounds are stupid, but a significant number are. Barack is dumber than ISIS 7th century cavemen .
Kollege is great. But 1 and a half years is plenty unless you’re pursuing a rigorous science or engineering degree. Year and a half teaches you important things like knowing your alcohol capacity.
Lazlo works as an Independent Contractor in the Bad Weather business.
In order to get a cushy staff job with one of the Insurance Companies they require a degree.
Recently a suit tried to talk me into going back to college so I could rescue his department by introducing a work ethic onto the staff.
I have the equivalent of two degrees in direct work experience.
Exact same work, exact same skill set; excepting a degree.
In fact if I had a degree of any kind, it doesn’t matter what discipline, it could be gymnastics, and that would be OK. They’ll train you
But actually doing the work, on a daily basis for ten years, that is too sketchy for corporate America to take a risk.
Of course, I should have put on my resume how I can binge drink through a funnel, and require a safe space with puppies for cuddling, for when I get ‘triggered’ or hear something that I disagree with.
Yeah Lazlo, but what the suit is missing is that one of the few things college is successful at is removing the work ethic.
I am hiring now (Own an Insurance Agency). Went thru some resumes today. The only reason I look at college info. is to see if they went after some ridiculous area of interest. Then I look at their social media profile. You would be surprised at how many I knock out based on the stupid stuff people post. One selfie negates your GPA. Job history, stability and how you write/communicate are the ticket.
I have a two year AAS in Electronics. That degree has served me well through 20 years of U S Army, and 20+ years after that. I often wish that I’d been able to go on the additional two years for a BSEE. But, a little late now. And the AAS was enough to keep me and my family comfortable, though not wealthy.
It’s not about having a degree or not, it’s what’s your degree subject?
Want proof that college removes work ethic?
HR departments are staffed by graduates.
HR departments are lazy; rather than look for experience and interview for common sense, they hire based on whether or not the applicant has a degree (even if unrelated).
I work for a company full of incompetents because of this “policy”. To wit, the project manager just recently suggested MDF for a countertop that is to hold ~500 lbs. His reasoning? It has glue in it. He has a B.A.
Here’s how college education was exposed to me, and I think it gave me a very honest view of it.
My father and all my uncles but one were doctors. All the women were nurses, including the non-doctor’s wife. Their education showed in everything they did. They understood how and why things worked and showed you. Great people to grow up around. I still miss them.
The value of higher education was plain to see if your goal was to be a doctor, nurse or something requiring fine knowledge to do. No way you’re on that path if you fart around in high school and never make to college in the first place. Much less medical school and all that follows.
I learned their road was long and purposeful to arrive at where they were. It took work. You’re wise to start young.
You’re right, when it comes down to it – no one can really teach you. Knowledge isn’t just poured into your head. It’s up to an individual to find out what needs to be done to accomplish something. From studying for finals to studying tax laws for loopholes in your biz.
That last non-doctor uncle was the living epitome of that.
That uncle was the wealthy one. Sixth grade education. Ran away with a carnival at 12. Learned to be a salesman, if you will, while with them. One cousin named a dog Wheeler Dealer after him.
He gave flying lessons to new recruits in WWII they were literally crash courses. 1 or 2 times at the stick after class. You crash – you’re out. You don’t crash – you’re off to the Army.
He later helped start what is now Meachum International Airport. Meachum Airfield back then. He gave flying tours around Ft Worth from it. His Sweetheart deal on the rent for his hanger was 30 year $1 per year, which ran out in 1986. It was sad to see my cousins face when the airport fenced off the hanger from the airport.
From there, that uncle invested in many things and properties and was always minding them for profit. He was definitely a Wheeler Dealer.
He taught me – You can do anything you want.
Back to the point – If you don’t have a specific goal to get out of going to college that you really can’t get anywhere else (medical school, etc) – then you can learn whatever you need – it’s all out there to know, you just need to know what you want to happen and start from there.
When that time came for me, there was little I felt I needed from getting a degree. I knew what a doctor’s life was like at home, both mine and my cousins’. It had a lot of sacrifice in it and the men in our family didn’t seem to live all that long – the doctors were all gone before any reached 50. I felt no particular pull into a field of study so I didn’t waste my time and money chasing a nothing-burger degree.
As time went on I saw a degree, for many, mostly shows you have some “stick-to-it-ness”. Why else does a degree get the job when it doesn’t apply to the job? It’s your ability to learn that it certifies, IMO.
You want to see a man that puts up with bullshit, talk to one that has 4 mouths to feed besides his own depending on him having that job. That dude will put up with a hell of a lot more bullshit than someone that has a degree he can use elsewhere and only himself to worry about.
I can personally attest to that.
The degree only means something if you are willing to apply it.
Otherwise you wasted your time and money.
@dadof4. Great story.
Y’all want to read a great great story about two guys that didn’t graduate from college but changed the world significantly?
Try “The Wright Brothers” by historian David McCullough. It came out last year I think and is one of the best books I ever read
The brothers quickly figured out that the self anointed experts on powered flight had no idea so they had to figure it out themselves.
One of the the other great stories is about the fed gov commissioning the best minds to develop powered flight. The wizards of smart launched their prototype from a barge on the Potomac, which quickly dropped into the water never to be seen again.
HOWEVER. The chief knucklehead in charge for the government in charge of the failure has an Air Force base named after him. In DC. it’s called Langley. Hahaha
Some stuff never changes.
Get the book. Very interesting read