Posted on 06/05/2016 3:55:45 PM PDT by RightGeek
Governments around the world believe that to remain competitive in a global economy they must become smarter. In an attempt to boost its knowledge intensiveness, the UK government has just launched a plan to overhaul the university sector. It aims to transform universities by creating many more of them. The hope is that this will increase the number of people with degrees, and the UK will be a more competitive economy.
The idea of the knowledge economy is appealing. The only problem is it is largely a myth. Developed western economies such as the UK and the US are not brimming with jobs that require degree-level qualifications. For every job as a skilled computer programmer, there are three jobs flipping burgers. The fastest-growing jobs are low-skilled repetitive ones in the service sector. One-third of the US labour market is made up of three types of work: office and administrative support, sales and food preparation.
The majority of jobs being created today do not require degree-level qualifications. In the US in 2010, 20% of jobs required a bachelor’s degree, 43% required a high-school education, and 26% did not even require that. Meanwhile, 40% of young people study for degrees. This means over half the people gaining degrees today will find themselves working in jobs that don’t require one.
This bleak picture could get worse. There has been a decline in demand for knowledge-intensive workers requiring a degree since 2000. Over 47% of existing jobs are under threat of being automated. The occupations most likely to be automated out of existence are knowledge-intensive ones such as auditor, insurance underwriter and credit analyst. Those least at risk of automation are hands-on jobs such as masseuse and fire fighter.
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(Excerpt) Read more at theguardian.com ...
Idiot argument. The only sustainable source of innovation, hence prosperity, is education.
And before long, the burger-flippin’ jobs will be automated. By machines, designed, built, and programmed by educated people.
U.K. Is being sold out by its ruling elite anyway. Other than Arabic and sharia law and “how to be subservient to your new Islamic Masters” — there’s no need of further education in uk. Same for several other countries with traitors and/ or enemy agents in charge today, this is not just a uk problem
College use to actually impart knowledge. Now. It’s little more than an employment program for holders of useless degrees where they indoctrinate the next generation to do exactly the same.
I agree with him on nixing the University project but find him Luddite on jobs and economy. Who does he think he is defining people and their opportunities and creativity?
I can see this concept working in second and third world countries...
First world countries have plenty of idiots with degrees...
The problem Today with college is everyone is getting degrees but no one is getting and education.
>>And before long, the burger-flippin’ jobs will be automated. By machines, designed, built, and programmed by educated people.<<
The trades will need people and should be a legitimate alternate road. Welders, plumbers, electricians, auto mechanics, etc.
These may be assisted by technology but I don’t see robotic replacements nay time soon.
If nothing else it will up the average degree level of employees in fast food establishments.
ps: UK has several outstanding universities (and MANY MANY more good colleges for its size, many people don’t realize just what an Education Industry still exists in UK)
but even in UK, and certainly in USA and elsewhere, so many people graduate with such Useless degrees (and very weak if any practical skills)
Leaving aside the intrinsic value (which I highly applaud) of learning about literature and music and such... the above comment remains an obvious fact and a considerable problem for many
who should have been encouraged to learn something useful and practical (along with any liberal arts they wished). After all, the world’s not gonna need “educated” taxi drivers anymore ... not with Uber and not with cars that drive themselves
yes, but soon there won’t be much employment left in fast food joints — McD’s and Wendy’s and others are busy automating
I very much agree. The trades plus bookkeeping and intro to administrative law. Unfortunately our good colleges are educating more foreign engineers, etc. don’t get me wrong, they usually have a better background in science and math. That takes us to problems in the home and 1 through 12 grades.
The most successfully innovative people were college dropouts: Gates, Ellison, Jobs, Zuckerberg, etc. And the granddaddy of all innovators, Edison, never attended college.
It's not necessarily degrees and formal education that results in innovation, but hard work, discipline, luck, and smarts.
The Internet doesn’t care if you are sitting in the US or Bulgaria.
>>yes, but soon there won’t be much employment left in fast food joints — McD’s and Wendy’s and others are busy automating
<<
The many, many, many permanently unemployed can stare at the $15/hour from the unemployment line. This is a direct result of the economic law of “opportunity cost.”
Sounds good, but humans are not a blank slate waiting to be educated.
Human abilities are scaled on a Bell Curve.
Most humans lack the passion, the self-discipline, and the intellect to make significant contributions to the world's economy.
Re: “And before long, the burger-flippin’ jobs will be automated. By machines, designed, built, and programmed by educated people.”
At our current rate of improving business, engineering, and education software, and at our current rate of improving robotics and labor saving devices, it is going to require fewer and fewer educated people to design, build, and program machines.
The idea that millions of workers will be re-trained to build or repair machines and robots does not make sense.
What business owner would purchase a machine that costs more than human workers?
What business owner would replace human beings with a machine that requires more expensive humans to keep it running?
In my opinion, the machine and software revolution will create unprecedented economic wealth.
But a significant portion of that new wealth will have to be paid in the form of welfare to the huge percentage of the adult workforce that will become permanently unemployed.
Degrees are useless... everyone just needs a course in how to grovel to our political masters.... /s
As usual the liberals have confused "cause" and "effect".
Universities are not the cause of having people who are motivated to be innovative and productive. They are the effect. One must first value knowledge and then one can seek out and appreciate opportunities to acquire knowledge.
Analysis of other liberal policies will often reveal the same confusion.
Liberals like to provide tax incentives for businesses to locate in their communities. They recognize that low taxes will encourage business. Unfortunately, their solution involves having higher taxes than necessary to provide these incentives, thus burdening all of the other established businesses.
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